Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue

The commotion in the dining hall was intense. Everybody in attendance was shouting different things at one another. Suddenly, a voice cut through the atmosphere. 

“Everyone! Please be silent!”

The command made the hall fall to silence in a matter of seconds.

At the front of the table, Toadsworth shook his cane in the air.

“The princess and I didn’t call the representatives for the kingdom here to the Island of Terrao just so you can complain about the water making you sick, or the taxes!”

“Uh sir, not to sound rude, but you haven’t told us at all why we were summoned.”

A Toad said, perking up from the table.

“What? Nonsense! I explained in perfect detail why you were all summoned.” Toadsworth responded.

“Uh actually grandpa, you didn’t.” Toadette responded. She stood right next to Toadsworth and was an ambassador for the island of Terrao.

Toadsworth’s face dropped in horror.

“Ack! Impossible! How could I have forgotten?!” Toadsworth began searching for something in his pocket.

“W-well what I summoned you all for was…..uhhh…..hang on let me grab it…...it was this!!”

Toadsworth brought up his palm, balled into a fist, and opened it. The glow of the object blinded many of the toads nearby. It was a small blue object, looking almost like a piece to a toy. 

“The horror! The insanity! The shocking nature of it all!....what is it?”

A Blue Toad in the front quizzically asked.

“The locals around the Island of Terrao call it ‘A Sky Crystal’. Once a year, Terrao holds a huge, island-wide party called ‘The Sky Festival’, to celebrate the birth of the land. The Terraons already own one Sky Crystal that is underneath the island. It’s a powerful object that responds to the mini stars currently on the island that power Terrao’s infrastructure. Mario found this particular one while he was visiting the island a month ago, and the reason we are investigating is because Peach and Princess Daisy are expected to attend the festival, and reports have said that the island has been experiencing strange events happening, and people going missing”.

Toadette scanned the room to see if the representatives were all paying attention. Everyone was, and so she continued.

“They say every year the Sky Crystals fall from the sky all at once. The prophecies of Terrao however, say that if the Sky Crystals were to fall one at a time, they would bring catastrophe and bad luck. A part of the festival includes the Sky Crystals choosing someone to put them back together, which brings good fortune and luck to Terrao and the world, which is why the citizens are getting antsy about the festival going well. It’s all to ward off this “catastrophe” from happening.” 

The Toads stared at the piece, which continued to glow a bright blue light.

“You serious? If you ask me, this is all a bunch of bupkis!” 

Everyone in the room gasped at the profanity that the Toad in the middle of the table had used.

“Hey, show some respect, Toad Levit!” Toadette shouted.

The new representative from Sand Land was Toad Levit, sitting in the middle of the table.

“Pardon my language Mr. Toadsworth, but all of this seems like silly nonsense to me.”

The Toad continued, ignoring Toadette.

“Young man, you’re blind from the bigger picture! Need I remind you of the power, magic, and occurrences we’ve seen in the past? It’s not strange to say that the power of these sky crystals may actually be affecting the island. ”

Toadsworth responded.

“No sir. But may *I* remind you, who was behind all of these ‘strange events’? These acts of terror of the past? The destruction of Peach Castle, The Blorbs Disease, The Invading Forces, The Piranha Plant Infestations in The Mushroom Kingdom and here on Terrao, The Collapse of The Housing Sector in The Snow Plains, and of course, the near TOTAL destruction of the Universe? Nearly all of these acts were committed by, or were a result of that vile fiend and dictator, King Bowser!” 

The room fell silent as everyone remembered. A feeling of fear surged through the Toads as they remembered everything. The images of those days played like in a movie in their minds. 

Toadsworth tried to say something, but he was cut off by another Toad at the table.

“Yeah...you know, when you think about it like that, it makes sense.”

“Yeah, now that you mention it, this has Bowser written all over it!”

Another Toad responded.

“That’s what I’m saying. I mean, is it really such a coincidence that Bowser built his own castle on the far opposite side of the island, with his reasons being that it was a ‘vacation’ home. ‘Vacation’. Where have I heard that? The Isle Delfino Incident anyone?”

With Toad Levit’s words lingering in the air. The room erupted into debate and shouting. The Isle Delfino Incident occurred just over a year ago. Princess Peach went on summer vacation to the Isle with Mario, only for the trip to go south, when Mario was framed for destruction of property, and the Princess was kidnapped. The scheme turned out to be Bowser himself, with his son Bowser Jr, and Isle Delfino still hasn’t fully healed from the darkness and near destruction of the Shine Sprites. 

The Toads are rambling.

“Rabble Rabble”

“Rabble Rabble”

“Rabble Rabble”

Nevermind. They are Rabbling.

Toadsworth swung his cane onto the table, making all the Toads jump.

“Enough everyone! We can’t swing straight into theories like blind monkeys!”

Toadsworth shouted.

“But sir! What do we do about Bowser?! He’s gonna enslave us all and eat us for dinner!” A Toad rep shouted.

“Calm yourself Toad Johnson! There isn’t any proof of that!”

All of the Toads nodded in approval, their resistance disappearing quite quickly.

“What should we do then, Sir?”

Toad Levit asked quizzically.

“My opinion is that we strengthen forces on Terrao. Increase the count and have patrols travel Terrao.”

“Actually we had another idea. Me and grandpa-ah I mean, Toadsworth-” 

Toadette corrected herself to be professional before continuing, “-have decided that instead, we will be recalling every soldier from Terrao.”

If the silence before was strong, the silence that followed that statement was deafening. Nobody spoke a word. Toadsworth began to speak when, like the drop of a hat, every Toad in the room began shouting again, utterly shocked at the proposal, with Toad Levit leading the shouting. This continued for a solid half-minute before a Toad spoke up, which silenced everyone else.

“Are you insane man?! The Princesses will be totally defenseless and vulnerable!”

This was spoken from Toad Kerry, a freshman in the representation.

“Ah, but you’re forgetting something young man.”

Toadsworth responded.

“Toadette, chart these fools”

“You don’t need to say it like that Toadsworth” Toadette responded back. 

“Bah! I know how you kids can’t focus unless your language is spoken. I was young once too, you know? Now, chart these fools Toadette!”

Toadette sighed, but complied. She brought a marker to a whiteboard, and took some pictures from her bag that she wore on shoulder. 

“The island of Terrao acts as a bulwark against the expansion of Bowser’s Kingdom”

An Orange Toad raised his hand.

“Yes? Toad Leno?” Toadsworth asked, acknowledging him.

“What does bulwark mean?”

“It’s like one of them fancy stop signs, or caution tape”

The Toads nodded in understanding, and Toadette continued.

“It’s one of our last ones as well. The Islanders of Isle Delfino made our forces go home after we saved the Shine Sprites, and the whole business with Cackletta and Fawful made the Beanbean Kingdom call off our Mutual Alliance Pact. Terrao is 200 miles or around 321Km off the coast of the border of Bowser’s Kingdom. It’s a great way to keep an eye on any future invasions, however a recent poll of the citizens' approval shows that things aren’t looking too hot".

“They despise us. Relations between Toad soldiers and Terraoans are dropping, and fast” Toadsworth said, bluntly.

“How can that be?” A Toad rep in the front asked.

“The population here is diverse. It is one of the few places on the planet where many citizens of different kingdoms live in harmony. As such, a sense of strong local community rather than a want for big government has been formed. The only thing that they have here for a government is a representation body. The population is about 35% Toads, 61% category of citizens from the Lava Lands and Bowser’s Kingdoms, 4% of people from other places.” Toadsworth responded. 

“It’s bad enough that we are being seen like we’re occupying the island, but problems some of the soldiers are causing continue to drop our rep.”

“How bad is it?” Toad Johnson asked.

“I can answer that!” Toadette responded excitedly. She ran up to the whiteboard and jumped up to reach the top to flip it.

“I know you all have problems reading graphs and stuff, so I used smiley and frowning stickers, and neutral face stickers ”

Sure enough, the other side of the whiteboard contained the words “TOADS, BOWSER KINGDOM, OTHER, and TOTAL” written in black marker. Under each word, save for TOTAL, were 7 smiley face stickers and 3 frowny face stickers. 

“2 years ago, we were at 70% approval, vs 30% disapproval, aka, 7 smiley faces and 3 frowny faces. As time has gone on however, as we radically increased the amount of soldiers on the island, the percentages have changed.”

Toadette began shifting the stickers around. 

“And now...we are here.”

Toadette revealed the final result.

The Toad category had 6 smiles, and 3 frowns.

The Bowser Kingdom Citizens category had 3 smiles, and 7 frowns.

The Other category had 4 smiles, and 6 frowns.

And the Total category had 3 smiles, 6 frowns, and 1 lone neutral face sticker.

The Toad reps stared in shock at the board.

“Hoo boy that is uh...that is a lot of unhappy faces.”

A Toad rep commented, breaking the silence.

“Darn right it is. It’s a huge change and it has been a mess for all of us. It’s like getting spoiled about a surprise, or putting pineapple on Pizza. The only group that has our backs right now is the Toad population.”

Toadsworth responded.

“And it only gets worse. Two days ago, the Terrao representative body held a vote on whether or not to keep our troops on the island. 51 voted to keep them here….and…...49 voted to kick them out.” Toadette said with concern

Just like clockwork, the shouts of debate up around.

“You’re telling us that a possible future invasion of The Mushroom Kingdom is only being ushered back by two votes!?”

A Toad shouted in panic.

“Sorry to say sonny, but it’s true. This isn’t the time to lose our underwear however.”

Toadsworth responded.

“I didn't wear my underwear!” 

A Toad gleefully shouted.

“Horrifying, but true! It seems that if we play our cards right, we can turn public opinion around, and stop Bowser’s expansion.”

Toadsworth said with enthusiasm.

“That’s right! We’re planning to have the princess attend the festival as said before, and we plan to pull a lot of troops from the island, leaving only a core guard. Mario and Luigi are also said to be attending too, and their popularity is higher than all of us too.”

Toadette added.

The Toads got excited. Mario and Luigi were hero-celebrities in the Mushroom Kingdom, and an inspiration to nearly everyone, even people who were on the bad side of the Mushroom Kingdom. Having them be on the island would get the populace cheery for the festival, not to mention those sweet poll increases.

“Is this gonna work?”

A Toad rep asked.

“It had better. I had to put up with a lot from these stubborn Terraoan whippersnappers!”

Toadsworth responded.

“As long as we play our cards right, this will work! What’s the worst that could happen? Now, if any of you need me, I’ll be at my music shop on Steel Ave. I have a meeting with some players.”

Toadette said.

“Very well done granddaughter. All that’s left is to find one of the Toad Guards to accompany the Princess, and this whole thing will set sail. As for everyone else, this meeting is adjourned!”

Toadsworth exclaimed.

“Wait wait wait! Sir!”

Before anyone could begin packing up, a voice rang out from the table. It was the voice of a Toad. A rookie. A plain old red Toad who had not just three minutes ago been the drink server.

“Wha? Excuse me young man, but you need not worry. All the refreshments are not in need of refills.” 

Toadsworth responded.

“Not that sir! I want to help take care of the Princess!”

The proposal from such a modest Toad attracted the attention of all the representatives. 

“You? Why you?”

Toadsworth questioned, baffled by this outburst.

Unflinching, the Toad responded.

“Sir! I’ve practiced in the guard for a solid month, I know everything about the Princess and such, and I know I can be the best bodyguard ever!”

Toadsworth stood a little confused on how to proceed. Luckily, Toadette spoke up. 

“That’s quite impressive Toad, but we feel that we might need someone a lot more experienced to guard the Princess.”

Toadsworth chimed in.

“Just what I was about to say! Sad to say my boy, but a rookie without even a last name of his own, has no business being guard of the Princess”

Toadette looked a little annoyed at her grandfather’s words, but didn’t respond.

Toad looked down, feeling small tears starting to form in its eyes. Even though he walked away silently, he wasn’t giving up.

——————————————————

“Mario! Are you ready?” Princess Peach asked. 

The plumber nodded, holding suitcases in both of his hands. The princess was in front of the Castle, preparing for the flight. Luigi was parking the car inside the Castle Walls, and he and Mario were gonna help with the luggage as they flew alongside the Princess. Yoshi was snacking on an apple on the passenger seat of the Princess’s kart. He was coming along for the sole reason that Mario couldn’t find a pet sitter. Luigi was a lot more fortunate, leaving Polterpup with Professor E. Gadd. 

Toad was helping with the luggage too. He had tried a few more times to get Toadsworth to promote him to Princess Guard, but unfortunately he ended up becoming a Porter. 

“Look at him, he can’t even lift a spear.”

“He always gets distracted by something. He’ll be knocked down by a Goomba.”

“He’s weird. I heard he drew a picture of a Toad Guard on his exam.”

“He’ll never be anything.”

The voices were poking at Toad like a sharp needle. He hated those voices; always telling him he wasn’t worth the effort. He won’t give up, no matter what! He’ll become a guard for the Princess even if it meant-

“Oh no we’re so done for!”

“Calm down man! We’ll figure this out.”

Toad heard a conversation. He walked over near one side of the castle walls where two other toads were. 

One of the Toads shouted again.

“The guy is sick! How can I stay calm?! He was the only guard they were gonna send out!”

“We just need to find another guard right? I’m sure anyone would be happy protecting the Princess.” The other Toad calmly said.

Toad’s face lit up. He fixed his vest and laced his shoes. He then walked over to the two Toads.

“Good afternoon friends. I couldn’t help but overhear that you need a guard to substitute for one of your boys that’s down with a cold. Luckily, I’m your guy.”

Toad tried to sound cool. The other two were slightly skeptical.

“What’s your name, soldier?” 

One of them asked. 

“Uh my name is Toad! Toad…uh…” Toad looked around and saw the grassy fields and the castle doors, which were locked by a special mechanical keyhole.

“Toad ah…..ah…A-Key-O. Yeah! Toad Akio!”

Toad responded.

Both the other Toads looked at each other, and then turned around and engaged in a whispering conversation.

“What’s the chance that he’s lying?”

“50%”

“How desperate are we?”

“VERY.”

“How much trouble will we get into if it turns out he’s lying?”

“Above Average amount of trouble, but we could just say he was a mastermind of lying.”

“Alright I can live with that.”

The two Toads turned back around. 

“Great that you showed up Toad Akio! Here’s your ticket. Never leave the Princess’s sight, and if the Guards ask you anything, say you don’t know anything. Adiós!”

Before Toad “Akio” could respond with anything, the two Toads got in their kart and sped away.

The new Toad Akio walked back with the biggest smile on his face.

Princess Daisy came out of the castle wearing a large duffel bag on her back. She was pretty excited herself. Peach was able to bring a plus-one with her to Terrao, and invited Daisy along for the ride.

“Do you need help with that Daisy?”

Peach asked.

“Nah.”

Daisy responded. 

“Everything I need is packed in here, so I wanna keep track of it. Do we have everything we need?”

Mario looked up.

“Hm?”

Peach noticed Mario’s look and turned to face him. 

Yoshi was gone.

“Daisy, you wouldn’t happen to know where Yoshi went, do you?”

Peach asked.

“Huh? No, I thought he was in the car.”

Daisy responded.

“Wahahahaha!”

Everyone turned their heads in dread, already aware of the voice’s origin.

“No no no please don’t tell me.”

Daisy whined. 

“It’s a me Wario!”

“And Waluigi!”

Wario and Waluigi popped out of seemingly nowhere, an endearing character trait of theirs. They were always up to no good, trying to swindle people, and chasing the almighty dollar. Waluigi was holding Yoshi up from his collar, yet Yoshi didn’t seem too fazed by this as he was still snacking on his Apple.

“We heard about your little vacation, and we want in!”

Wario proudly said.

Peach looked confused.

“Vacation? You two should know that I’m going to Terrao for diplomatic business. I won’t be attending their festival.”

“Wah, who cares? Business, schmusiness. Anywhere out of the house is a vacation for me.” 

Waluigi said.

“Look, there aren't any open spaces. So why don’t you two beat it before I knock both of you out for the vultures?” 

Daisy said, waving her fist.

Wario placed the back of his hand to his forehead.

“Wahhhh! You’re so cruel! After all we’ve done for you guys!”

Crocodile tears began to stream down from his eyes. Waluigi followed suit.

“Wehhhhh we never have any money to go anywhere. You guys are so lucky. You’re royalty so everyone wants to treat you, and they all want you to be happy, while us middle class working men get kicked off our feet.”

Waluigi began to fake cry too.

Nobody was impressed.

Mario and Luigi both had skeptical looks on their faces, and Daisy crossed her arms, and raised an eyebrow.

“Oh really?”

Daisy asked.

“Wario, you own your own company. You tried to sell me a video game yesterday.”

Wario looked up. 

“Well that’s….uh”

Peach spoke up.

“Hey that’s right. Waluigi, you're an expert class dancer with your own program.”

Waluigi looked up.

“Ahem. MASTER class.”

He corrected.

Peach smiled.

“That’s right. I own all 9 of your dvds, and I’m subscribed to your channel! Your dance routines helped me lose weight!”

Waluigi had a grin on his face, one filled with smug.

“Wahaha! Glad to see you’re another person who appreciates the art of dance. Say, you wouldn’t mind saying that for a promotional ad would y-“

Before Waluigi could finish, Wario smacked his head. 

“Ow!”

“You dolt!”

Wario snapped at him.

“Whaaaaat?” 

Waluigi whined back.

“Forget it you two. You’re not coming with.”

Daisy sternly said.

Wario and Waluigi stayed silent for a while, and as they let go of Yoshi, it seemed they would be on their way.

They were not.

Wario and Waluigi both dove to the ground near Peach’s feet. They then grabbed onto her legs- Wario on her left and Waluigi on her right -and they held on tight like their lives depended on it, groveling on their knees.

“Wahhh please let us come! We wanna go really bad!”

“Pleaseeeee? Pretty Please? Pretty Please?”

Wario and Waluigi looked up at the Princess with puppy eyes and quivering lips. 

Peach looked up at Mario and Luigi, who both shrugged. She then looked at Daisy. She was massaging her temples with one hand, unable to believe that they would really stoop this low and pathetically.

Peach sighed.

“If you promise to stay on your best behavior and not cause any trouble.”

She looked down at them and continued.

“Then you can come with us.”

“Woohoo!”

“Waaaaaahahaha!”

