Mario, Luigi, and Peach were in Peach's basement, moving Peach's dresses from the washer to the dryer.

"Why can't you get Toad to do this?" groaned Mario.

"I've been having him do it long enough," said Peach.  "It's time I finally take some responsibilities in the chores around the castle."

"But why do we have to help?" asked Mario.

"Because we're kind, giving people," reminded Luigi.

"Yes you are!" agreed Peach.  She turned toward Mario.  "And guess what."

"What?" asked Mario.

"After this, we'll all go out for some ice cream!"

"Hooray!" said Mario, jumping up and down excitedly.

Too excitedly, it turned out, because he bumped into his brother.  Luigi dropped one of Peach's wet pink dresses on the ground.  "Whoops, sorry Peach!  It's dirty now!"

"Oh, that's okay!" said Peach.  "Just throw that one back in the washer."  She turned toward the dryer.  "Oh no!" she gasped, and covered her mouth with her hands.

"What's the matter, Peach?" asked Mario.

"I'm out of fabric softener!"  She ran over to the cupboard in the corner and opened it.  "Oh no, and my spare fabric softener is missing too!"

"Mamma-mia!" gasped Mario.

Luigi turned to Peach.  "Well, maybe we can go get more.  Do you know anywhere that sells fabric softener?"

"Well," thought Peach, "there's a village named Petalburg, which is just an hour's walk from here.  They sell Mr. Softener there for just eight coins!"

"The walk will be nice," said Luigi.  "We've been inside doing chores all day."

"It's settled!" said Mario, who had been waiting for a break for a while now.  "Let's go to Petalburg!"

Mario, Peach, and Luigi walked together through Petal Meadows.  Petalburg was only a few miles away from Peach's castle, and they decided it was a nice day for a walk.  The meadow was filled with flowers and other pretty items.  More and more flowers covered the ground, so the trio knew they were getting closer to Petalburg.

"Ahhh..." Peach sighed happily.  "There's nothing like stuff that is pretty to look at."  Mario and Luigi nodded in agreement.  Peach picked a small, pink flower, and smelled it.  "Mmmm!  Smell it, Mario!"  She shoved the pretty flower under Mario's nose.  He breathed in the aroma of flower.  Peach tucked the pink flower behind her ear.

Suddenly, everything grew dark.  A loud roar gently rumbled the path, and rushing wind carried leaves and dirt along the ground.

"Oh my goodness!" shouted Peach.  "What's going on?"

Mario looked up.  "Look at that!"  He pointed at a large red dragon-shaped blob swiftly soaring by them.  It was about twenty feet high, and was casting the shadow and other effects on them.

"It's a dragon!" shouted Luigi.

The dragon flew by and headed toward the horizon.

"Well, that was scary!" said Peach.  Then she noticed something.  "Ooooh, look!  Here's the welcome sign to Petalburg!"  On the other side of the sign, Mario, Peach, and Luigi could all see the small village.

Petalburg is the only town in the Mushroom Kingdom that is primarily populated by Koopa Troopas.  Besides that, Petalburg is known mostly for the beautiful scenery and stores with low, low prices.  Peach could have chosen to buy Mr. Softener at the store just a few blocks from her castle, but it would be much less expensive to buy it in Petalburg, and the walk was quite refreshing.  Peach already had a store in mind.

"Ah, here it is!" Peach pointed to a small, antique looking store.  "Niff T.'s Nifty Store!  I'll be just a minute."

Peach pushed the door open, and the bell hanging above the door chimed.  "Oooh, what a pretty sound!"

"Thank you," Niff T. said with a smile.  "It's not every day somebody acknowledges my bell."

Peach blushed as the door closed behind her.  "I'd like to buy a Mr. Softener."

"Okay."  Niff T. took the Mr. Softener off of the shelf, and walked toward her.  "Normally, this would cost you eight coins, but since you're such an elegant woman, I'll drop the charge to two coins!"

Peach's brow furrowed.  "Thank you," she said huffily, "but I don't need your charity."  She threw eight coins on the ground in front of Niff T., grabbed the Mr. Softener from him, and left the store.

Mario ran up to her.  "Peach, why are you so angry?"

