Chapter 4

Decisions made Link stood beside Princess Peach as they both looked at the door marked Exit at the end of the hallway. The changes in Link felt so dramatic when he compared himself to her, both of them were basically crossdressing as the other but she still appeared to be a female. The lack of makeup, and her jewelry or at least her crown as she had taken to wearing the Gerudo amber earrings for electricity resistance, Link having a feeling she actually wore them to accessorize. Her hair was no longer styled and yet, because of her chest… her impressive chest, no one would mistake her for a male. Yet he was a different animal, taller now, but his firm muscles gone with the styled hair, makeup, the bra that insisted on assisting its owner on having a chest that drew the male eye… all of it made him possibly female. The disguise he had to wear in Gerudo town had worked in the past, but this was beyond the pale. Feeling like he needed some reassurance he reached to the side. His white gloved hand made of fine material grasped Peach’s in her rough leather gloves. “You ready?” he asked with an even voice despite his inner turmoil as he reminded himself of who he actually was.

While Peach felt more confident, ready to handle what came next since the change, a part of her was still afraid. The knowledge of how comfortable or uncomfortable her seat was next to her Daddy’s throne was so hazy that she could hardly recall it at all, but it took more than a little profile change to take away all the training she had as heir to the Mushroom kingdom, so she made sure to exude her confident, both real and false. Giving a reassuring squeeze to the hand holding her own she looked over her shoulder to the man standing behind them. Mario looking on with worry on his face, her hero still here for her, and letting her choose her own path. Feeling reassured she stepped forward, her leather boots thunking on the floor while Link, wearing her own pink high heels clicked as the two stepped through the exit door together, both with hope in their hearts.

The world around Link faded to white, the hand he was holding vanishing as a feeling of empty vastness consumed him. As suddenly as it came the whiteness of the void between worlds faded and the sun high in the sky shone down upon him. Birds chirped happily as a light gust blew the grounds just outside the Toadstool castle. As any time Link moved between worlds it took a few seconds for his mind to jump into gear and he processed what he saw around him dread filled him. Touching both white gloved hands to his lips his mascara covered lashes fluttered before his eyes went wide.

It took a small amount of effort to keep his stiletto heels from sinking into the firm packed earth road he was standing on just outside a white stone castle with red tiled roofs on the towers around it. At the front of the large building was a stained glass window that depicted a pretty blonde woman in a pink dress with a small crown upon her head. Part of his mind thought it was an image of him before his true instincts kicked in. A few feet away was a stone bridge with a wooden picket fence that lead up to the castle. Looking at it all made it clear that going through the exit had not put him back in his world with his own profile, but had instead transported him to the Mushroom kingdom, while more than likely sending Peach to Hyrule. “This is not good.”

Scrunching up his face Link tried to think what he could do, going over what had happened in the land of Brawl when he found he couldn't remember. The power of that land caused memories from it to always fade making his current predicament a challenge. “Okay, I can still remember Princess Peach…” He rolled his blue eyes. “Because currently I am her… sort of, but I also remember me. I’m Link.” The glitched Hylian said his own name with hesitation, expecting he would only be able to admit to being Princess Peach or some such nonsense. “Okay, think, think.” Closing his eyes he tried to think back to what happened, it was in a fight, in Brawl he could battle to his heart's content. ‘I fought… I fought…’ The memory just wouldn’t come.

“All I have to do is go back to Brawl.” He lightly stamped his closed fisted hand into his open palm. “Today is a busy day though…” Link thought about his schedule. ‘I have a meeting with the Sultan of Desert Land and then I have a tennis match with Daisy and… No, no. That is what Princess Peach had to do. I can go inside and tell Dadd… the King what happened and he can maybe see about getting someone that can do magic. He thought about the calamity back home, its specific name, the name of the person felt like it was on the tip of his tongue. They were a wizard of sort and could transform and he thought someone here might have that kind of power too, but it seemed all too risky and Peach wasn’t actually here to swap with him, that mean the only option was to go back and wait. The idea of waiting causing its own kind of anxiety like he was a Princess just waiting to be rescued. Link was pretty sure someone had just said something recently to him in that exact same vain. All of it was beyond frustrating, here he was standing in an unknown land on a road dressed as a girl while he knew random things about the kingdom, those facts coming to mind easier with every passing second, while who he was, seemed to be slipping away.