Wario and Waluigi sprang up from the floor and began whooping it up and cheering, their crocodile tears evaporating within a nanosecond.

Daisy walked over and began whispering to Peach. 

“Are you sure about this?”

She asked.

“It’ll be fine. If anything happens, I’ll just pretend I don’t know them.”

Peach and Daisy shared a laugh while Wario and Waluigi continued cheering, totally oblivious. 

“Well, with that out of the way, I think we are all ready to go. Mario, Luigi, are you two ready?”

Peach asked.

In unison, Mario and Luigi both lifted up their suitcases: One red and One green. They both looked at each other however and realized they both had each other's suitcases! They quickly switched with each other, and flashed thumbs up to the Peach.

“Excellent. I’ll go lock the castle doors.”

As Peach walked away and Mario went to attend to Yoshi, Daisy walked up to Wario and Waluigi who were grabbing their suitcases that they conveniently already had with them. 

Daisy walked up to both of them and tugged on their earlobes.

“Owie!” 

Wario and Waluigi said in unison.

“Alright you two listen up.”

Daisy said before continuing.

“Peach is under a lot of stress and pressure right now and the last thing we need is for you two to mess something up. So let me be clear: you do anything to ruin Peach’s mission and you won’t return alive. Got it?”

“Waaah we got it. You don’t have to worry about us.”

Wario whined.

Daisy sighed before letting both of them go.

Toad Akio looked over at Princess Peach locking the doors. He had been practicing what he was gonna say for a while now. He felt confident. He walked up to her.

“Are you ready to go, your highness?”

Toad said.

“Oh yes, I’m glad you were able to show up.”

Peach said. She turned around to see the Toad that, not too long ago had been handling the group’s suitcases before disappearing.

“Oh hello! We have all our suitcases packed so we don’t need any more help.”

Toad felt his stomach drop a little. He struggled for a second on what to say next. A lightbulb lit over his head and he regained his confidence. 

“That’s what you thought, your highness! That’s my power you see. One minute I’m holding your suitcase, the next minute I’m taking down bad guys!” 

Toad exclaimed, making a chopping motion and kicking up a foot.

“I see! I didn't even realize. What’s your name, Guard?”

Peach asked.

“A-key-0, Toad at your service!”

Toad A-key-o bowed.

“A-key-0?”

Peach asked.

“No no no. Akio! You got to say it fast.”

Toad responded.

“Akio.”

Peach attempted. 

Toad Akio nodded and the two began walking back to the car.

“Let’s get going everyone, we don’t wanna miss our flight.”

Peach announced.

“Yeah yeah! Let’s get going, I want to get the window seat!”

Waluigi impatiently said.

Daisy frowned.

“Why should you get the window seat?”

Waluigi smiled back at her.

“Wah, with these looks no other seat is more deserved.”

“And I’ll take the corridor seat.” 

Wario added.

Daisy looked at Wario, just in time to hear Wario’s stomach grumble.

“Trust me on this.” 

Wario said back to her. 

Daisy was already dreading this flight. 

As everybody got into their cars, Mario heard something from the sky. Kamek was flying overhead, but suddenly disappeared into thin air. What came floating down however, were slips of paper. 

Everyone stared at the paper, and Toad was the first to pick it up. 

He began sniffing the paper.

“Well it isn’t laced with poison.”

Toad said, breaking the silence. 

“You picked a piece of paper that might have been poisoned?” 

Daisy asked.

“All for the princess of course!”

Toad shouted proudly.

Daisy raised an eyebrow, and chuckled.

“Haha. I like this guy a lot better than your other guards, Peach.”

Toad stared at the paper a bit longer. He was gonna give it to Mario right then and there, but he got a little star-struck. He managed to snap out of it however. 

“Ahem. Mr. Mario, you might wanna read this.”

Mario nodded and grabbed the slip of paper from Toad. As he read it, Mario raised an eyebrow.

Hey, Chumps! I’m throwing a Big Bowser Bash to apologize for being such a big jerk. So I’ve got a buffet of free grub laid out for all of you.

Come ‘n’ get it!

-Bowser

“Wahaha! This is tacky, even for Bowser!” 

Wario laughed.

“Wah, this isn’t tacky. It’s tasteless! That old turtle knows nothing about elegance.”

Waluigi added.

“This is the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Peach said, holding one of the papers in her hand.

“You said it.” Daisy replied.

Luigi turned the paper around, revealing to everyone in the car an address.

120 Volcano Dr, Terrao.

“What is he up to?”

Peach wondered aloud.

————————————————

“Zzzzzzzzzzz”

“Ooo ooo!” 

Diddy Kong woke up Donkey Kong, waving a slip of paper in his face.

Donkey Kong woke up groggily and read the piece of paper. Suddenly, DK felt awake and alive as he read the paper. He wasn’t very good at reading but he could make out a few words.

“Terrao……….Buffet……..Grub……..Free”

Free.

Free.

Free?

FREE!

Donkey Kong jumped in excitement and sprinted out of the forest.

“Ooo ooo!”

Diddy Kong ran behind him.

Where were they going?

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: Flung Away

The airplane arrived safely at the airport. The roads were lined with ribbons and decorations, all the way to the hotel. 

The sun shines bright on Terrao City.

The gang began to get checked in at the hotel, but Wario and Waluigi got stuck at the front desk.

“Wah! What do you mean there’s no room for us?”

Waluigi shouted.

“I’m sorry sir, but I can’t find any rooms for “Golden King Wario” and “The Prince of Dance Waluigi”. I’m afraid you’ll be placed in a regular suite, at a cost of $9500 a night”

The clerk replied.

Wario walked up to the counter and slammed his fist on it.

“Listen bub, we’re a part of Princess Peach’s diplomacy mission. So either you get us the Luxury Suite for free, or we put in a word to the Princess and have you executed for espionage!”

Princess Peach, who was nearby, froze in horror. The clerk’s eyes bulged open in terror, and she began stuttering.

“I-I-I’m so s-sorry. We will get you t-the room right away!”

The clerk managed to blurt out.

“Wait a minute! I’m not gonna-!”

Princess Peach tried to explain that she wouldn’t ever do that, but she was too late; the clerk ran off in fear for her life.

“Wahahaha! Now that’s more like it!”

Waluigi said victoriously.

“Why in the world would you say that?!”
Peach demanded an answer.

“Wah, you’re telling me you’ve never used your power to get what you want? See, that’s the difference between you and me Peach.”

Wario commented.

“And that difference being?” 

Peach asked, crossing her arms.

“You're too soft. You're a doormat! If you ask me, you gotta start becoming intimidating and scary if you want to be taken seriously.” 

Wario responded.

“Tsk. I’ll be just fine without needing to stoop down to your level.”

Peach responded annoyed.

Wario shrugged.

“Wah, suit yourself. Don't come crying to me when trouble arrives though.”

Wario smirked at her.

“Wah, c'mon let's go already! I want to get some food!” 

Waluigi whined.

The two of them then walked away. 

No matter how hard Peach tried to ignore it-after all, it was Wario that had said that-she kept on thinking about what he said.

“You’re too soft. You’re a doormat!”

Peach shook her head and began walking towards her and Daisy’s room. 

——————————————————————

Daisy was exploring the hallways before separating from Mario and Luigi. She found the door to her and Peach’s room, and tried turning the knob.

The door wouldn’t budge.

“What the?” 

She wondered aloud.

She tried ramming the door slightly. Nope

She tried lifting the door while turning the knob in case the door was just stuck. Nope, not that either. 

“Daisy?”

Peach came up from behind her.

“Hey Peach, I think the door is stuck!”

Daisy backed up and rammed the door with her shoulder, but to no avail.

“That’s because the keys are digitally locked now”

Peach responded. She grabbed a card key from her purse and tapped it on the doorknob. A small light on the side of it turned green and the door audibly clicked.

“Huh. They really changed a lot of stuff did they?”

Daisy asked out loud.

Daisy and Peach walked into the 2 bedroom room. It was recently cleaned and the decorations made it look beautiful. There was also an extra provided bed for Toad as well. The room itself was a large suite and very sizable itself. Daisy however, was more interested in the beds.

“Hyup!” 

Daisy grunted.

She threw herself onto the bed, sinking into it as if it was a comfortable, relaxing, soft grave.

“Ahhh~ that’s the ticket.” 

She said, her exhaustion from the flight disintegrating within a second.

Toad Akio walked in as well. He was carrying 3 suitcases in his hands, which dwarfed his little body.

He placed them down on the floor and jumped on the bed himself. 

“Ahhhhh these beds are way more comfortable than the ones at my place. I could get used to the royal lifestyle.” 

Daisy and Peach looked at each other.

“Akio if you don’t mind me asking, is this your first ever mission?”

Toad opened his eyes.

“Why yes it is Princess! A true honor I must say.”

Toad responded cheekily.

“That’s strange. If I recall, a soldier needs at least a few years of experience to serve as one of my personal guards.”

Peach questioned.

Toad Akio froze and his stomach was put into knots. 

“W-w-well that's because uhmm…”

Toad struggled to come up with an answer. 

“It’s because I’m that good!”
Toad yelped out, gaining some confidence.

“Yes ma’am that’s correct! My combat was just so good that Toadsworth decided to send me! Also, the guy who was supposed to guard you got sick too, so…” 

Peach nodded.

“That makes much more sense now. Well, thank you for clearing that up Mr. Akio.”
Peach smiled.

“No worries Princess, it happens to the best of us. Now, excuse me while I head to the bathroom.”

Toad Akio locked himself in the bathroom, his head still throbbing from adrenaline. He felt like he couldn’t breathe, but he managed to calm himself down. That was a close one!.….way too close.

——————————————————————

“Wah, this place is really great! I can get used to this vacation.”

“I’ll say. This food is a feast fit for Golden Wario!”

Wario and Waluigi went out and sat at a restaurant near one of Terrao’s many beaches. Wario had ordered 20 dishes of different meats, seafood, and pork while Waluigi was enjoying a special soup with a Large CoCola Drink.

“Wah, being a diplomat sure has its perks Wario!”

“Sure does pal! Let’s get going now, I wanna see the rest of this place.”

Wario and Waluigi cleaned up and prepared to leave.

“Excuse me, you two.” The koopa who had been their waitress came up with a slip of paper.

“You two still need to pay the bill. A total of 12,000 coins.”

“Weh, why of course! Send the bill to Princess Peach; we are diplomats after all. Also, add a nice 1200 tip for yourself.” Waluigi replied.

Wario and Waluigi grabbed their leftovers and left the wide-eyed waitress behind as they went on the path towards the city center. As they walked around they noticed something strange. 

Colored circles lined the road. They lined the grass into the park nearby. There was even a path of colored circles on the beach they were originally at. All of these paths had one thing in common however; they were all lead towards the town center. As they walked into the town center, Wario noticed all of the construction on the far side, and got interested in what was happening near the fountain. A Scuttle Bug worker was using its web to set up some crystal props on top of the fountain. Other workers were around as well making noise by hammering in nails, and using welding equipment.

“Hey Bug! What’s with all the ruckus?” Wario yelled.

The Scuttle Bug looked down at Wario. 

“Why sirs th’s an exclus’on area. N’ one allowed with’ut clear’nce.”

“Wehh, of course we have clearance!”

Waluigi yelled back.

“Th’t so?”

“Wah, of course! We are uhh…” Wario thought for a minute. “We are representatives of WarioWare INC. Free Press! We wanted to write a news piece about Terrao! Here’s our card!”

Wario brought out a business card that just had his company logo on it. It was also slightly crumpled and had a weird stain in the middle.

“Hmm. Well I ca’n argue wi’th a hand’ome looking logo. Wha’ are yo’r questions?”

Waluigi stepped up.

“Wehh what’s with all the circles? A dance path perhaps? I am a world-renowned dancer after all.” Waluigi exclaimed smugly, striking a pose in the process.

“No sirs. Terrao’s fest’val is a cele’ration of the sky crystal tha’ pow’rs our town. The who’e town partic’pates in a giant bo’rd game acr’ss the town. A selec’ amount of people partic’pate in the game while ever’one else watches from the si’lines and cheer them on. We’ll have food, dri’ks, and pr’zes for everyone, including some light be’ting on the side as well, all to have gre’t fun for d’ whole town yes sirs.”

“Wehh, that sounds too complicated and boring.” 

Waluigi whined.

“What about those who try to move up? How do you make sure no one cheats?”

Wario asked.

“The whole town is pre’ty adam’nt about playing fair, but we got refer’es to make sure no on’ che’ts. They surv’y the game at all time’ yes sirs.”

The worker responded.

“Wehhh, well what about a prize? Don’t tell me everyone’s just doing this for nothing.”
Waluigi asked.

“No sirs, there is ind’ed a pr’ze for the one who reach’s the end. They get the cerem’nial title KING OF THE ISLAND unt’l the rest of the fest’val, not to me’tion first prior’ty of food, drink, and a cash pr’ze yes sirs.”

Wario and Waluigi looked at each other with devious smiles.

“Wehehe. That will be all. Thank you.”

Wario started walking away. 

“A cash prize eyy? We win the board game, we get the prize, I become King. Let’s go, Waluigi.” 

Wario grinned for a second, but didn’t hear Waluigi’s response.

“Waluigi?” 

“Wahhh so I was thinking we could have a dance-off, bring some actual culture to this dull island!” Waluigi struck a pose.

“S-sir I don't’ make the decisions on tha-”

“Or or! We can have a game where we-OWW!”
Waluigi groaned in pain as Wario punched his arm. 

“Come on already!” 

Wario shouted.

——————————————————————

Mario stood out looking down at the town from his balcony. Luigi was out cold, the flight having exhausted him. He slept on the bed on the far end of the room, snoring out the letter Z. Yoshi, meanwhile, was sleeping on the far end of the bed, out cold from all the free fruit that was in the lobby, including the plastic grapes. Mario was tired as well, but not enough to sleep. He held that slip of paper from the castle in his hand.

Hey, Chumps! I’m throwing a Big Bowser Bash to apologize for being such a big jerk. So I’ve got a buffet of free grub laid out for all of you.

Come ‘n’ get it!

-Bowser

No doubt Bowser was up to something, but…could this be a real peace deal? He didn’t want to risk it, but it was too momentous of a possibility. He decided to raise this possibility with Peach later. With the welcoming dinner at exactly 21:00, he needed to catch at least some sleep, so he jumped into the other bed in the room and set an alarm for 5 hours later.

——————————————————————

Hey, Chumps! I’m throwing a Big Bowser Bash to apologize for being suc-

“Ooo!”

The slip of paper had been torn into pieces, but that was the last thing on Donkey Kong’s mind. He had made it to the Mushroom Kingdom and searched the whole place, but he didn’t find Bowser. Or ANYONE for that matter. Someone gave him some cash though!

“Ahh! Monkey! Please don’t hurt me! Here, here is my wallet! TAKE IT! AHHHH.”

These Toads sure are weird…and nice!

“Oooook!”
Diddy Kong was exhausted from attempting to catch up. When Donkey Kong is determined, it seems he develops an unnatural, infinite amount of stamina. They had made it to the port where a giant ship was parked, but still nothing. Donkey Kong sat down, saddened that he couldn’t find it, and wondered if he had been tricked.

“All aboard the MSS Sea Star! We set sail for Terrao soon! All Aboard for Terrao! That’s T-E-R-R-A-O!”

Donkey Kong looked up. A mustached Toad who seemed to be a sailor was leading people onto the boat. 

Terrao.

Why did that sound familiar?

Donkey Kong looked at the other side of the paper, the side he only had chosen to look at once. Most of the words were gone; torn or faded from the journey, except for one word that was just recognizable.

Terrao.

Diddy Kong finally arrived at the port when Donkey Kong cheered and began whooping it up. Not wanting to run any more, Diddy Kong jumped onto Donkey Kong before he started galloping towards the sailor.

“Last call for Terrao! That’s T-E-SWEET GRAVY!”

The Sailor ducked in terror of being squashed like a grape by the ape that was practically sprinting at him. After a few seconds he looked up and saw the big ape looking down at him, apparently waiting for something.

“Uhm, g-good afternoon s-sir. Do you have a t-ticket to sail with us? I-If not I can l-let you purchase one f-for 65 c-coins..”

The sailor squeaked out.

Donkey Kong got excited and banged his chest.

“Ooooo!”

He literally threw the cash he had received at the Sailor, about 200 more than what was required, and jumped onto the ship. The Sailor was almost knocked back into the water, but managed to save all the money he received.

“Uh-uhm, all aboard?”

——————————————————————

The Princesses were invited for dinner with the members of the Terraon representatives, an important occasion as Peach can raise the concern and opportunities of more Mushroom Kingdom presence on the island, and after a late arrival from Wario and Waluigi, everyone was getting ready.

“Wehh what about this Wario? Too tacky?”
Waluigi pulled out a purple, shining suit with sparkling diamonds on every single fiber.

“Wah whatever works. I’m just gonna stay here and watch tv.”
Wario said, tucking himself into the bed.

Waluigi was horrified.

“Wehhh!? Why?”

“It’s just gonna be a bunch of politicians in suits talking a whole bunch of nonsense. No thank you.”
Wario explained.

“But the opportunities are limitless Wario! Think of all the jewelry just littered about! Plus, these politicians are suckers! They will just give us land for anything!”

Waluigi rebutted.

Wario’s eyes lit up with an idea. 

“We can buy land for WarioWare!”

Waluigi smiled and nodded.

“Weheheh exactly!”

Wario took off the blanket and jumped out of bed.
“My friend, you have just persuaded me. I’ll go too.”

Wario went up to his suitcase and opened it. He pulled out a relatively clean yellow shirt. 

“I ain’t putting on a suit though.”

Waluigi nodded and looked back at the closet. 

“Ohhh I just can’t decide! This red one shouts confidence, but this one just exudes domination! I JUST CAN’T DECIDE!”

“Just wear your purple magenta-striped one. That’s the one you wear all the time anyways.”

Wario responded.

Waluigi grabbed his purple magenta striped one.

“Wehehehe You’re absolutely right.”

—--------

“There we go. Just put your foot right there aaannnddd…perfection!”

Toad exclaimed. He slipped Peach’s foot into the other high heel.

Peach looked in the mirror. She was wearing a stunning pink dress, with long pearl white evening gloves - and the pièce de resistance - her crown, which shone bright on top of her head. 

“Well Mr. Akio, how do I look?

Toad smiled and saluted. 