"That mean storekeeper thinks I'm poor," Peach began weeping.  "Doesn't think I can pay for myself."

"Well, it's all right now," said Mario, rubbing Peach's shoulder affectionately.  "Let's go back and finish doing your laundry."

"All right," said Peach, putting the Mr. Softener in her purse.  "Let's go."

The three left the small village and began walking back to Peach's castle.

"I can't believe the nerve of that storekeeper!" Peach clenched her hands into fists.

"Calm down!" said Luigi.

"You calm down!" shouted Peach.

"It'll be all right!" shouted Mario.

Peach sighed, and looked down and her feet.  "I know, I know."

Suddenly, a huge shadow appeared over them.

"Not again!" said Mario.

"MARIO!!!" screamed Peach.  The red dragon had clutched the princess with its long, hook-shaped tail.  It roared loudly and deeply, and flew off into the distance.

"My oh my!" gasped Luigi as the Princess flew out of sight.

"Princess got stolen!" Mario shouted to Luigi.

"What do we do?" Luigi asked Mario.

"We have to kill the dragon and get her back!" Mario shouted.  "You know, I'm pretty sure he took her to that castle over in the distance," he said, squinting at the horizon and pointing at a structure far away on the other side of the large field.

"Well," said Luigi, "let's go there."

Mario and Luigi got to the castle after an hour or so of walking.  They walked through a thin clearing of trees before reaching it.  However, there was a moat in the way that they couldn't cross to get into the castle.

Luigi pondered the situation.  "We can't swim across--the moat's only about half full.  The water level's not high enough for us to climb out.  If we jumped in, we'd get trapped.  We'd drown!"

"It's okay," said Mario.  "We'll just go around it."

"No," protested Luigi, grabbing Mario on the shoulder to stop him.  "We can't go around the moat because moats surround castles."

"Oh," said Mario.  "Well, maybe if we raise the water level in the moat, we can swim across without any trouble!"

Luigi shrugged.  "Fine."

They both ran around in the small forest, gathering rocks, branches, and other things, and throwing them into the moat to displace the water.  The water level hardly got any higher with each item they threw into the water, but their progress was so slow that they would never fill the moat.

"I'm so mad at that damn dragon!" Mario grumbled.  "He stole my princess.  I'm gonna kill that dragon until he gives Peach back."

Mario looked at a particularly large rock in the clearing of trees, and was surprised to see Peach's pretty pink flower lying on top of it!  Mario lifted the rock, and saw a bright red button under it!  Mario pressed the button.  Mario heard a loud rumble back at the castle, and ran over to see what happened.  Mario was surprised to see that a drawbridge had appeared over the moat!

"Peach left us a clue!  I got the drawbridge down!" said Mario cheerily.

"Let's cross it!" Luigi hollered.  They both walked into the castle.

They both ran through the big castle, up the flight of stairs, and into the big tower.

"You there, mustached people!" said the big dragon.

"Who are you?" Mario asked the dragon.

"My name is Hooktail."

"Oh.  Why do you want my princess?" Mario asked.

"I need something for dinner," said Hooktail.

"Why not eat this lovely papaya?" Luigi asked, taking out a papaya.

"No.  I only eat meat."

"Wait...wait..." said Luigi.  "You tell me you've never had papaya?"

"No.  Only meat."

"Come on, try this papaya!"

"FINE!" Hooktail roared.  "I'll eat this papaya!"  Hooktail took the papaya, swallowed it whole, and keeled over, dead.

"What just happened?" yelled Peach from her plate on Hooktail's giant dinner table.

"The papaya had poison in it," Luigi informed everyone.  "I like to carry a poison papaya with me."

"Ooooh," said Peach.  "That's very wise."  She got down from the big table.  "Hooktail really scared me when she told me I was the main course."

Mario looked confused.  "Wait a minute... what do you mean 'she told me'?"

Peach smiled, "Oh, silly!  You couldn't tell Hooktail was a girl?"

"Well, no..." Mario giggled to himself.  "I just assumed...what with the big deep voice and all..."

"Shut up, Mario!" said Luigi.  "Let's all go home!"

"Yes.  That's a good idea," said Mario.  And they all left Hooktail's castle and returned back to Peach's castle.