While the inheritor of the mantle of Princess Peach was lost in thought, starting to pace on the bridge outside the castle with their likeness, up above trouble brewed. Flying through the air was a blue sky troopa. The yellow skinned male koopa looked out across the Mushroom Kingdom through his thick aviator goggles. He had been sent out for a recon mission and so far had found that Luigi had departed for a go cart match with his purple doppelganger, while Mario was nowhere to be seen. It was good news, but nothing that was going to give him a commendation. Flapping his white wings he soared through the blue sky in a loop, intending to head back for his report when he saw something, someone unexpected. Down below pacing about was Princess Peach and without her toadstool guard to protect her and without Mario around this was the perfect opportunity.

He considered flying back with all the haste he could manage to let someone know and they could let the King have the knowledg he needed to take the heir to the kingdom hostage. ‘But that will take time and she could go inside at any moment.’ Her being inside wouldn’t matter for the King, but it did matter for him. ‘This is my chance!’ the little man adjusted his goggles and dove down to the ground, withdrawing his legs, arms and head, peeking out through the hole as he reached a higher and higher velocity. His angle of attack seemed perfect, he was going to collide with her and… “SHIT!” he cried out and he turned his wings as he came within just a few feet of the blonde woman. Visions of her falling down appeared in his head, mentally he screamed at himself for being a fool that this wasn’t an attack mission. It was a recon mission that he had taken upon himself to turn into a ****. If he took her out she would appear back inside her own castle, it was well known that the royalty kept a stockpile of green mushrooms.

The change in direction caused him to impact the ground, crashing into the hard packed dirt next to the bridge, dirt flying up into the air in a large area making it impossible for anyone to see. Feeling like one of the Mario brothers had stomped him in his shell he stood up in the small crater he had created, thanks to his goggles no dirt getting in his eyes. A wicked smile growing on his face. “Chance!”

Link heard something shooting through the air and just had enough time to turn around in order to see something blue smash into the ground before dirt and dust shot into the air all around him. Covering his eyes as he coughed he tried to get a sense of what was going on, but before he could get his bearings he felt something touch and then wrap around him. The instinct to pull out his shield and flip backwards to do a counterattack flitted through his mind, but between the thing wrapping around him and his body not knowing how to do the act, nothing happened. It was like thinking about doing an attack or defensive maneuver you saw someone else do.

Without being able to put up so much as a real struggle, Link soon had ropes tightly around his stockinged ankles, his thighs that held his legs firmly together. The binding quickly went up around his stomach, just above his fake chest before his arms were pulled back behind his back. Whoever was doing this acted fast and had the rope wrap around his upper arms and wrists. With that the cloud of dust started to settle and the now bound man could see what he knew was a blue shelled koopa paratroopa. Knowledge that just seemed to pop in his head. Feeling utterly helpless all he felt he could do was call out for aid. “Help! Help!”

“Don’t worry, I got you Princess.” The koopa said, wrapping a white cloth across the girl's mouth to gag her before pulling on the ropes that held it all together causing her back to bend as she was stuck in the hogtied position. Taking to the air, both hands on the ropes, he struggled to get the altitude he had earlier, sweat dripping from his body as he made his way towards the closest of King Koopa’s castles with dreams of not just a commendation, but a promotion.

“MEmeana!” Link, voice muffled to the point that he couldn’t even understand his own words. He had been taken captive before, thrown out of towns, even had his share of running out of hearts, but never before had he ever felt so helpless. Even that day he woke up in the cave with no memory at all he still was able to find a stick and then an ax, his instincts allowing him to fight. Down below he could see six mushroom people dash forward, all holding pikes from the castle and each looking up into the sky watching what they believed was their Princess being taken captive once more.