“Like a GDP of a trillion coins, your highness! And please, just call me Toad! Mr. Akio was my father.”

Peach chuckled.

“Very well then. You’re excused to get dressed, Toad.”

“Yes ma’am!”

Toad ran over to his suitcase and opened it. Peach walked over to the bathroom where Daisy was and knocked on the door.

“Daisy? Are you ready?”

“Yep! Give me one sec!”

Daisy walked out wearing something casual. A little too casual. She did not look dressed up to go to a party in fact. She was wearing her sports jersey, a pair of tennis shorts, and gym shoes. Peach inspected her and crossed her arms.

“What?”

Daisy asked.

“Daisy, this is a dinner party with the representative body of Terrao. I need you to dress properly for this.”

Peach responded.

“Aw c'mon, I’m not staying for long! I’m eating and then I’m leaving. Plus, I always wear this for other meetings. I've made an image for myself I’ll have you know.” 

Daisy said defending herself.

“I understand Daisy, but I really need you to wear one. The Terraon Representatives are very adamant about formal attire. Just for tonight! I promise I’ll make it up to you. Please? Pretty please?”
Peach begged her.

Daisy shut her eyes.

“Nope. Nuh uh. Nice try. You can’t make me.”

Daisy kept her eyes shut to avoid Peach’s gaze, the “argument-killer” you could call it. She slowly couldn’t resist and took a quick peek at Peach. 

Peach anticipated this so she made her eyes sparkle, puckered her lips, and made the saddest puppy face she could.

Dang it.

“Fine, I will wear a dress. I’m wearing my orange one though, it’s the only one I'm comfortable with.”

Peach smiled and hugged Daisy oh so sweetly.

“Thanks cuz.” 

Peach said.

“Yeah yeah alright heh.”

Daisy responded.

Coincidentally, Toad had finished dressing up. 

“Well your highness’s, I’m ready!”

Toad shouted. He walked to the bathroom as if he had readied a surprise reveal. 

“Well? Not too shabby huh?”

Peach and Daisy blankly stared at what they saw. Besides a normal pair of blue pants, Toad was wearing a peculiar dress shirt. It was a plain white color with pictures of Mario and Luigi littered all over it. Different logos and faces all over it. Not to mention the giant satchel he wore on his side, clearly filled with multiple items that were causing the fabric to bulge.

“That’s uhm…not what I was expecting.”
Peach said.

“Hey at least it looks comfy.”
Daisy said.

—--------

Mario looked into the mirror. He loved how his suit came out! It was a black suit with a white undershirt and a red tie to go with his hat, which yes, he was keeping on. Luigi was the same, except his suit came with a green bowtie with his suit and his green hat. Yoshi was sorting through the suitcase. He was worried because he couldn’t find what he had brought. He emptied the whole suitcase on the floor.

“Yoshi!” 

Yoshi cried out.

Mario and Luigi ran over to see what was wrong. Yoshi couldn’t seem to find his leather shoes or his favorite red shell. Mario grabbed the suitcase and smacked the bottom of it a few times in case something got stuck. The shoes fell out, but not the shell. 

“Hmm.” 

Luigi wondered. 

He grabbed the suitcase and put it on his head.

“Hmm…Oh! I got it!” 

Luigi exclaimed. He pulled the suitcase off to reveal the shell on his head. He took it off and handed it to Yoshi. 

Knock Knock!

Mario answered the door to Peach, Daisy and Toad.

“Hi guys! Are you all ready?”

Peach asked.

Mario stepped forward and fixed his cap, smiling a bright smile. 

Luigi, being a little shyer, walked around him and nodded.

“R-ready!” 

Peach stretched her arm before talking again.

“We have about a half-hour before we need to arrive, so let's quickly move to the lobby so we can get out of the way of traffic-

“Wahahaha! Readyyyy!”

Everyone turned around to see Wario and Waluigi strutting towards them like they owned the place.

Daisy rolled her eyes.
“Well at least you both tried to look tolerable.”

Peach seemed unaware that Wario and Waluigi were actually serious about attending, and seemed at a loss for words.

She sighed.

“What are you two planning? I asked you both to stay out of trouble did I not?”

Waluigi gasped and put his hand on his chest.

“Wehhh?! I am SHOCKED and OFFENDED you would think so lowly of us.”

“We do.”

Daisy bluntly responded.

“Wahhh Well exccuuuusssseeee me Princess! You had said you were coming here to Terrao on business. Well so are we! What better representatives for WarioWare than us two.”

Wario shot back.

“Wehehe that’s right!”
Waluigi added on.

“It’ll be fine Princess! You won’t even notice we’re there, I guarantee it! Would we lie?”

Wario and Waluigi huddled close together and grinned in unison. Both of them were the nastiest grins Peach could ever imagine. Smiles that basically screamed ‘untrustworthy’. Peach couldn’t help but sigh again in defeat. She had neither the time, nor the energy to spare on the two of them. 

“Very well then. Do you have transportation to get there? I don’t think we will all be able to fit inside the car they provided us.”

“Wahhh you should know Peach that you never get there early. Shows weakness. You gotta show your strong arm! Me and Waluigi will get there after we go do some more sightseeing.”

Wario responded.

“Fine by us. You get arrested though, you’re on your own.” 

Daisy said. 

Everyone started heading towards the entrance while Wario and Waluigi stayed behind.

“Pfft. What a bunch of bupkis. Us get arrested? Who do they think we are?”

Wario huffed.

“Wah that’s right!” Waluigi responded. “If anything, those filthy elitists should be arrested and have their wallets and bank trust funds unloaded!”

“You said it buddy! Now let's go rob people!”

Wario exclaimed.

“WAHAHAHAHA” Wario and Waluigi cheered.

—--------—--------—--------—--------

To the horror of everyone on board, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong were helping themselves to the massive portions of food that were available at the buffet table. One of the crew ran to the ship’s deck where Admiral Toaddington, Captain of the MSS Sea Star, was.

“Sir, we require assistance down in the restaurant immediately! The Monkeys are tearing the buffet apart!”

The Admiral rolled his eyes.

“Sailor, I understand your dissatisfaction with working in the kitchen, but calling the customers “monkeys” is intolerable and simply immature.”

“N-no sir! It’s the truth. There are monkeys down there! Have a look!”

The Sailor sputtered.

The Admiral looked down at the restaurant and gasped as he saw the situation for himself. DK and Diddy Kong were helping themselves to the fruit section after gorging on all of the meat.

“Good gravy! Those apes are going bananas on the fruit bouquet!”

He shouted.

“What are your orders sir?”
The Sailor asked.

“Send a squad down there to deal with those apes and avenge the fruit bouquet! Oh and also, get me a bowl of Mushroom Cream Soup with Garlic Breadsticks and a Cherry Cola. Get to it Sailor!”
The Admiral barked back.

“Sir yes sir!”

The Sailor ran to the other side of the room where a phone was.

“Attention Squad 3! We have a code 1044.5 on board at the restaurant. Make haste immediately!”

A group of Toads armed with spears entered the Buffet area. Donkey Kong and Diddy were trying to find more food left out, but couldn’t find anything. DK looked up and stared at the sailors coming in. One Toad without a weapon leads the group. He held two huge stalks of bananas, and as he walked forward the Toads readied their spears. 

“Psst. Heya apes. You want these bananas?” 

More food eh?

“Ooo ooo!” Donkey Kong responded.

“Well I got this and plenty more! Follow me!”

Diddy was slightly suspicious, but he figured DK was strong enough to deal with anything, and besides, who can say no to more bananas?

Diddy jumped on DK’s back and they both raced after the Toad with the stalks, who was sprinting away from the buffet table towards the side of the ship. The spear-armed Toads followed close by, ready in case the monkeys made a wrong move. 

The Toad with the stalks was still in an impressive sprint, and as he reached the side of the ship with a view of the ocean, he threw the stalks in a nearby lifeboat that was also filled with plenty of bananas already. DK and Diddy stopped in their tracks and cheered when they saw it. 

“Ooo ooo!”
“Oook oook!”

They both jumped into the piles of bananas on the lifeboat, and as they froliked in that great yellow heaven, an armed-Toad cut the rope holding the lifeboat up. The lifeboat plummeted into the ocean below to the sounds of the cheering sailors.

“Phew, that was a close one!” 

Remarked one of the sailors.

“Yeah, we did a fine job making sure these apes were steered clear of causing chaos to anyone!”

The sailors cheered and whooped it up, not realizing DK and Diddy were drifting towards Terrao.

—--------—--------—--------—--------

A lone Pianta raised his glass and began tapping his fork against it.

“Hear hear everyone!”

The crowd of well-dressed elites quieted their talking and turned to face the Pianta; a member of The Terraon Representative Body.

Not everyone stopped talking however so another representative of the Body, a Shy Guy with a dark blue suit, spoke up.

“Everyone! Leader Prantiss has some words to say.”

The entire crowd was finally hushed, and Leader Prantiss gave his thanks with a nod to his colleague - Representative Beau - before continuing.

“Everyone, let me start off by saying it is an honor to have you all here on our island’s 50th annual Sky Festival! For the first time since our founding, we here have in attendance our wonderful friends from Isle Delfino, Sarsaland, and of course, her royal highness Princess Peach!”

Prantiss gestured to Princess Peach who was seated at the table closest to the front. She and Daisy gave a smile and a wave which were met with scattered clapping. Toad Akio, who was seated next to Peach, tried clapping as hard as he could to fill what seemed to be an underwhelming response.

Mario and Luigi were busy helping themselves at the Chocolate Fountain, and at first didn’t seem to notice the speech. Prantiss however, noticed them.

With a huge smile, he gestured to the chocolate fountain.

“Ah and of course we have in attendance our Superstar Heroes, our Men of Odyssey and dare I say our Ultimate Dream Team, Mario and Luigi!”

The crowd noticeably roared to life with cheers and applause. Luigi got caught off guard and almost slipped. Mario realized the situation and instinctively stuck up his hand to wave.

“Mmmff!” 

His mouth was stuffed with chocolate-coated marshmallows.

Prantiss laughed. 

“This festival is no doubt to be our grandest yet! Please everyone, enjoy yourselves and remember to party!”

Prantiss raised his glass.

“To the Sky Festival!”

“TO THE SKY FESTIVAL!”

Everyone replied and drank.

“Mmmamamf!”

Mario replied.

“Oh yeah!”
Luigi replied as well, not wanting to be left behind.

—--------—--------—--------—--------

Although it was still a few hours until midnight, most of the guests at the party had already left to tour the town, which had already opened up a partial festival despite the main event still being days away. 

Mario had brought Peach some food, but she had too much on her mind to even think about eating. Luckily the food wasn’t wasted, as Daisy took her plate when it was clear she wasn’t hungry, and scarfed down the whole plate before disappearing somewhere. Yoshi was outside in the garden exploring. Luigi was trying to put more marshmallows in the chocolate fountain, but his finger got caught in one of the gears.

“M-Mario!” 

Mario jumped out of his seat and ran over to Luigi to help him.

Peach didn’t even notice.

Her thoughts were stuck on the recent policy decisions the Terraon Body tried to pass, including one which would’ve forced the Toad Guard permanently off the island. She shook her head and got up from her seat. She needed answers to at least calm some of her nerves. She tried to put on a smile and change her body language. She wiped her face with a napkin to clean off some crumbs on her face, and began walking to Leader Prantiss.

“Leader Prantiss?”
Peach asked, intentionally trying to get his attention.

Prantiss looked up from his food and wiped his mouth with a napkin before responding.

“Ah Princess Peach, are you enjoying our food and drink selection? We ordered only the finest selection from the Chuckola Cola Reserve.”

“It was quite delicious Leader Prantiss, but I actually wished to speak with you about a few things.”

Prantiss looked back at his drink and grabbed it, sipping some more before continuing.

“Ah, I knew this conversation was coming.”

Prantiss got out of his seat.

“Excuse us everyone, I will return momentarily.”

He said to the guests at his table.

Peach and Prantiss walked over to the venue’s balcony, and watched the citizens below go about their business.

“I’ll let you go first.” Prantiss said to Peach, allowing her to take the lead.

“This island is a truly beautiful place Leader Prantiss, but I’m in need of your cooperation. I understand your concerns with our soldiers, but a permanent withdrawal can’t be accepted. We are looking to return many of our soldiers after the Sky Festival, as we simply cannot allow Bowser a foothold on Terrao.”

Prantiss sipped more of his drink, and watched a single firework explode in the distance before speaking.

“I understand your highness. I am no fan of King Bowser myself; I see him as an untrustworthy tyrant. However, I must represent my people and their will, and my people feel that you’re men have overstayed their welcome. My apologies in advance but I must be blunt to you, your majesty, in order to get to the point quickly; no one here cares about your politics.”

Prantiss said. 

He put emphasis on his last words to really, really get his point across, which certainly worked because Peach was slightly taken aback, but she quickly composed herself while Prantiss continued.

“What I mean by that is, Terraons don’t care about what happens in your kingdoms. Terraons in general are extremely anti-government so to speak. My people are so against any idea of a large government body that until a couple of years ago we didn't have any organized government whatsoever. Simply creating the Representative Body took years of persuasion and regulations as you can imagine, and they care even less about other kingdom’s politics. People just don’t want the trouble. ”

Prantiss sipped more of his drink, and Peach watched a firework ignite in the sky before speaking.

“I understand wanting to get away from all the trouble. I’ve heard from multiple families on the island that they moved to Terrao to get away from the dangers facing the Mushroom Kingdom. It’s extremely expensive to move here, but many people still do it. I believe, however, that Bowser is still a threat on this island. We’ve been detecting suspicious activity from him for a while now, such as a fleet of his ships that were circling our kingdom and here on this island. I hear that he has his own property here on Terrao as well. An investigation of this building should be conducted immediately.”

Toad Akio was listening in from behind the doors. He had followed Peach onto the balcony to watch her, and now he was sipping a bottle of Cola he swiped from the counter. It’s not stealing if the drinks are provided for free.

Prantiss shook his head. 

“I can’t do that Peach. It would help both of us alot but I simply can’t.”

“Well, why not?”
Peach asked.

“Well, here’s a big reason.”

Prantiss reached into his pocket and pulled something out. 

It was a Bowser action figure!

Prantiss pressed a small lever on the back, which prompted the toy to lift its big arms in the air. 

Peach’s mouth dropped. Prantiss saw this and continued.

“Here’s a gift a little girl gave me while I was at the park.”

Prantiss reached into his other pocket, and pulled out a doll. 

A Bowser doll! It was small and made out of crochet, with little button eyes and spikes swirling out of his back.

Prantiss then grabbed the doll with his other hand, holding both the action figure and doll in one hand, and reached into his front pocket with the free hand. He pulled out what looked like a small piece of paper. 

“This isn’t a napkin.”
Prantiss remarked.

Holding one end of the paper, he let a fold of the paper go, which unraveled itself. What was once paper revealed itself to be a page of Bowser stickers!

Prantiss left the toys and the sticker page on a nearby chair.

“Not to mention-

Boom!


Before Prantiss could continue, another firework ignited in the sky. Peach and Prantiss turned to face the sky, and watched another firework explode in the sky. The resulting colors appeared. Red, Yellow, and Green. 

The fireworks recreated Bowser’s face in the sky.

“Bowser has had a different approach to Terrao than your kingdom has. When he bought property here on Terrao, he inserted himself into our traditions and tried to be involved. At first people weren’t happy to have him-I’ve already mentioned how my people feel towards other kingdom’s affairs-but he began to finance many projects across the island. Bridges, parks, the airport you arrived in, he’s inserted himself into our politics as well. He’s also done some PR work around the island and slowly the people have become welcoming toward him. Even though I have tried to warn the Body about the danger he poses, many representatives won’t listen; and now the trouble your soldiers have been causing has really exemplified the differences between your kingdom’s presence and Bowser’s. If his property were to be investigated, it could enrage the people, and both of our work would be for not.” Prantiss explained.

Peach was disturbed. It was absolutely bizarre and just straight up weird to see Bowser celebrated somewhere outside of the Lava Lands. Sure people who loved Bowser lived everywhere, but she had never seen such admiration concentrated anywhere like here.

“Goodness…Is that all?”
Peach warily asked.

Prantiss looked at her and glanced down at the floor before looking back at her.

“Well….you might not wanna look down.”
He responded.

Peach looked down.

She was standing on a carpet. It had a cartoony version of Bowser smiling and winking back at her.

This was enough.

Peach stepped off the carpet before continuing.

“Is there any way for us to keep a force here at all? I can promise stricter control and regulation over our soldiers but I have a feeling that won’t be enough now would it?”

She asked.

Prantiss nodded his head.

“The expectation is that your soldiers will be gone after the Sky Festival. Only a cataclysm of events can turn that ocean tide.”

Peach thought for a minute. A cataclysm of events huh? Like for example…a peace settlement? Peach remembered the slip of paper that was airdropped on them back at her castle. 

“What if - and keep in mind this is just an idea - a peace was achieved between the Mushroom Kingdom and Bowser? Even a temporary one?”
Peach asked.

Prantiss raised an eyebrow and chuckled. 

“With Bowser? That turtle wouldn’t agree to anything like that in a million years.” Prantiss swirled his drink again before continuing. “However, if that could be accomplished or if the people could see his tricks, they may be more convinced to keep a friendly peacekeeping force on our island; so long as they follow our rules of course. Like I said though; it’d take a million years for that to happen.”

Peach smiled.

“Well… let’s hope a million years comes quickly.”

Peach began to walk back inside the manor. Toad saw this and hid underneath a chair. 

“I enjoyed this discussion, Leader Prantiss. We’ll talk another time.”

Peach added.

Prantiss sipped the last of his drink, slightly miffed about the last bit of the discussion.

“Very well Princess Peach. Enjoy yourself.”

Prantiss replied.

Peach walked back towards the entrance and walked over to Mario, who just helped Luigi out of the chocolate fountain. 

“Mario? Luigi? May I speak with you two? It’s very important.”

Peach asked. 

“Mhm!” Mario replied.

“Ok!” Luigi responded, still covered in chocolate.

“Princess!”

Peach looked back to see Toad Akio running towards her from the hallway. 

He ran up to her, and almost keeled over from running out of breath.

“Toad? What is it?”

“As your… huff …personal guard, it's important I stay… Huff …by your side at all times. Phew…I heard your conversation with that Prantiss guy.”

Toad responded through his breath.

“I see. Well I’m glad you’re here, can you grab my purse for me?”

Peach responded.

“Yes ma’am!” 

Toad sped off and grabbed Peach’s purse from the table, he returned swiftly and handed it to her.

“Thank you Toad.”

Peach reached inside her purse and pulled out the invitation from Bowser. She read it a few times over. Mario saw the slip and remembered the one he brought that he was going to bring up to Peach. He brought it out and read it a few times himself. 

“Guys, I need to tell you something. Toad, since you’re a guard yourself you may already know, but relations between the kingdom and Terrao have been dropping. The Mushroom Kingdom is in bad shape reputation-wise across the world in general and we need to fix it, especially here on Terrao. So…”

Peach put the invitation back into her purse as she finished memorizing the address, before continuing. “So I’m taking up Bowser’s offer for his dinner.”

Toad’s eyes widened. He ran up to her and saluted.

“Permission to speak, Princess?”

Peach raised an eyebrow.

“Permission granted.”

“Say WHAT!?”

Toad shouted, attracting attention from the other partygoers for a few seconds.

“Princess, you should know as well as anybody that Bowser can never be trusted! That peace deal is probably just a facade!”

Luigi nodded. Mario was lost in thought.

“Perhaps it is. However, we are in desperate times. If I don’t have anything to show, any solid, presentable proof at all that the Toad Guard needs to stay on the island; there will be nothing to stop Bowser from rolling on through the island, or staging another attack on the Mushroom Kingdom.”

“Hey guys! what’s going on?”

Daisy had appeared behind them, catching everyone off-guard, including Luigi who slightly jumped.

“Daisy? Where have you been?”

Peach asked.

“I was downstairs. This place has a pool-table and card games!” 

Daisy said with excitement shining through her eyes. It was no surprise; Daisy loved card games.

Toad ran up to Daisy and saluted. 

“Your Majesty! Perhaps you can talk some sense into the Princess!”

Toad exclaimed.

“You can just call me Daisy, Akio; and talk sense into what?”
Daisy asked.

“I will be attending the dinner that Bowser invited us to, Daisy.”

Peach responded, answering her question.

Daisy lifted an eyebrow, surprised by this strange demeanor that Peach had in her all of a sudden.

“Cuz, you can’t be serious. You already know that turtle is just faking it. He’s done it plenty of times before.  Why would it be any different now?”

Daisy asked.

Peach looked at her, and then looked down for a little bit, struggling to find the words. Even she was aware how much of a nothing chance this was. It was dangerous, foolhardy, and just very dumb. The other options however? To withdraw and have another threat to the Kingdom become available? After the last few years have been failure after failure? After so many in her kingdom were hurt from the attacks that were launched against them? There has been setback after setback after setback, and now here she was on the verge of losing ANOTHER form of protection for her people. Action NEEDS to be done now.

“I understand the danger, but we have no choice! The Toad Guard needs to stay on the island, and this is the surest way to get that to happen.”

Peach explained. 

Daisy looked into Peach’s eyes. She knew what that look meant. No doubts, no regrets, Peach was ready to race in there and get things done. Not that she didn’t agree with the methods, but this kind of thing was unusual for her. 

Daisy looked around, and then back at Peach, and smiled. 

“Heh. Alright I’m in.”

Peach looked up in surprise. Toad’s mouth dropped to the floor. 

“Are you sure?”
Peach asked.

Daisy nodded in response.

“Well it’s more exciting than being stuck here anyway!”

Peach let out a sigh of relief. Toad tried to sputter something out but couldn’t find the words.

“Thank you so much Daisy!”
Peach responded happily.

Daisy looked at Luigi who stood right next to her.

“You’re totally coming with us right?”

Daisy asked him.

Luigi looked down for a few moments, a tad shy, and hesistant. He then looked back up and grabbed the brim of his cap and nodded firmly, just like how Mario does it.

“M-Mmhm!” 

He responded readily, still hesitant.

Daisy smiled and wrapped one of her arms around Luigi’s neck, causing him to blush.

“That settles it then!”

She exclaimed.

Toad however, was still in shock. 

“Ah Mr. Mario! Surely you would say that-”

Toad stopped. Mario was nowhere to be found.

Peach saw Toad’s confusion and looked around herself. 

“Hey, where did Mario go?”

Peach wondered. 

“Oh Mario? He ran out the door a couple of minutes ago.” A waitress chimed in.

—------------------------------------------

Mario was sprinting through town to get to Volcano Drive quickly. Yoshi was quickly following behind him, not entirely knowing why but nevertheless still following. Mario stopped near an intersection. A diverse number of buildings serving different purposes were positioned on all sides of the street. A library, an embassy, and the Terraon Jungle lay to the East. While deciding where to go, Yoshi finally caught up and sat down to catch his breath.

—-------------------------------------------

“Get your Candy Bags here! Candy Bags! Only 8 coins!”
A shopkeeper shouted out.

The Sky Festival wasn’t to start until the end of the month, but a few stands have already opened up shop, creating a smaller festival for people to explore and eat. 

Wario smelled the waft coming from many of the stands and felt himself floating.

“Wahhhhh that smells delicious.”

Waluigi stood beside him. He didn’t care much for the sugar-filled candies, but the hotcakes? 

“Wehhhh these losers know how to make good food!”

Waluigi responded. 

Wario looked around. There was a man on his knees who was helping a child tie his shoes, most likely a father and his kid. In his back pocket was undoubtedly a full wallet. Wario went up to his back pocket and stealthily relieved him of his cash before returning the wallet back to him and walking up to one of the stands.

“Hey Bomb! Give me two of those bags!” 

Wario then demanded. 

The Bomb-Omb manning the stand smiled and launched two bags towards him.

“Thank you for your patronage, big smelly man!”

Wario opened one of the bags and took a bite out of one of the candies, which was a small chocolate candy that was in the shape of a mushroom.

Waluigi walked up to a woman who was in the shape of a bean, and stopped her.

“Madam, I am so pleased to have walked in on you! Today is your luckiest day!”

Waluigi exclaimed.

The Bean woman raised an eyebrow at him.

“Excuse me?”

She asked.

Waluigi continued.

“I couldn’t help but notice your watch on your wrist. Where did you happen to acquire it from?”

The woman looked at the golden colored watch on his wrist.

“Well it isn’t actually mine, I’m just carrying it right now. I got it for my husband’s birthday at Donsanto’s Watches down the street.”

Waluigi sighed.

“You must have spent quite a fortune on it, a present to show off your love and capture your man’s heart forever. Which makes it all the more shameful that you have been duped!”

The woman’s eyes bulged in horror.

“D-duped!?”

Waluigi smirked before continuing.

“Donsanto has been running the gemstone business for decades now, and to make sure profits stay high and costs stay low, they create fake artificial metal and quartz to save money. You, my fair lady, have a fake watch on your hands.”

The woman stared at the watch in horror.

“I-It can’t be! I spent so much on this!”

The woman panicked.

Waluigi grabbed her hands before continuing.

“Madam please, no need to worry. In fact, it just so happens that I have the solution!”

Waluigi let go of her hands and opened up his suit, revealing a silver toy watch from one of the pockets.

“This baby here is the real deal! None of that artificial quartz or spray paint gold like the one on your wrist, this one here is made of real titanium! Here, give it a listen!”

Waluigi took the woman’s hand, took her watch off and clinked the watches against each other. The toy watch made a clink sound similar to a coin.

“Watches like this tend to go for 2300 coins yes? Then, I’ll sell you this one here for 1200, and you can return that nasty fake one back to Donstinko!”

Waluigi exclaimed.

The con worked. The woman eagerly paid the money, grabbed the two watches and fled back to the store to make a return. Unbeknownst to her however, Waluigi had two watches: a toy silver and toy gold one. He laughed at the golden watch he held in his hand, while the woman made off with her new “titanium” watch to go return her “Donsanto” watch.

Waluigi slid the watch in his coat, and met back up with Wario, who was snacking on more candy. 

“This is great Wario! These suckers wouldn’t know a 7 to a 9. Wehehehe!”

Waluigi laughed.

Wario laughed as he ate another candy from his second bag.

“Wahaha I never want to leave this place! Good food, good parties, good suckers!”

Waluigi looked at his new watch for the time. It was 11:23.

“Wehh Wario, when are we gonna go to that party thing the others are at?”

Waluigi asked.

Wario looked up at him.
“Huh? Oh yeah, we should probably get going. We still gotta talk with those uhh….”

Wario trailed off as he watched Luigi, Toad, and the Princesses run past them further into town.

Waluigi saw them as well.

“Wehh? Where are they going?”

He asked. 

“Wahhh Hey losers! Where’s the fire!?”
Wario asked, but got no answer.

“Excuse us you two.”

Wario and Waluigi turned around to see two men. A Goomba with a Helmet, and a Monty Mole, who were dressed in blue and wore patches that said “Sheriff” on them.

Wario smiled and bowed.

“Wahhh good evening officers! How can us two upstanding citizens help you?”

The Goomba cop walked forward.

“We’ve been getting reports of criminal activity happening in this area. The descriptions include one short, plump man in yellow, and one tall handsome man with good taste in fashion.”

Waluigi smiled and fixed his hair.

“Wahh? That can’t be us, we’ve been attending this wonderful festival!”
Wario responded.

The Monty Mole cop replied back,

“We’ve gotten reports of counterfeit watches being sold, wallets being stolen, and a bomb threat at a public restroom.”

Waluigi looked at Wario with a raised eyebrow.

“Wahh trust me, it’s not the bomb threat you’re thinking of.”
Wario responded.

Both cops pulled out handcuffs.

“You two are coming with us.”
The Goomba responded

Wario walked up and put his arms up.

“Gentlemen gentlemen you have the wrong idea! We are completely innocent. However, I can't say the same about those two!”
Wario pointed accusingly at two trees.

The cops turned their heads to see the trees, one splashed with yellow paint, and the other splashed with purple. When they turned back however, Wario and Waluigi were gone.

“Crumbs!”

The goomba cop shouted.

The other cop pulled out a small, mushroom-shaped walkie talkie.

“We have our suspects, code 946. Lock the area down, and make sure the Toad Guard doesn't intervene! We aren’t repeating what happened yesterday!”

“Roger!” A voice on the other side of the talkie replied.

—--------------------------------------------------

It took some time but the rest of the gang caught up to Mario and Yoshi. Mario found a nearby map from a tourist info center and was trying to read it.

“Mario!” 

Peach shouted.

Mario looked up to everyone approaching them.

Peach was exhausted from the running, Toad and Luigi fell to the ground to catch their breath, and Daisy was trying to get some rocks out of her shoes.

“Please wait for us next time Mario!”
Peach pleaded.

She laid down on the nearby wall to support her breathing. Mario walked up to her, and pointed at a spot on the map. Peach looked at it for a few moments, and then grabbed the map to get a better look at it.

“I see. So it’s down to the left and to the right up to the hills.”
Peach said.

Toad stood back up.

“S-so wait, we are really doing this?”
Toad asked.

Peach looked down from the map at Toad. 

“Yes we are.”
Peach responded firmly. 

Mario nodded, and Toad sighed.

“Okay then. I’ll make sure you aren’t harmed!”

Toad Akio responded, ready to serve his duty.

Peach smiled. 

“Thank you Toad.”

“Wahhhhhhh!”
The gang all collectively turned to look at the source of the sudden noise. Wario and Waluigi came sprinting in from the right, slowing down at the end of the street where everyone was.

“Where did you two come from?”

Peach asked, surprised.

Wario and Waluigi both regained their composure, and stood back up.

“Wahh we were uhhh we were just going for a nice jog!”

Wario responded.

Daisy wasn’t convinced in the slightest.

“Really? A jog? You?”
She asked.

“Wehh of course! The real question is, why are you all here?”

Waluigi asked, flipping the question.

“None of your business, troublemakers!”
Toad responded. 

“Hey watch it bud.”
Wario responded.

“Enough. Look if you both are so curious, I am going to meet with Bowser.”
Peach responded.

Waluigi laughed.

“Wehehehe! You? That’s pretty funny!”

“Wahhh, I expected this from Goody-Two Shoes Mario and Luigi, but you princess?”
Wario said, to the frowns of Mario and Luigi.

Wario then stared at Peach for a few moments. Then a lightbulb went over his head.

“Oh!”

Wario’s eyes lit up.

“Wahaha I see I see. I get it now pinky!”

Peach gave him a confused look.

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re finally learning to grow a spine! How wonderful! In that case, I’ll come with you.”

Wario said, smiling and crossing his arms.

“Wehh me too me too!”
Waluigi chimed in.

“What are you two talking about?”
Daisy asked suspiciously.

“What exactly are you aiming for here?”

“Wahhh, no agenda here Daisy. We just want to support our dear Princess Peach.”
Wario put his arm together and blinked his eyes oh so innocently as if he was a lost puppy.

“Besides, those shreds of toilet paper we got said Bowser was gonna have some free grub! I want in.”
Wario gripped onto his shirt and tore it off, revealing the exact same shirt underneath, with a few added stains on it. 

“Sometimes you just gotta jump into the action to get stuff done!”

Though he was a pain to deal with, Mario agreed with what he said. He grabbed his own suit and tore it off, revealing his famous red shirt and blue overalls underneath. Luigi followed, tearing his suit off and revealing a green shirt and blue overalls.

Toad sighed and did the same, revealing his vest. 

“Aw man. I can’t believe I didn’t think about that!” Daisy whined.

Wario looked up at Waluigi.

“Ahem.”

Waluigi looked back in horror.

“Wehhh! Absolutely not! Not this beauty!”

Waluigi responded, clutching his suit like his life depended on it.

Wario rolled his eyes, and in doing so noticed something down the street. Waluigi noticed as well. The two cops that confronted them were now on the same street as them, asking around, most likely for their whereabouts. 

“Very well then. Let's continue on.”
Peach said, before stopping herself.

“Ah perhaps I should go inform Toadsw-”

“Wahh look at that, time to go!”
“Wehh yep yep don’t wanna keep the turtle waiting!”

Wario and Waluigi quickly ushered the rest of the gang down the road, much to their confusion.

—------------------------------------------------

“Ooooooook”
Donkey Kong felt his stomach rumble. Not from hunger, but from pain. He was stuffed, TOO stuffed. He laid in anguish as he reckoned with the worst kind of pain an ape could have: a stomachache.

Diddy was full too, slightly seasick. 

“Oooo”

Diddy looked at another banana. No, he couldn’t do it, no he couldn’t….okay maybe he could. 

He grabbed the banana and peeled it. Eating it in small bites.

And their boat floated on.

—----------------------------------------------

The gang crossed the path of volcanic rock onto Volcano Drive, a road circling Terrao’s volcano, before crossing the path to Bowser’s home at last. They arrived at the doors, which were huge, and connected to a door frame that was covered in dark spikes.

“Well…here goes nothing.”

Peach quietly said. She knocked on the door.

Silence. She knocked again.

There was an answer. The door was swung open.

“Look girls, I enjoyed the mint-chocolate, but a king can only buy so many boxes of cookies.”
Bowser said. He was holding a basket of what seemed to be scattered clothes and some shells. 

He looked down and his eyes widened.

“Ahem. Bowser.”
Peach said, clearing her throat.

Bowser stood still for a few seconds. Then he slammed the door shut with his foot. 

Scattered noise was heard from behind the door, including the sound of a basket of items being thrown. The door was reopened, and Bowser was wearing a red and black tie and was no longer holding the basket.

“Princess Peach! I am so glad you were able to come.”
Bowser looked down at Toad, who was holding out his hands in a t-stance trying to block him off from the princess.

“Good to know you brought one that hasn’t run off yet.”
Bowser continued. 

Bowser surveyed and saw the Mario Bros. His gaze hardened, but before he got lost in anger, he calmed down and fixed his tie. 

“Ahem. Mario. Green Guy.”

Mario stood firm. Luigi gulped.

“And Yoshi. Good to see you here. Remember when I trapped you and your clan into blocks? Heheh, good times! Glad to see it's all in the past now!”
Bowser passive aggressively mocked.

Yoshi snarled in response.

“Daisy as well. You know, I totally forgot Sarsaland was still a thing.”
Bowser said.

“Bite me turtle.”
Daisy replied.

Bowser chuckled.

“It’s good to see you all here and…uhh…what are you two doing here?”
He asked Wario and Waluigi.

“Wahh you invited us King!”

Wario asserted.

“Wehh that's right! We got your invitation as well! We are honored to be guests here in your…steaming humble abode.”
Waluigi added.

Bowser smiled. 

“Well hey, the more the merrier right? Why don’t you all come in and make yourselves at home.”
Bowser moved out of the way of the door, allowing the gang to walk into the castle.

Bowser shut the door, and walked up to lead from the front.

“Bowser, is it true you wish for peace?”
Peach asked bluntly.

“Well of course! Why else would I invite you all here. I couldn’t bear to stand all the wrongdoings I’ve done over the past years, and I wanted to show apologies.”

Bowser responded. 

Daisy rolled her eyes.

“Apologies huh? Right now? Out of the blue?”
She interrogated.

“I too was shocked by it, but the proof is in the kitchen.”
Bowser responded. 

As he did, everyone entered the dining room area.

A powerful, delicious smell wafted through the air. Food served on silver plates were lined at the seats at the table. 

“Wahaha! Now this is what I’m talking about!”
Wario exclaimed.

Bowser stopped walking and spotted his son, Bowser Jr and Prince of the Koopas, sitting at one of the seats, playing on his game console.

“Everyone, you all know Bowser Jr, my son. Junior, you know Princess Peach. Say hello!”
Bowser asked.

Bowser Jr returned a half-hearted “hey” and continued playing.

Toad was still walking in front of Peach, still in a protective stance, but a lightbulb went over Peach’s head and she grabbed Toad’s shoulder.

“Can you see if you can find any information?”
Peach whispered.

Toad looked at her and smiled. 

“On it.”

Toad looked up, and then groaned.

“Ohhh Oh no. Uh oh.”
Toad whined.

Bowser looked back at Toad.

“What’s the matter with you?”
He asked.

“W-where’s the bathroom?”
Toad groaned.

“Bathroom you say? Down the hall to the left, and please don’t make a mess. I already had someone clean it this morning.”
Bowser asked. Toad nodded and wobbled down the hall. As soon as he was out of sight, he sprinted into a different room.

It was a small separate bedroom. Toad quickly surveyed for any other person, but the coast was clear. He went to the drawer to search, but couldn’t find anything. He went off to another room.

“Wehhh when do we get the food? That soup is calling my name!”
Waluigi said.

“We’ll be eating soon enough, but first… Peach, I need to ask you something.”

Peach raised an eyebrow.

Bowser walked up to her and got on one knee.

Oh no. Oh no.

“Peach…we have known each other for a long time, and we have seen so-”

Peach groaned and interrupted him. 

“No Bowser.”

Bowser looked up at her. 

“What? But I haven’t finished yet. I wrote a whole speech down and everything!”

“You’re gonna ask for my hand in marriage a million times and a million times I am going to say no”. 

Peach replied.

Daisy groaned.

“I should have known.”

Wario laughed.

“Bowser, you still don't know how to serenade the ladies like me! Your skill is rotten!”


“Wehh I’ll say. No dance or anything? Are you even trying?”
Waluigi mocked.

Mario grabbed onto Peach’s shoulder to pull her back, protectively. 

“I can’t believe this Bowser. All of this for what?”
Peach asked.

Bowser glared at her, but then he did something a little unexpected.

He shrugged.

“Well it was worth a shot.”
He said.

CLANK.

Peach blinked a few times in surprise.

What she saw in front of her were metal bars. She spun around and looked up. She was caged. No, not just her. Everyone was trapped. The bars caused Waluigi to trip, and he dropped a few things on the ground.

“Wahh! What is this?!”

Wario shouted.

“Bowser! Let us go!”
Daisy demanded.

“All according to plan, your nastiness!”
Kamek appeared from above out of nowhere.

Bowser chuckled.
“Bwahaha, exactly as is. Speaking of which, go check on our Toad friend. I get the feeling the “bathroom break” has to be cut short.”

Toad didn’t know where he was, all he knew was that he was in a bigger bedroom. Toys were littered everywhere, and buckets of paint were stacked on a shelf. He searched for anything, but all he found were multi-colored blocks, a canister of special glow paint, a paintbrush with a small key attached, and…a safe?

Toad pulled out the small safe from the shelf. Seeing a keyhole on it, he grabbed the key off the paintbrush and turned the lock. He opened it, and was met with a yellow glow that blinded him. He looked inside and saw a glowing yellow piece similar to the toy blocks. He pulled it out and placed it in his coat. He then tried to return the safe but accidentally knocked over the glow paint into the toy blocks. He picked them up to try and clean up the mess but it was too big. He then opted to hide some of it by placing some of the toys into his pockets, but as he moved, he suddenly felt like he stopped. He looked down at his legs and felt like he couldn’t move.

“How rude of you to enter the Prince’s room without permission.”

Kamek launched Toad harshly into the cage, and he landed with a thud.

Toad groaned in pain. 

“Toad! Are you okay!?” Peach asked worryingly. 

Toad groaned as he was picked up by Mario and Peach.

“I-I’m okay.”

He responded.

Bowser pulled up a chair, and Kamek gave him a yellow piece that was glowing.

“Princess! He-he took a Sky Crystal!” Toad panickedly said.

Princess Peach grabbed the bars, and rattled them.

“Why Bowser? Why the Sky Crystals?!”
She demanded to know. 

“Peach, let me ask you something. Why don’t you like me?”

Bowser asked. 

“Everyone here likes me, they love having me around. They treat me well and give me free stuff. They even make plushies of me!”
Bowser grabbed a plushie of him that was laying around.

“Everyone loves me! So why not you?”
Bowser asked.

Peach looked at him.

“Hmph. How many reasons do you need?” 

She growled.

“Count me in. I can name like 80 of them right off the bat.”

Daisy added in. 

“Wahhh Look Bowser, you can do whatever you want with them, just let me and Waluigi out. I have important business to get to.”

Wario said.

“Wehh we do! I have to get a new suit since you ruined this one! ”
Waluigi shouted, pointing to the fresh tears in the fabric as Peach rattled the bars again.

“You won’t get away with this Bowser! The Toad Guard will come for us! We will get out and then you'll go down down down!”

Toad declared.

“Oh you’re right! It would be a problem if you got out. You are all big problems.”
Bowser looked up at the magikoopa flying near him. 

“Kamek. If you please.”

“Right away your deviousness!”
Kamek flicked his want and out from thin air, materialized a staff rod. It was colored orange and swirled into a ball at the end. Spikes protruding from it and it was connected to a steel rod with another spike at the tip. Bowser gripped it tightly in his hands.

“It would be a big problem if you got out. All of you are big problems. You see this? This is the Minimizer. Can you guess what it does?”
Everyone stared at the rod. 

“It SHRINKS my problems!”

Bowser roared and pointed the end of the staff towards the cage. The end glowed a bright orange and blasted the cage with thousands of volts.

“Ahh!” Peach yelped.

“W-wahhh!”
“W-w-wehhhh!”

Everyone fell to the ground; the sound of electricity filled their earlobes. Toad tried to move. Mario tried to get up, but he couldn’t. They could only watch as everything around them became larger and larger!

What is ʰᵃᵖᵖᵉⁿᶦⁿᵍ!

The gang all opened their eyes and groaned with pain. 

“Wehhh! The cage got bigger!

Waluigi shouted.

“No! The cage didn’t get bigger!”
Peach shouted in horror.

“We shrunk!” 
Toad shouted.

The gang had shrunken. Each one of them was no taller than a mug now.

“BAHAHAHA!”
Bowser howled with laughter.

“The Sky Crystal is mine, and now all I need are the other four!”

Bowser exclaimed.

Bowser Jr ran up to see the cage and began laughing. 

“Haha! They all look so stupid!”

Wario ran up, red with anger.

“You no good rotten turtle!”

“What are you gonna do with the Sky Crystals Bowser?! Did you really do all this to interfere in the festival?!”

Peach yelled out.

Bowser smirked.

“Oh Princess, what these crystals hold, is far more important than one dumb festival. You REALLY should have accepted my feelings. Too late now though!”

Bowser put down the Minimizer and yellow piece onto the table.

“Kamek! I’m done with these peewees. Give em’ the boot!”

Bowser ordered.

“Yes sir!”

Kamek flew up to the cage and smiled.

“So long everyone! Enjoy your flight!”

Kamek flicked his wand, and blasted the cage. Everyone and everything inside disappeared in a puff of smoke.

—-------------------------------------------------

It was still night when DK and Diddy Kong awoke. They passed out from the bananas and awoke to find that they stopped moving. DK got up and looked around the small lifeboat. 

All the bananas were gone.

Well no reason to stay here then!

DK got up and began running towards the jungle they were near.

Diddy struggled to get up, but was able to run after him.

They ran into the jungle, not entirely knowing where they were, but still on the hunt for the free food they pursued.

—----------------------------------------------------

Toadsworth ran into the rooms of the Princess, then into the Mario Bros. Room, but nothing. 

A Toad Guard soldier ran through the halls to Toadsworth and saluted.

“Sir! We searched the Garden of Leader Prantiss’s party, the Hotel, and every street from here to the airport. Still no sign of them!”

He reported.

“Keep looking darn it! We need to find The Princesses and Masters Mario and Luigi, stat!”

The soldier nodded and ran off. 

“Still nothing. Where is that blasted Guard we assigned to her?!”

Toadsworth wondered.

Three more soldiers came up and saluted. 

“Sir, we bring bad news. Toad Vee was found recovering at a hospital in the Mushroom Kingdom from a cold.”


Toadsworth blinked.

“A cold…A cold!? When I was their age I took care of the Princess even when I was under surgery!”
Toadsworth shook his head.

“No no wait, that's not right. It was confirmed that one of our men was traveling with her. Our soldiers spotted a Toad guarding her. If that Toad wasn’t Toad Vee, who was it then?!”
Toadsworth shouted.

A 4th soldier carrying two more Toads walked up. 

“Sir, these two may have the answer.”

He dropped the two Toads on the ground.

“Uhhh we-we”
“We didn’t see uh…uh…”

Toadsworth bonked both of them with his cane. 

“Good gravy, spit it out you two! You were assigned to help the princess with her bags, and escort Toad Vee to her side. What is the meaning of this?!” Toadsworth angrily demanded.

“Look look we were gonna, but-but Toad Vee got sick before they were supposed to leave so-”
“So we got another guy! We got uh Toad…uh Toad-”
“Toad Akio!”
“That’s right, Toad Akio!”

Toadsworth looked at one of the other guards with confusion.

“Who in the world is Akio? Soldier, run to the embassy and get a check through our database for Toad Akio!”

“Yes sir!”
The Toad Guard said and sprinted off.

“Sir! How shall we inform the press?”
One of the Guards asked.

“Say that everyone is taking a break and that we ask for privacy. Our reputation is already through the floor, and we can’t risk any more damage. Search for everyone privately and quietly, and don’t let any leaks get out!”
Toadsworth ordered.

“Sir yes sir!”

The guards responded before sprinting off.

Toadsworth sulked.

“Princess, I should have been here with you…”
He quietly lamented.

“Sir, we have Toadette waiting outside. Shall we inform her as well?”
A guard asked.

“Yes. As a matter of fact, I’ll come with. We need to give Leader Prantiss our assurances that the Festival will continue as planned.”

“And you two!” 

Toadsworth spun around and pointed to the two Toads on the ground.

“If we are unable to locate the Princesses or The Mario Bros, I’ll cut your butts off and hang them over the castle fireplace!”

Toadsworth threatened. 

“Not our butts!” The two Toads despaired as they were dragged away.

Chapter Text

“Ughhhh….” Everyone groaned. 

The sun was shining intensely on all of their faces, and their heads were throbbing in pain. 

Mario was the first to get up, and when he opened his eyes to peer around, he was shocked. He stood up and observed his surroundings.

“Ughh man, I think I fell on my keys.” Daisy groaned. She got up and began massaging her sides, but when she looked around, she stopped and stared in amazement.

“Woah…” Daisy said.

Toad stood up and looked around. “Aw man…” He said in despair.

Everyone else got up and all were just as equally stunned at their surroundings. 

They were shrunken and transported to a suburban neighborhood of sorts. Their small size created an incredible sight. Dandelions peering out of the sidewalk cracks were as tall as light poles. The lawns that stood at attention in the yards of the nearby homes were tall enough to replicate forests. The white fences that blocked off the yards from the sidewalk were as tall as skyscrapers. The houses themselves were even taller and stood at incredible heights, almost as if they could reach into the heavens. 

It was a marvel of a sight.

VROOM!

A car raced by on the street, and the resulting whiplash flung Toad into the air.

“WOAH WOAH WOAH!” He shouted.

Mario and Luigi managed to grab onto him and pull him back down to the ground.

“Wahh! You have got to be kidding me! What are we supposed to do now!? I can’t stay the size of an ant!” Wario cried out.

“Wehhhh! There’s no way I can stay the “Prince of Dance” like this!” Waluigi bemoaned.

“How did Bowser manage to do this? What was that thing he had with him? I mean he called it the Minimizer, but I’ve never heard or seen anything like it.” Daisy wondered.

“Must be some new weapon he and that evil Kamek made!” Toad replied.

“Yo-Yoshi!” Yoshi pointed to an object nearby.

It was a gold watch that was normal size, which made it look as tall as a house.

“Hooray! My watch survived!” Waluigi cheered. He ran over to it and embraced it.

Daisy looked down the street and saw another car speeding towards them.

“Everyone! Get behind the watch! Quick!”

Everyone heard her and ran behind the watch. As the car sped by, another powerful gust of wind flew by, which everyone was able to avoid. Toad grabbed onto his coat and held onto it as the car sped by and in doing so, he felt something in his pocket.

“That was a close one.” Daisy said.

“We need to find some cover and fast.” Peach responded.

Toad wasn’t listening. He was digging into his pocket for the unknown object. He pulled it out and took a look at it. His mouth dropped. 

“Princess!” Toad shouted.

Princess Peach turned her head and looked at what Toad was holding. Her mouth dropped as well, which attracted the attention of everyone else.

“No way…is that?” Daisy asked.

It was indeed.

It was the Yellow Sky Crystal.

Yoshi launched his tongue and brought it into his mouth. He spit it back out onto his hand. It still shined brightly despite just being nearly swallowed. It was legitimately the sky crystal.

“Yoshi!” Yoshi said triumphantly.

Peach looked at Toad in shock.

“Toad, how did you get your hands on that!? We saw Bowser holding it!” Peach said in disbelief.

“I-I don’t know! I found it in a safe near all these toys and glowing paint. T-then I made a mess and tried to clean it up. I wasn’t thinking and I stuffed some of the toys in my pockets, but then Kamek found me and- “

“And he took the wrong piece!” Daisy finished Toad’s sentence and began to laugh. “Toad, you genius!”

“Wahahaha! The fungus conned the turtle! I gotta say little guy, I’m impressed!” Wario laughed.

“What a devious trick! What elegance, and what a perfect rotten slap in the face to that turtle who ruined my suit!” Waluigi exclaimed.

Mario smiled and gave a thumbs up.

“Oh yeah!”

 Luigi said proudly, giving a thumbs up as well. Toad felt a little star-struck, his earlier fear replaced with happiness. Peach got on one knee and placed a hand on Toad’s shoulder.

“You did a great thing for us, Toad. We have an advantage now, and it’s all thanks to you.”

Toad was relieved. He thought he had failed his mission. Instead, he unknowingly just gave everyone a fighting chance. 

“Wah so what now then?” Wario asked.

Peach stood up. “Thanks to Toad, we have a chance to reverse this. First things first, we need to head to the embassy as fast as possible. We need to alert the Toad Guard and tell Toadsworth.”

Peach looked up when she realized something. She never told Toadsworth where she was going. He must be worried sick, and she’ll probably never hear the end of this for a long time.

“Well where should we go then? Does anyone even know what this place is?” Daisy asked, breaking the silence.

Toad rubbed his chin, trying to remember. He had read a map of Terrao yesterday before they got ready for the party. “Hmm I don’t know for sure, but it looks like we are in a suburb. Which doesn’t help because there are many towns on Terrao that look like this.” Toad explained.

“Worst case scenario is we could be in the west of the island.”

“Why is that the worst-case scenario?” Wario asked.

“We were in Terrao City, Wario. That’s on the eastern beach.” Waluigi responded.

Wario stared at Waluigi for a few seconds, then he sat down and laid back onto the Gold Watch.

“Wahhhh welp, I live here now. This is where I’m staying.”

Daisy crossed her arms.

“Really? Cmon get up.” She said.

“It was nice knowing you all, but there’s no hope. We’re all- “

Thump thump

Wario was interrupted by the ground shaking. The vibrations caused the whole gang to shake.

“Uhhh.” Toad chattered out. “Is that an earthquake?”

The ground then stopped shaking and a giant shadow looked over the gang. It was a giant figure, and it menacingly bent down and-

“Aw sweet! A watch!” A voice said.

Suddenly, the watch was scooped up with the help of a bandana scarf, and Wario fell on his back.

The shadow was a Goomba.

A child to be specific. This Goomba wore red shoes and wore a blue scarf that was positioned in such a way that it acted like a scooper for items, which certainly seemed useful considering Goombas do not have arms or hands. The child also had a blue satchel and using his scarf, he picked the watch up and placed it inside.

Waluigi was horrified.

“Wehhh!? Hey! Let go of my watch!” He shouted up to the Goomba.

The child froze and looked around. Not a soul in sight.

“Huh? Who said that?” He asked.

“Down here you little brat!” Waluigi responded.

The child looked down to the sidewalk. He blinked a few times. 

“Ah sorry! I didn’t know it belonged to you- “

The little Goomba’s eyes suddenly bulged open, and his mouth dropped to the floor, as the weight of what he was seeing with his own eyes finally dawned on him.

“S-s-s-s-sweet gravy!” The child yelped out, slipping in the process and falling over.

“Waluigi! Be polite!” Peach demanded.

“Wehh! Not when my watch is about to be stolen I won’t!” Waluigi yelled back.

The kid was staring down at the gang of tiny people, still dumbfounded by what he had found.

“I’ve totally lost my mind. I’m not seeing this right now. A gas leak nearby is making me hallucinate, there is no way I’m seeing the freaking Princesses and the Mario Bros right now.” The Goomba reasoned with himself out loud.

“We mean you no harm, and you’re not going crazy. It’s really us!” Peach responded.

The kid stood back up and squinted his eyes.

“Are you sure? I know some people say you guys were shorter than they thought, but this is just ridiculous! This isn’t some kind of trick Bowser is trying to pull right? I know he can’t be trusted!” The kid questioned.

“Hm. Well good to know he’s on our side.”

Daisy whispered to Peach before stepping forward herself.

“Kid, you can believe us, we’re telling the truth. It’s kind of a long story, but we’ve been shrunken, and we need help getting to the embassy.”

The kid looked around briefly to see if anyone was approaching them on the sidewalk before crouching down to get a closer look at the gang.

“Yea? Can you prove its really you guys?” He asked.

Daisy looked at both Mario and Luigi.

“You guys are up.” She said.

Mario and Luigi looked at one another. They wondered what to do before lightbulbs appeared over both of their heads.

“High?” Luigi asked.

Mario smiled and fixed his hat. “Mmhm!”

Mario proceeded to jump on Luigi’s shoulders, and together they both jumped, allowing themselves to be launched into the air and briefly reaching the little Goomba’s eyesight despite their small size. They landed safely on the ground.

“Holy Moly!” The kid shouted in excitement. That impressive jump? That easily coordinated move? There was no doubt about it.

“So it’s true!  You guys are really the Mario Bros!”

Mario and Luigi both bowed. The kid then looked at the two Princesses, as well as Yoshi and Toad. 

“And you guys are real too! You’re all from the mushroom kingdom! You’re all real!”

“That’s right.” Peach responded with a smile.

The kid then looked at Wario and Waluigi.

“And so is the fat, smelly guy and the tall, purple guy with good fashion sense!”

Waluigi smiled and fixed his mustache.

“Wehehe p-perhaps ‘brat’ was too strong a word. Why don’t you tell us your name, kid?”

“Oh right!” The kid stood back up and continued. “My name is Gyumba, and I live here in Whispy Park.”

“Whispy Park?” Toad asked.

He thought about it for a few seconds, then a distressed look on his face followed.

“Aw man that’s on the west coast! We’re on the far end of the island!”

The entire gang groaned. Daisy fell to the ground on her back in exasperation.

“It’s gonna take us forever to get back. Why couldn’t that stupid magician at least land us in the center?” Daisy whined.

Gyumba stood back up.  “Oh oh! I can help!”

Peach looked up at the Goomba. “Huh? You want to help us Gyumba?”

Gyumba smiled and hopped a few times.

“Are you kidding me?  This is a dream come true! Besides, there’s no way you can make it to the East on foot. I can take you there! Plus, I’d love to stick it to Bowser too!”

Toad smiled and placed his hands on his hips. “I say we follow him! Of course, only if you agree, Princess.”

Peach nodded. “Thank you Gyumba. We would love your help.”

Gyumba hopped around excitedly once more. “Oh man oh man! This is awesome!” He shouted.

His hopping was then interrupted by a loud growling. Everyone, by habit, turned to look at Wario.

“Wahhh that wasn’t me!” Wario responded, offended.

The growling perked up again and this time, everyone found the source: Peach’s stomach. She blushed in embarrassment, and Daisy slapped her forehead.

“Aw crud that’s right cuz! You haven’t eaten anything since before the party!” Daisy said.

Toad saluted with despair. “I'm so sorry your highness! I’d give you some snacks from my satchel, but Kamek stole it from me!”

Gyumba huffed with pride, realizing he could help out right away. “Don’t worry guys, I’m a great cook!”

He then crouched low to the ground, allowing the opening of his satchel to reach the sidewalk.

“Climb in. I can take you home and whip something up.”

Wario smiled and fixed his pants. “Wahaha! Don’t need to tell me twice!”

“Wehhh me too! And bring the watch!” Waluigi added in.

The two of them jumped inside of the satchel.  Yoshi followed, and then Toad.

“You’re awesome Gyumba! I’ll make sure the Toad Guard rewards you handsomely for this!” Toad exclaimed before jumping in himself.

Both of the Princesses followed and so did Mario and Luigi; Daisy jumped in and pulled Luigi in with her, and Mario helped Peach climb in, after her dress almost got caught in the satchel’s zipper. 

“You’re too kind Gyumba. Thank you.” Peach said.

Gyumba was so excited. His mind was racing, and it felt like his heart was about to explode out of his chest from excitement.

“Hoo boy I think I’m gonna throw up.” Gyumba remarked.

“Been there before.” Toad responded.

———————————-

Bowser angrily crushed the toy block in his hand. The paint’s glow had dimmed, and it became clear that the Sky Crystal was a fake. Kamek gulped in fear as the block turned to dust, as he was the one who gave the block to Bowser thinking it was the real deal. 

“F-forgive me for the mistake, Your Fearlessness.” Kamek squeaked out, breaking the silence.

Bowser looked out the window. “How you could have screwed this up!? I had Junior hide it in his room for a reason. It was the perfect hiding spot! Even if they’re small, the last thing we need is them finding all of the Sky Crystals and ruining my plan. Send out our troops discreetly and survey the island. Make sure the Sky Crystals are located and obtained before anyone else gets their hands on it. Now move!” Bowser ordered.

“Of course, sire!” Kamek responded, disappearing into a puff of smoke. 

Bowser continued to stare out the window. “I’ll admit, I never expected this to happen. Bravo Princess. However, the crystals will be mine in the end, and this island will bow down to me.” He smirked.

DING DONG

Bowser looked at the front door confusedly. He walked over to the door and opened it. 

“Hi, Mr. Koopa!” Three uniformed girls were at the door, hauling a wagon filled with boxes of assorted brownies, cookies, and desserts. 

It was the Girl Scouts again.

Bowser groaned.  “Girls listen, I’ve already bought from you three. A king can only carry so many boxes of cookies.” 

“Would you like to buy a box of double stuffed fudge Mr. Koopa? I think little Koopa would be happy if you did.” The youngest of the girls asked. She was referring to a large plush of Bowser, who was sitting down in the middle of the wagon. It had two button eyes and had an open mouth with red fabric resembling fire sticking out.

Bowser laughed. “Grahaha! Well, I suppose, a few more boxes wouldn’t hurt. Just keep making sure to send me more fan mail and Bowser toys as well!”

Bowser then spun around. “Kamek! Hurry back and get me my wallet!”

—————————————

Gyumba stood on top of his kitchen counter. He was stirring a pot using a wooden spoon which he was biting on to control.

The gang was sitting down on the table. The plate they were sitting around seemed wide and long, but it was just a normal plate. 

This tiny business was gonna take some time getting used to. 

Peach was looking around and some pictures of Gyumba, as well as a few pictures of a Goomba couple, most likely his parents. She thought up a question to ask, but also wanted to come off as casual and not prying so a worse-case scenario wouldn’t make things awkward.

“Gyumba, are you here by yourself?” Peach carefully asked.

“For now I am. My parents are off the island on a business trip. I’m holding up the fort here.” Gyumba replied with a huff of pride.

“Seriously dude? All by yourself?” Daisy asked in amazement.

“Wahaha! A real bachelor’s pad if I do say so myself.” Wario exclaimed.

Gyumba brought the spoon out of the pot and turned the dial controlling the heat with his foot, which turned off the stove. He then stomped the handle of the pot, which launched the contents - a large serving of Macaroni N’ Cheese - onto a large bowl. Gyumba then climbed down and brought the bowl over to the table. 

“I don’t have the fancy food you guys have, but you can't beat classic food like this! Imported straight from the City of Victoria!” Gyumba exclaimed.

Wario rubbed his hands together.  “Well well, don’t mind if I do!”

He leaped into the bowl and began eating the food. Yoshi climbed in and did the same. Mario and Luigi grabbed a few pieces and passed them around to Toad, the Princesses, and to Waluigi, who took off his gloves to keep them clean. 

The food was cooked perfectly, and the cheese was hardened just enough to both not make a mess but remained perfectly edible.

While everyone was eating-

POP

A firework went off outside. Gyumba ran to the window to get a better look. There were people outside setting off brand fireworks. Not just any fireworks though, they were Bowser branded. One person lit another one of the fireworks, and it launched into the air with a whoosh before-

POP

Popping in the air and revealing colors that recreated Bowser’s face.

Gyumba groaned. “Ugh, for real? Bowser fireworks? Can’t they just buy regular sparklers?”

“I know right? It weirds me out too, people need to find better things to do than worship that turtle.” Daisy responded.

“If you don’t mind me asking Gyumba, why are you against Bowser so much? Not that I don’t understand,  but it seems as though many people here on Terrao, and especially children, are idolizing him.” Peach asked.

Gyumba walked back to the table and sat down with an angry look on his face.

“It’s his fault my parents are gone.” Gyumba mumbled.

Everyone looked at each other in confusion while Gyumba continued.

“It...it was all my fault. My parents worked for Bowser before, but last year they lost their jobs. I remember it being because they took so many days to take care of me.  It happened in the middle of the week and had to move from place to place, and through it all, I never saw my parents happy. I mean, they smile and say everything is alright, but it doesn’t feel like it is. The only reason they were able to move here is because they finally found jobs, but only off the island. If I was just able to take care of myself, they wouldn’t have to be gone for so long…”
Gyumba said with his head hung low.

“Gyumba…” Peach tried to consol.

Wario climbed out of the bowl and looked at him. “Wahh kid, it IS your fault.”

Daisy punched him in response.

“Ow!” He yelped.

“Shut it Wario!” Daisy scolded.

Peach walked up to Gyumba to meet him at eye level and smiled at him. “Don’t listen to Wario, Gyumba. I’m sure your parents are working hard to feed and clothe you and make you happy. I have no doubt they would be so proud to see you be so responsible!”

Gyumba looked up at her and smiled to himself. “Well what matters now is we stop Bowser and make you guys big again. If we beat Bowser, I just know my parents would be happy again!” Gyumba exclaimed.

“Wahh, we’re expecting a lot from you kid! You better answer our beck and call when we need it!” Wario responded.

Suddenly, a thought crossed Gyumba’s mind, and the realization dawned on him.

“Call! Oh crud! I was supposed to call my neighbors!” Gyumba jumped out of the chair he was sitting in.

“Your neighbors?” Peach asked.

“I was supposed to call my neighbors an hour ago for a checkup!” Gyumba explained.

He ran off into the nearby decorated living room and grabbed a phone off the table. He pushed a button on it and the phone came to life, ringing in his scarf.

“Hi Mr. Hoskins!” Gyumba said, talking into the phone. “N-no I’m sorry I know I was just busy, I was-no I’m ok.” Gyumba walked off into another room, continuing his conversation.

Peach grabbed a nearby napkin and cleaned her face before standing up.  “Is everyone finished? I say we make a plan now and prepare for the next few days.”

Daisy burped and stood up as well.  “Heck yeah. Maybe we can catch a ride and get back to Terrao City. We’d be back at the embassy in no time flat!”

Toad jumped up and saluted. “Oh oh! Your highnesses! Might I suggest the Bus?”

Peach furrowed an eyebrow.  “The Bus?” She asked.

Toad nodded. “I studied a map of Terrao while on the plane and in the hotel! There are plenty of bus lines that run across the entire island from west to east; we could hitch a ride on one and head all the way to the embassy!”

“Great! We should head out soon then!” Daisy replied, getting ready to move again.

“It sounds like a good idea, but how could we pay for it? How would we even be able to get on the bus with our small size?” Peach asked, which stopped Daisy dead in her tracks.

Mario and Luigi both pulled out their wallets from their back pockets. They both pulled out a few coins. 

“Wehhh you idiots! We’re the size of bugs! No one’s gonna take our money, unless a currency exchange has been established for tiny coins!” Waluigi mocked.

Mario and Luigi looked at each other and slipped their money back into their wallets.

Toad perked up when an idea crossed his mind. “Oh! Maybe we can ask Gyumba to help us!”

Wario climbed out of the bowl covered in cheese.  “Wahh good idea! Let’s get the kid to foot the bill!” He exclaimed.

Conveniently, Gyumba happened to walk back in at that very moment, still on the call with his neighbors. “Foot the bill for what?” He asked.

“Huh, who am I talking to?” Gyumba answered his neighbor on the other side of the phone. “Oh Mr. Hoskins you won’t believe it! But I have-”

Peach ran over to the other side of the table to get closer to Gyumba before speaking. “W-wait Gyumba! Don’t!” She pleaded.

Gyumba looked at her with a confused look but nevertheless, silenced himself at her command.

“Sorry Gyumba, but please you can’t tell anyone about us. If rumors were to get out of us being small, Bowser might make a move, or my friends would get into huge problems.”
Peach explained, referring to Toadette and Toadsworth.

Gyumba nodded before returning to the call. Now, he had to find a way to finish his sentence. “S-sorry Mr. Hoskins, I just uh…I found a great deal on Macaroni N’ Cheese at the market! They have a deal going on now with the Festival being nearby.” He improvised.

It seemed to work, and Gyumba continued with the call.

“Uh huh. Ok I can do that! Okay Mr. Hoskins. Bye.” Gyumba replied before hanging up the phone.

“Phew, that was a close one! Now, you said something about footing a bill?”

“Yes Gyumba, you wouldn’t happen to have any money for the bus, would you?” Peach asked.

Gyumba’s eyes lit up and he ran over to a kitchen cabinet.  “Finally, I can do this!” He exclaimed.

Using his scarf, he brought up a porcelain piggy bank and placed it on the table. It was colored and shaped in the form of Mario, with a painted-on mustache and red cap. Gyumba then backed up and ran towards the table, jumping up and head bonking the small piggy bank, reducing it to pieces. Three coins that seemed giant to the small gang came rolling out of the piggy debris. Gyumba stared at the coins with slight dismay.

“Rats! This isn’t enough!” Gyumba whined.

“Well look on the bright side kid, now you can get a better-looking piggy bank.” Wario laughed.

Gyumba looked back at a clock that was in the kitchen and began putting the money that fell out into his satchel.

“Arghh sorry guys I gotta get to my neighbor’s house. I promised I would help clean up the house today.” Gyumba explained.

Wario looked down for a second. Then, a lightbulb appeared over his head.

“Wahhht a brilliant idea kid!” Wario exclaimed.

Gyumba raised an eyebrow. “Huh? What do you mean?”

Wario jumped into Gyumba’s satchel headfirst and quickly fixed himself before continuing. “Take us with and convince them to give you some money!” He shouted.

“I can’t ask them for money!” Gyumba retorted.

“Wahh then work for it! You said it yourself, you’re gonna help clean their place up. Demand pay! That’s the beauty of the economy we live in, you ask for money or no work! Then you keep the money all to yourself! The joys of capitalism…ahhhhh.” Wario sighed in happiness.

“He’s got a point, unfortunately. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind helping out a little bit.” Daisy said.

“Well, I guess we could give it a shot.” Gyumba replied, slightly hesitant.

*********************************

“We have no business with you soldier, so just buzz off already!”

The Toad guard wrote down some notes in his notepad. He had stopped at the door of this home in order to gain information about the surroundings, but the Stingby who answered the door - one Mrs. Hoskins - refused to answer any questions. It was a plain refusal to work with the soldier at her door.

“Ma’am we just ask for your cooperation in any case of suspicious activity being conducted around the island. Too many people have disappeared and we just want to be on the lookout and be ready for anything.” The soldier responded.

“Be ready for what? To throw me in jail too? I’ve answered this same question four times already; and like I said four times now, I haven’t seen anything.” Mrs. Hoskins replied frustratedly.

Another Stingby flew behind the woman and spoke with a quieter tone.

“Sir, we can confidently say we have witnessed nothing. Should something arise, we will be the first to alert the Guard.” The man asserted. 

The Toad looked at the two of them for a few moments and noticed Gyumba walking down the street. He then stored away his notepad.

“Very well. Have a great day you two.” He replied.

“Yeah, yeah whatever.” Mrs. Hoskins shrugged him off, finished with the conversation.

The Toad began to walk off the lawn and back onto the street, where he and Gyumba locked eyes for a split second before he began walking off in the opposite direction, allowing Gyumba to enter the property. The couple noticed him enter and both smiled.

“Ah Gyumba sweetheart, good to see you.” Mrs. Hoskins welcomed.

“How are you doin son?” The man asked.

“Hi Mr. and Mrs. Hoskins, I’m doing fine. Who was that guy by the way?” Gyumba asked, looking back where the Toad was.

“Just a coot from the Toad Guard being nosy about the neighborhood; it's nothing to worry about dear.” Mrs. Hoskins answered.

“Come on in son, if we work quick, we can bang this all out in an hour.” Mr. Hoskins remarked.

Gyumba walked into the house, which was much older than his home and filled with older decorations as well as a chandelier in the living room. As he walked in, everyone, including the small gang inside of Gyumba’s satchel, heard creaking and banging inside the wall of the living room. 

“Honey, the mice are back!” Mrs. Hoskins distressed. 

Mr. Hoskins sighed. “I’ll get the broom and traps again. Gyumba, would you be able to help sweep up and get the cobwebs? I’ll clean the basement and see if we can get to this mice problem.”

Gyumba smiled and nodded.

“You can count on me!” Gyumba exclaimed, running up the nearby staircase that led upwards.

“If I finish first I’ll help out up there Gyumba!” Mr. Hoskins shouted before flying down a separate staircase himself.

Mrs. Hoskins smiled. “My my, two dependable men cleaning my house for me? What a lucky lady I am.”

******************************************

Gyumba used the broom to sweep, which he did by biting onto it from one end. He left his satchel on the bed, which still had the normal sized watch, and most importantly, it’s where Peach left the Sky Crystal.

The tiny gang, for their part, were trying to clean up wherever they could as a result of Peach’s insistence to help. Mario and Luigi tag teamed dust clumps underneath the dressers, Peach and Toad were helping Gyumba reach spots above the furniture, Daisy was jumping up and down on the cushions trying to force dust out to be later picked up by the vacuum, Yoshi fluttered to the top of the curtains on the room’s window to clean up there, and Wario and Waluigi-

“Wahhhh this is the life.” Wario sighed in content.

Wario and Waluigi were in the sink inside the bathroom. They were supposed to be cleaning what they could in the bathroom, but after a short 2 minutes they decided to instead plug the drain and fill the sink with hot water, creating a small, makeshift hot tub. The water was steaming and they went in with their clothes still on which caused the water to become slightly tinted yellow from the cheese that was still caked onto Wario’s shirt.

“Wehhhhh I‘ll admit Wario, being this small can have its benefits.” Waluigi sighed.

“I could fall asleep here…”

Waluigi slowly floated away in the water as he became drowsy, and Wario noticed the door to the bathroom slowly opening and closing. He sighed, believing someone from the gang came to check up on them, to ensure they were indeed cleaning the sink.  He tried coming up with an excuse.

“Wahhh don’t mind us. We’re just…cleaning the sink right now.” Wario cheekily said.

He waited a few seconds, but weirdly, he didn’t get an answer back. Wario raised an eyebrow and got out of the water, dripping water onto the counter as he got to the edge of the sink.

There wasn’t anybody there.

Wario was confused. 

“Wah? Hey, is anybody here?” He asked around the bathroom.

No answer. 

Wario looked around however and noticed something. At the end of the small bathroom was an older bathtub. Beside the bathtub on the bathroom floor however, was a small crack in the wall that made an opening. Inside this opening, although faint, Wario saw it as he squinted his eyes.

It was a faint yellow glow.

However, it only appeared for a short few seconds, before disappearing and leaving nothing but darkness in the opening.

“Wario?”

Wario turned around to the voice of Peach, who opened the door to check on them.

“I heard you call for someone. Is everything alright?” Peach asked.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s nothing. I’m just seeing things. The hot water must be getting to me.” Wario responded.

“We should be almost done. Just a couple more minutes and…wait, the hot water?” Peach curiously asked.

“Wahh yeah we were cleaning the sink and the hot water was splashing us, making us overheat y’know?” Wario bluffed.

Peach raised an eyebrow, but ultimately, she just shrugged and closed the door.

“Wahh alright cmon Waluigi, we gotta get out of here.” Wario ordered.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Waluigi was asleep in the water, drifting like a buoyant corpse. Wario scratched his chin, thinking for a few minutes, then smiled.

“Wahh well a few more minutes couldn’t hurt.”

—---------------------------------------------------

Donkey Kong and Diddy were lost. There’s no way around it, they got themselves lost, which in retrospect, was bound to happen since they ran off haphazardly into another nation without so much of an idea of where to go. They were climbing up a hill, their stomachs still hurting from the banana causing stomach-aches, but Donkey Kong was determined to make it to Bowser’s place for free grub. Diddy was struggling to keep up, but managed to climb up to the top of the hill where Donkey Kong was. He was staring at something, and as Diddy got to the top he saw what it was. It was a suburban town with karts driving on the streets. They finally got out of the thick and into the thin!
Then, Donkey Kong looked up and spotted it. Bowser’s castle sitting oh so nicely at the far end of the island. DK and Diddy both cheered when they saw it, and they both continued running down the hill.

—---------------------------------------------------

“Finished!” Gyumba said triumphantly. 

The entire room was spotless! With the help of the vacuum, Gyumba suctioned up the dust bunnies and with the help of Mario and Yoshi, reached the top of the curtains and got the remaining dust. The dust was officially vanquished and the job was done.

“Good job everyone!” Peach congratulated.

Waluigi stretched and yawn. “Wehh if this don’t get us the money, I say we revolt.”

“Yeah right.” Gyumba laughed.

“Let’s go ask your neighbors if they can spot us some money now.” Daisy said.

Gyumba grew a little shy; he was still hesitant on asking for money help from his neighbors, but nodded and pushed aside his discomfort knowing it was to help the gang, and he walked over to grab his satchel.

Gyumba looked at his satchel and froze. His eyes bulged in shock. Which Peach noticed and was confused by.

“Gyumba? Is everything alright? She asked, concerned.

Gyumba ran over to the bed and picked up the satchel and emptied it out. Only the watch he was ordered to pack by Waluigi fell out, bouncing on the bed.

The Sky Crystal was gone.

“Peach, did you grab the Sky Crystal?!” Gyumba asked, panicking.

Peach’s concern grew exponentially. 

“N-no I didn’t. Why?" She asked, dreading the answer.

He quickly swooped up the gang and brought them onto the bed. 

Everyone ran over to the satchel, realizing what Gyumba meant. They looked around, searching across the bed, but it wasn’t anywhere.

“T-the Sky Crystal! It’s gone!” Toad shouted in horror.

Gyumba ran around the room, and went under the bed for a brief moment, but it was no use. It was just gone.

Daisy angrily grabbed Wario and Waluigi by the back of their shirts, slightly raising them in the air.

“Alright you two, what's the big idea!?” She asked, tightening her grip.

“Wehhh! You think we did this?!” Waluigi whined.

“Yeah! News flash sister, we have nothing to gain from taking it in the first place!” Wario sternly responded.

“That is true Daisy.” Peach pointed out to Daisy, who dropped both of them in response.

Gyumba was panicking the most. His golden chance to help out the Princess and the Mario Bros. was in jeopardy if he couldn’t find it.

“Well, there’s no way it could have just disappeared!” Toad shouted.

Waluigi looked down and started thinking, then he looked back up with an idea.

“Wehh everyone! Empty your pockets! We’ll know for sure who took it.” Waluigi ordered. 

Before anyone could argue, Waluigi held up a finger and waggled it, anticipating the arguments.

“Not a word. I‘ve been on TV and the internet for long enough and what I learned is that everyone is guilty until proven innocent. So, empty the pockets!” He explained and ordered again.

Seeing no choice, everyone emptied their pockets, including Waluigi himself. Wario dropped a few business cards. Peach dropped her ID card and some garbage she held onto so she could throw it away properly. Daisy dropped a few coins and her keys to the castle. Mario and Luigi dropped their wallets, Toad dropped another toy block he didn’t realize he had, and Yoshi didn't have pockets, so he just dropped his shell instead. As expected, nobody had possession of the Crystal.

“Wehh I guess it DID disappear into thin air! Maybe it was a magic thing.” Waluigi concluded.

Peach shook her head as her and everyone else picked their belongings back up.

“I read all about the Crystals before arriving and none of them mention anything about them suddenly disappearing.” Peach got lost in thought, trying to come up with a conclusion.  “As long as the Crystal is around, it will continue to glow a bright yellow light. We just have to find it that way!” She continued.

“A yellow light?”  Wario thought.

Suddenly, a lightbulb appeared over Wario’s head.

“Wahh! I figured it out! Someone took it.” Wario shouted.

Everyone looked at each other confused.

“Dude we just emptied out all of our pockets. What? You want us to “check” our wallets too?” Daisy mockingly asked.

Wario shook his head. “Wahh that would be great, but no that’s not what I mean. Follow me!” Wario ordered before jumping off the bed and running towards the bathroom.

With no other ideas in mind, the gang ran into the bathroom. Gyumba wiggled himself free from the bottom of the bed and followed. Wario ran over to the opening and stood by it. Everyone looked at it, ready and more willing to listen now that Wario had shown an actual hypothesis.

“Wahh ok so when me and Waluigi were relaxing…er uh wahh I mean ‘cleaning the sink’ I saw a small yellow light in here. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me, but I also remember someone or something coming into the bathroom. The door opened and shut but when I checked, nada! Nothing!” Wario explained.

Years of being around Wario against their wills made the Mario Bros. and the Princesses capable of spotting when he was bluffing or lying. This wasn’t one of those times, they realized.

“No way. Did Bowser find us? Send one of his goons after us?” Daisy asked.

“Oh no! Maybe he did! Maybe he shrunk some more of his bad guys, and they followed us!” Toad worried.

Peach thought about it for a few minutes, but she didn’t think that was true.

“If he did shrink some smaller enemies down, there still shouldn't be any reason he knows where we are, and even if he did, there isn’t a way into this home without anybody, or ANY one of us spotting them.” Peach reasoned.

“Wait guys! Remember we heard those sounds in the wall when we walked in? Mrs. Hoskins said the mice were back. Maybe a mouse took it! If they’re already in the walls, they could sneak into any room with no issue!” Gyumba added in. He was crouching down to look inside the opening.

“Well, whatever took it, we can’t let it go too far.” Daisy said, peering into the opening.

“The problem is, it's too dark, I can’t even see if there’s an end to it.”

Just as Daisy said that the gang spotted far into the end of the opening, a faint yellow light.

The Sky Crystal!

“There it is!” Gyumba shouted.

Mario didn’t hesitate to run in after it, quickly disappearing into the darkness.

“Mario, wait!” Peach shouted.

“Quick! Don’t let it escape!” Daisy shouted, losing herself to the adrenaline and running in after him.

“Daisy!” Peach shouted again.

“Wahhh! Let me at him, I’ll put that mouse in his place!” Wario shouted.

“Wehh! After that rodent!” Waluigi shouted.

The two of them ran off into the opening. Yoshi swiftly followed.

“Guys! Stop! What if you get lost!?” Peach shouted, running into the opening herself.

“Your highness! Don’t! Argh!” Toad yelled in vain.

“Luigi come on!” Toad ordered, before running in himself.

Luigi was worried, frightened even, by having to run into a potentially dark and cramped area. He cowardly shook in his boots, but composed himself just enough to get closer to the opening. He peered inside, then he covered his eyes with his hands and ran inside. 

“G-guys wait what about-!” Gyumba shouted, but it was too late. Everyone ran inside.

Mario was running at full speed and the yellow light appeared to be getting brighter and closer, but then it began to flicker. Mario squinted his eyes as the light appeared closer and closer, but then suddenly it disappeared, trapping Mario in almost complete darkness. He stopped in his tracks.

“Mario! Did you see him?! Where’d he-AUGH!” Daisy ran up and collided into Mario, sending them tumbling. However, when they fell, they didn’t hit the ground. 

They just kept falling!

“WOAH WOAH HEY!” Daisy shouted in vain.

“Wahh! What happened you-ACK!” Wario fell down with Waluigi as the two collided with each other and began to fall.

“WEHHH!”
“WAHHH!”

They both shouted. 

Yoshi managed to stop himself from falling down. In the hole that wasn’t visible whatsoever.

“Everyone! Where did you al-UUF” Peach fell down and brought down Yoshi with her by accident!

“AHHH!”
“YOSHI!!”
They both shouted as they fell.

Toad stopped himself and looked down in horror.  “Oh no! Princess!” He shouted.

“Mamma mia!” Luigi was still running from behind with his eyes closed. Toad dodged him, but then tried to stop him.

“Luigi wait! Don’t-!” Toad yelled out.

It was too late, Luigi fell down the hole.

“UWAHHH!” Luigi shrieked.

“NO!”
Toad yelled out in vain. Everyone had fallen in, leaving Toad alone in the dark. He began to shake in fear, and uncertainty. He tried to regain his composure, but the adrenaline was keeping him breathless. He looked down at the hole.

“W-well here goes nothing!”

Toad jumped into the hole.

“CANNONBALL!” He yelled out loud.

Toad fell for a few seconds before landing hard onto another surface. The surface was sloped, creating a slide like tunnel which launched everyone further and further down. It felt like an eternity before Mario reached the ground. He was launched onto a non-sloped surface, and everyone slowly followed suit. Toad was the last, landing with a thud after everyone had collected their bearings.

“Toad are you alright?!” Peach shouted.

She tried feeling around for him since they were in an even darker area, the previous dim light from the bathroom disappearing. She found him and helped him stand up.

“I’m just glad you’re okay, your highness. Is everyone else okay too?” Toad asked the gang.

“Wahh better than ok! This floor is softer than I thought! I didn’t even bruise!” Wario huffed with content.

“Wehh me too! We’re pretty lucky we got a soft landing!” Waluigi remarked.

“That’s because I broke your FALLS!” Daisy shouted in exasperation.

The floor wasn’t soft. Wario and Waluigi both landed on Daisy’s back! 

“Both of you get off now before you snap my spine!” She yelled out of desperation, and out of breath. They both got off her and she spent a few moments trying to breathe.

“W-where?” Luigi weakly asked, still recovering from his fall.

“We seemed to have fallen deep into Mr. and Mrs. Hoskins home. Are we underground?” Peach asked worryingly.

“Aw man! If only we had some kind of light or something!” Toad whined. Suddenly, a lightbulb appeared over his head. The light from the bulb illuminated the dark area.

“Wait! That’s it!” Toad shouted. He grabbed the lightbulb from the top of his head and pointed it around. The bulb acted as a flashlight and allowed everyone to scan the surroundings. The “hall” they were in was wider than the opening where the bathroom was, not to mention it was lined with bricks.

Waluigi began to stand up. “Wehh, this place is disgusting, I can’t believe we-”

BONK

“OW!” Waluigi yelped in pain. In his attempt to stand up, he hit his head on a pipe that lined the ceiling. Toad took the bulb and shined it on the ceiling. Five green mini-pipes lined the ceiling. Some of them dripped water and some of them were incredibly rusty. 

“Let’s follow the pipes! Maybe we can find a way out where they lead!” Peach suggested. 

She led the march towards the pipes’ endings, and everyone followed her. They walked for what seemed like hours, the pipes and the hall never ending, but the surfaces getting even more wet. Daisy was walking behind everyone, and she was the first to feel it. She kept walking but she felt something grab her shoulder. It was soft, but slimy. She couldn’t see all too well because Toad was in the middle of the group, shining the lightbulb forward. She immediately thought the worst and became grossed out.

“Ugh! Wario, quit touching me! Your hand feels gross!” Daisy said, disgusted.

Everyone stopped and Toad shined the light on Wario.

“Wahh! I’m always blamed for everything! I’m not doing it!” He whined. 

Everyone froze. He was right. He couldn’t have been grabbing Daisy’s shoulder.

He was standing on the left of the hall, away from Daisy. 

Toad turned around and shined the light behind them. Everyone looked up slowly in fear. Toad turning the light around allowed Daisy to see that no one was behind her. Her eyes widened, and she slowly looked at her shoulder.

A long white tentacle.

She spun around and saw the creature, peering down at everyone. 

“WHAT THE HECK!?” Daisy yelled out, pushing the tentacle off her and moving away. The creature moved its ten tentacles back towards its body.

“AHH!”
“UWAHH!”
“WEHHHH!”
“WAHHH!”
Everyone shrieked out in horror and in the confusion, Toad dropped the lightbulb, which shattered on the ground and caused the light to vanish, and the darkness to return.

“Aw man! If only we had some kind of light or something!” Toad whined.

***********************************************

“Are you guys okay!?” Gyumba yelled into the hole.

No response.

Gyumba slowly stood up in horror as he realized that everyone was gone and out of range. He was unsure of what to do next. He tried to think, but his mind was racing. The only thing he could think of was to leave the room, but as he did, he bumped into Mrs. Hoskins.

“Gyumba? Is everything alright? I heard you shouting.” She asked.

Caught off guard, Gyumba quickly thought of an answer. “Er uhh I was uhm…I saw the mice! There was a hole near the bathtub, and I thought I saw them scurry inside.” He bluffed.

 “Oh dear, I’ll tell Mr. Hoskins and we’ll get that hole blocked.” She replied.

Not knowing how long the gang would be stuck in there, Gyumba began panicking again, and decided to change the conversation, hoping that Mrs. Hoskins will forget about the hole.

“S-so uhh…how has dish-cleaning been coming along?” Gyumba squeaked out, attempting to cover his panicky voice.

“Unfortunately, I couldn't even get a few dishes done… Something is seriously wrong with this house, and I believe the mice are the main issue!” Mrs. Hoskins explained.

“What do you mean?” Gyumba asked, genuinely curious.

“The mice must be messing with our water pipes; I can barely get a couple drops of water out from the faucet!”

*************************************************

Toad couldn’t remember what happened exactly after he dropped the lightbulb. What he did remember was him having an idea he forgot, and being pushed and thrown around. As he slowly woke up, he realized he was in a forced fetal position. He felt around but all he could feel was cloth. 

Someone had thrown him in a sack!

“Hey! What’s going on here!?” Toad yelled, demanding an answer.

“Toad! Are you okay?” Peach shouted out. 

Toad couldn’t see her through the sack, but the sound of her voice clued him in that she was very close to him.

“Y-your highness! What’s happening!?” Toad shouted.

“Wahh, we got snatched fungus! Obviously!” Wario shouted, sounding like he was also close by.

“Wehhhh mommy dance practice is at 5 not 6. I’m lateeeeeee…” Waluigi cried out, slightly delusional from being knocked out the hardest.

“Waluigi! Wake up already!” Daisy shouted.

Toad tried shuffling himself around, struggling to free himself, but he only ended up laying his weight on his neck.

“Hey! You kidnapping scum! You better free us right now or I’ll-” Toad tried to threaten, but ultimately failed as he and everyone else was thrown to the ground on top of each other, revealing that the sacks they were stuffed in were not tied, allowing them to be freed easily.

Everyone got up and looked around. 

They were clearly behind the walls, as the entire location was blocked off with drywall. Pipes stretched out and connected with mechanisms and valves all around the area, which were themselves connected into the walls. The area itself was relatively huge; for the tiny-sized gang of course. Some pipes were leaking water, creating huge puddles on some parts of the floor. Light was shining in from several cracks around the area, some of it being daylight, and some of it being from the house lights. The ground wasn’t entirely whole, as there were two huge ditches nearby that weren’t too deep; one filled with water and the other could be used to trap those who couldn’t climb. Mario looked around, slightly dazed, but ready to fight. Their kidnapper was nowhere to be seen, but suddenly, white tentacles began to pour out of one of the openings of the pipes!

The gang spun around to face the creature who fully revealed itself within the light.

It was a Blooper.

The squid-like creature stared down at the gang, to which Wario responded by throwing a small pebble into its head. The Blooper recoiled in pain and fell down covering its eyes and shaking.

“Wahahaha! That’s what you get you stupid sushi!” Wario laughed.

“Wario!” Peach shouted, trying to quiet him.

“Oh, yah've gawtta be jokin!” A voice suddenly yelled out and made everyone scan the area to search for its source.

In the blink of an eye, a creature sped around the pipes and landed in front of the gang, finally revealing itself.

“We've gawt a bunch of hoons heah ey? Yah ooll don't look loike any bugs oy hahve evah sayn!”

The creature was a scutlet. A scutlet is a creature with six limbs and a body as flat as paper, and normally they crawl on the ground. This scutlet was different, however. He stared down at the gang with a threatening aura. He wore a black top hat that seemed to have a cowboy shape and held what seemed to be metal on four of his limbs that acted as his arms.

“U-uh hello sir. My name is Princess Peach and I’m from the mushroom kingdom. Who might you be?” Peach hesitantly replied. She was weirded out from the situation unraveling.

“The nyme is Terrence C. Crawlah. Who moight the rest of yah hoons be?” Terrence asked.

“Mario!”
“Luigi!”
Mario and Luigi both responded with their names and their signature jumps.

“I’m Daisy. This is Toad and this is Yoshi” Daisy added in, as well as pointing to Toad and Yoshi respectively.

“Wahhh and I’m Wario!”
“Wehhh I’m Waluigi!”
Wario and waluigi both chipped in.

“So why did you kidnap us jerk-face? I oughta give you a good smack for that!” Wario threatened, waving his fist.

Terrence stepped back, mildly offended.

“The bettah question is, whoy were yah hoons in moy home to begin weeth? Yah were actin up and mykin noise, and worse of ooll, yah scared moy poor Bloopie!” He said, motioning to the Blooper who was still shaking in fear.

Peach held her hands up to prevent another argument from Wario and stepped forward.

“Mr. Crawler please forgive us. We didn’t mean to intrude in your home or scare Bloopie. You see, something very valuable of ours was stolen and we chased the thief into this place to get it back.” She explained.

Terrence rubbed his chin and reached for something behind him. “Would it hahppen to be thiis shiny, glaowin rawck?”

Terrence brough his hand forward and presented the Sky Crystal, glowing its eternally yellow light!

“Yes, that one! We’ll just taking it and leaving here no-” Peach reached out for the crystal, but Terrence stepped back.

“Waowh waowh waowh! Who si’de oy was gawnna give it back? Thiis rawck is a beauty faw shooah. Oy'm thinkin of kaypin it!” Terrence rebutted.

Peach blinked a few times in surprise.

“E-excuse me!?” She blurted out in surprise.

Daisy walked up and pounded her fists. “Listen dude, you’re not keeping that, and we can either talk this out, or fight.”

Terrence frowned. “Oy sa’y how it is. Yah come into moy home uneenvoited, yah scare the kneeckahs off moy little Bloopie, and now yah wahnna rawb me of thiis here beauty oy found and recovuhd fair and square? Yah surface hoons hahve no respect. None!” He angrily shouted.

He looked behind him in the ditch nearby, then looked back at the gang and smiled. “Mybee oy should let moy old sheila, Big Bertha, taych yah ooll some mannahs about respect.”

The water in the ditch, which was practically overflowing and leaking onto the ground, began to vibrate. A giant Porcupuffer jumped out of the water and roared.

“B-b-b-b-big Bertha!” Luigi shrieked.

The fish was humongous. It was twice the size of Bloopie, and had spikes lining it back. When it roared, a huge vortex nearly pulled in everything around it. It could swallow the entire gang whole and still have room for dessert.

“Yaep! Thiis is Big Bertha. Me and her hahve bayn pahtnahs forevah, and we bawth have had ahh stuff stolen and tyken frawm us, even when it was fair and square. Weeth thiis rawck we cahn myke it big and nawt live in thiis crowded place! So beat it, aw be eaten!”
Terrence yelled, which Big Bertha roared in compliance.

The gang froze, unable to move and tried thinking of a plan, but nothing came to mind. Just when Mario was gonna step up, prepared for a fight, Toad spoke up.

“I get it Terrence! I know what it’s like to have stuff taken from you!” Toad said. He walked towards the tall scutlet and the small Toad tried to stare him down. Toad wasn’t bluffing, however. The same situation happened while he was training for the Toad Guard. He felt wronged, like he was not given the chance again to prove himself. He remembered how it was like when he had to train. He passed the written test and decision-making test but struggled in the physical test. He ended up failing and, just like that, he was no longer qualified to be in the Toad Guard. He was demoted to a simple assistant. He remembered when he overheard the two Toads' conversation. He saw the opportunity and took it, and even though he stresses about what will happen later when they grow again, or if Peach finds out the truth, he doesn’t regret taking that chance.

All these memories flooded his mind in a mere 5 seconds, but he composed himself again and looked back up at Terrence.

“But we’re not going to let you steal from us. We’re gonna get back what’s rightfully ours - that stone - no matter what!” He confidently shouted.

Terrence looked at him and then grabbed his vest and lifted him up by it to meet him at eye level. “Haow about oy thraow yah in the wottah and myke yah feesh food? Yah scared of that yah little runt?” He asked.

Toad stared back unblinking. “Terrified.” He responded.

Peach held her breath in anticipation, and she was ready to fight, if need be, along with Mario who was already in a charging position.

Terrence blinked at Toad a few times. Then he smiled and began to laugh heartily.

“Huyha! Oy loike the cut of your jib little fungus. In fahct, yah have cawnveenced me. Oy'll give bahck the rawck on one cawndeetion: Yah ooll face me in a gyme of Pahty!” Terrence exclaimed.

“Party? That’s the game Terraons play in competition…” Peach thought aloud.

“Wehh what the heck is Party?” Waluigi asked.

“Yah don't know pahty? Whaht ahh yah, foreigners?” Terrence asked.

“Wahh we are! Remember when we were talking to that bug guy, and we walked that blue circle path Waluigi? That’s Party!” Wario explained.

“Wehhh I get it now ok ok let's do it already!” Waluigi shouted impatiently.

Terrence held up his hands. “Huyng on. Before we staht, oy need to myke shooah yah ooll won't troy anythin funny.” He then brought one of his hands to his mouth and let out a loud whistle.

“Big Bertha! Smoke the hoons on the fah end!” Terrence ordered.

Big Bertha surfaced from the water and blasted a water stream towards Wario, Waluigi, Yoshi, and Luigi, who were on the far end of the gang.

“YOSHI!”

“WAHHHH!”
“WEHHH!”

“UWAHH!”

All four of them were launched into a ditch parallel to Big Bertha’s. This ditch was empty however. The remaining members were Mario, Peach, Daisy, and Toad, who were shocked at what happened.

“Hey! What’s the big idea!?” Daisy yelled out.

“Loik I si’de. Nothin funny. Besoides, Pahty only nayds four playahs.” Terrence explained.

Mario ran over to check on Luigi and the others, who were all fine, but had stars swirling their heads.

“Wahhhhhhh I’m gonna…gonna…get that buggggg.” Wario dizzily squeaked out.

Terrence walked to the southernmost part of the area. He still had the Sky Crystal in his hand. 

“Thiis heah weell be the stahtin point. Now normahlly a gyme of pahty goes faw five rounds, weeth five minigymes and the weennah is the one weeth the most Stahs, which yah get with Coins. However, because the shiny rawck is the proize, oy'm changing the gaowl: Geh' me two Stahs in four rounds and the gyme is ovah. Trust me though, oy'm gawnna win yah hoons.” He smiled and winked.

Daisy curled up her fists and so did Mario and Toad. “Fat chance. We’re gonna win, and you'll pay big time, cockroach!”

Before anything else could happen, the Sky Crystal began to glow even brighter, and a blinding light emitted from the Crystal.

“Ack!” Terrence yelped out in pain.

The light blinded and filled the area for only a few seconds, for which afterwards, the light dimmed slightly. It wasn’t as bright, but it was now spinning in the air and glowing a more magnificent yellow. Everyone looked around and were shocked at what happened. Blue, Red, and Green circles now littered the small area, making a looped path back to where Terrence was standing. The path was also cut by blank spots, one of which had a simple sign pointing down, and one other spot had a desk with cards on it. A star also appeared at the end of the loop, and a cup with four dies appeared at the beginning. Terrence ran over to all of these new additions. He knocked on the sign and suddenly, a green pipe appeared. He looked inside for a split second, and then ran over to the table where the desk was. 

“No why! Did the rawck do ooll of thiis? It created a shawp, and haexes, and Stahs, Coins, and doice! Oy was just gawnna use pypah and plahstic faw everything buh' now oy don't nayd it! No wawndah yah hoons wahnt thiis bahck, thiis rawck is muygicul!” Terrence said in amazement.

Daisy huddled Peach, Toad, and Mario together in a way that Terrence couldn’t hear what they were saying.

“Cuz, what the heck just happened?” Daisy asked in astonishment.

Peach thought for a few seconds, trying to come up with an explanation. “I’m…not sure. I read about Terrao before arriving, and I heard about how engraved the game of Party is in Terraon culture, but I’ve never seen anything like this!”

“It’s weird. It’s almost as if the Sky Crystal WANTS us to play Party. Do you think it knows what’s happening right now?” Toad asked.

“Like it’s alive or something?” Daisy asked Toad.

“I’ve never heard of anything like that. When we get back to Gyumba we should-” Peach stopped, and the realization crashed into her. 

“Oh no! Gyumba is still in the house! He must be worried sick about us!” Peach added.

“And we didn’t tell him what to do or to wait for us or anything…” Daisy realized.

“We messed up. Big time.”

Mario nodded. He rushed into the hole with no plan and led everyone down here. He felt awful. Peach realized the mood that was being created and tried to defuse it.

“Let’s not get hung up on that now. We’ll focus instead on getting the crystal back.” Peach reminded them. She then broke off the huddle.

“We’re ready Terrence!” She shouted.

“About toime! Oy even came up weeth a great nyme for thiis boahd! Oy cohl it.”

Creepy Crawler’s Hideout

“Hey! Thaht isn't how yah say it! Geh' it roight yah reenk!” Terrence angrily shouted.

Craypy Crawlah’s Hideout

“Bettah!” Terrence huffed and ran over to the starting point with a cup in hands and 4 dice in it. He gave the 4 players one die each.

“Alroight,  first yah ooll ahh gawnna rawll your doice and say whaht numbah yah get. The beeggest numbah goes first, and the smohlest numbah goes last. Now rawll!” Terrence ordered.

Everyone did as they were told. They all rolled their dice, and each got a number.

Mario got a 4.

Peach got a 3.

Daisy got a 7.

And Toad got a 1.

“Aw what!? A one?!” Toad despaired.

“Tuff luck fungus! Yah gawtta myke do weeth whaht yah get. Now everyone gets ten coins.” Terrence explained.

Without a warning, the crystal glowed brighter and brighter, and ten coins materialized in front of the players. They were small enough to store and glowed a dim golden light.  Everyone stared in amazement and Terrence grinned.

“Thiis shiny rawck is a blaydin goldmine!” He exclaimed as he jumped on top of a pipe overseeing the entire hideout now turned play-board.

“Ahem, now yah say thaht Stah ovah there? Yah ooll gawtta tyke turns rawllin the die and myke it to the stah. Let me wahn yah though; Stahs nayd 20 coins to be puhchuysed. Soo myke shooah to struytegoize, hoons! Orange gurl, yah go first. Then the red guy, then the pink gurl, then the fungus. Beygin!” Terrence ordered.

“Well, here goes nothing.” Daisy whispered.

She grabbed the die block. The numbers on the die go from 1-10. She tightly gripped the die and then threw it to the ground.

An 8.

Daisy’s eyes lit up and she pumped a fist. “Aw yeah baby!”

She moved 8 spaces and was soon confronted with a three-way path. The left path led up to a separate area with pipes. The middle path went around a few trenches with water in them and green spaces. The right path went down towards a path with several green spaces, but it was also the shortest path towards the star. Daisy went with the right path, landing on a blue space before the green space area and another table with cards on it. Three coins suddenly materialized in front of her.

“Blue spyces geeve yah coins, and raed spyces tyke coins away. Ooll in thrays!” Terrence said, putting up three hands.

It was Mario’s turn next.

He took the die and rolled it on the ground.

He got a 6.

He ran down the path and took the left path. He ran down a few more spaces but stopped at another table. Terrence jumped down from the pipe and landed near the table with impressive speed.

“Waelcome to the haex tyble mustache! These cahds are the haexes, and they cahn cause effects faw other plaoyrs or yoursself! Just plyce them daown on a spyce and any plaoyr thaht lands on them gets struck!” Terrence explained, before jumping back up to his viewing post.

Mario nodded and grabbed a card. A Twenty Coin Hex. It had a minus sign next to the twenty which meant that should someone step on the hex, it would make them lose twenty coins. Mario pocketed the card and ran the last two spaces, landing on a blue space and being awarded three more coins.

Peach was next. 

She gently rolled the die onto the ground.

A 7.

She decided to take the middle path when she got to the intersection. She landed on a green space, near three valves. Terrence jumped down once again and knocked on the pipe. He then placed one of his feelers on the pipe. 

“Yah landed on an event spyce, pink gurhl! Troy tuhnin one of thaese vahlves and say whaht yah get.” Terrence explained before hopping away again.

Peach stared at the three valves and decided to turn the left valve.  After she did this, a pipe above began to shake heavily, and just as it looked like it was about to burst, eight coins fell out of it, landing neatly in front of her. She sighed in relief.

“Huh. So thaht's whaht it does.” Terrence said.

It was now Toad’s turn. He rolled the die on the floor slightly haphazardly.

A 4.

Toad groaned as he once again got a lower number than everyone else once again. 

He marched down the path and landed on a space before the three-way split path. This space was different, however. It was an orange space. As Toad stepped on it, it began to glow orange. 

“Huh? What is this thing doing?” Toad asked out loud.

The Sky Crystal began to glow again, and Toad suddenly felt a strange feeling filling every part of his body. 

He felt so happy!

“Ahhhh~ Isn’t today such a lovely day?” Toad sighed happily.

“Huh? Is Toad alright?” Peach asked.

“Err, well...thaht is the Friendship Space . It's wheah a plaoyr gets foive coins and gets to choose another plaoyr to gift foive coins to. Don't ask me whoy he's actin ooll geeddy.” Terrence commented.

Five coins materialized in front of Toad, and he grabbed them. He then stared at Mario with a huge smile on his face.

“Mario buddy. I’m so sorry for being 5 months late to your birthday. Here, let me make it up to you.”

Toad raised a hand in the air and pointed his palm in the direction of Mario. The space underneath Mario glowed a bright orange and five coins materialized in front of Mario for him to collect. He waved back thanks to Toad.

“Thank you~” Mario replied, feeling himself become cheery for a moment.

“Man, Party is a pretty weird game.” Daisy remarked as she turned back to face the path.

“Now it’s my turn. I just gotta roll the die and-”

Terrence dropped down and interrupted her. “Waowh waowh waowh orange gurl. It's nawt your tuhn just yet, we gawtta play a minigyme.”

The Sky Crystal once again began to emit a bright yellow light that enveloped the entire area. The light finally dissipated, and everyone found themselves disoriented. Everyone’s eyes adjusted and after looking around they saw very clearly that they were now seated at a table with rectangular and squared cards on it. Terrence was on the other side of the table, and he too was disoriented. Once his eyes adjusted, he grabbed all of the cards and looked at them. He grinned after seeing all of them.

“The shiny rawck mykes minigymes too? Bloody swayt! Alroight yah hoons, the shiny rawck gave us the puhfect minigyme faw us to play!” Terrence placed down the cards facing upwards for everyone to see. The rectangle cards had everyone’s faces on it! Mario’s, Toad’s, and the Princesses’s heads were on these cards in perfect detail! The square cards had their bodies on them in perfect detail. Well, not exactly perfect detail. Some of these cards had small changes to their clothing. One card had an extra button on Mario’s overalls. Another card had the sleeves on Peach’s arms much longer than they should be. Only a select few of these cards were accurate. The rest had minor imperfections on the clothing. Terrence saw all of his players view all of these cards, so he brought them all onto his hands and began doing card tricks with them, including shuffling all of them. He kept the rectangle cards in one hand, and the square cards in another.

“Thiis minigyme is called Dress for Success . I used to play it weeth moy brothahs bahck in Rohguepoht! Here's whahtcha need to do: Foind the body cahd thaht mahtches the head cahd. Look famoiliar eh? Choose the roight one, yah earn a point! First one to three points, weens!” Terrence explained.

“Sounds easy enough. Let’s play!” Toad shouted in anticipation.

Terrence smiled and brought out the first head card. It was Mario’s head. He then brought out four body cards using his extra hands.

The first body card had Mario’s overalls in perfect detail.

The second card had Peach’s dress.

The third card had Toad’s vest with no buttons.

The fourth card was Mario’s overalls with three buttons on it.

Terrence then flipped the cards over and shuffled all of them in the blink of an eye. Everyone stared in shock for a few seconds, then they all looked up at Terrence. He smiled back in response.
“Whaht was thaht about thiis bein easy, fungus? Oy shore do hope yah were wahtchin the cahds." Terrence mocked.

Daisy had only the faintest clue what card was the right one, but something in her gut told her to choose the second one.

“This one!” She shouted with confidence.

Peach pondered her decision, then decided to take the first card. Mario swiftly took the fourth and Toad took the third. They all flipped their cards together.

Daisy’s card matched.

“Freakin sweet!” Daisy cheered.

Toad grunted and stood up on his chair. He was ready for round 2. Terrence took all the cards except for Daisy’s card, which she kept as proof of her point.

The next head card was Peach’s.

The first body card had Mario’s overalls with a single button.

The second card had Toad’s vest with four buttons.

The third card had Daisy’s dress in perfect detail.

The fourth card was Peach’s dress in perfect detail.

Terrence shuffled the cards again and laid them out for the players to choose. Toad paid much more attention during the shuffling but lost his eye on the card at the last minute. He decided on the 2nd card, while everyone else chose theirs.

Everyone flipped their cards.

Both Mario and Daisy’s were correct!

“Oh yeah baby! Two for two!” Daisy cheered.

“H-huh?! Hey, there weren't two correct cards before!” Toad whined, which was met only with a smirk and a shrug by Terrence.

Mario and Daisy kept their cards while Toad stared down at the table. This time readying himself for round 3.

The next head card was Toad’s own head.

The first body card had Mario’s overalls with no buttons.

The second card had Toad’s vest with eight buttons.

The third card had Peach’s dress in with a longer skirt.

The fourth card was Toad’s vest in perfect detail.

Terrence shuffled the cards again and laid them out for the players to choose. Toad paid even more attention during the shuffling, never losing sight of the card he wanted. He snatched the first card on the left while everyone else chose theirs. This was it! No doubt about it! Toad grinned as he knew he had the right card. Everyone flipped their cards and Toad - full of confidence and knowing this was an easy point for himself- flipped his last!

Daisy’s card was correct!

“Rats!” Toad shouted.

“Haehehe bettah luck next toime fungus. Thiis gurl is the supahstah!” Terrence mocked.

A bright light once again filled the area, and everyone suddenly reappeared where they were previously on the board. Ten coins materialized in front of Daisy, leaving her enough for the star. The Crystal also began emitting more yellow light.

“You totally got those coins unfairly!” Toad shouted at Daisy.

“Hey man, a game is a game. You play and you win or lose. If you want more, you gotta play better!” Daisy teased.

“You’ll see Daisy! I’m gonna win and get the star!” Toad shouted back.

“No way! I’m gonna win the stars!” Daisy replied.

“Toad! Daisy! May I remind you we are in this together?” Peach remarked.

Daisy and Toad then blinked at each other a few times, both of them simultaneously feeling a strange feeling in their heads.

“Ah right. Ehehe…” Daisy chuckled.

“Please forgive me your highness, I don’t know what came over me.” Toad apologized.

“Nah, it's ok. I felt weird for a second there too.” Daisy responded. 

Her head felt dizzy for a second, but she still remembered how in that little moment of banter, she felt a strange sense of fight and competition in her. Granted, she always had a fighting spirit when it came to games and sports, but for whatever reason, this time felt… different. As if, she couldn’t control what she felt. 

“Hey, no moah gettin lawst in thawt! It is toime faw the second tuhn!” Terrence ordered.

Daisy rolled the die she had in her hands onto the floor.

A 5. Way too low to get to the star.

She moved 5 spaces and landed on an event space.

“Ok…what happens now?” Daisy asked.

Suddenly, one of the pipes that inhabited the right path began shaking. The cover to it popped off and a vortex pulled Daisy inside! Daisy traveled through the dark pipes, crossing through all of the pipes on the ceiling of the hideout before being launched to the start of the board. She fell on her back and five coins were knocked off of her, disappearing after they fell onto the ground. 

“Daisy! Are you okay!?” Peach shouted worryingly.

Daisy slowly stood up and began rubbing her head. “It feels like I just got hit by a kart…” She whined.

“Whaht a show, gurl! You bettah troy and myke your way bahck!” Terrence laughed.

“Wahh what’s happening up there? Are you guys winning or what?” Wario shouted. He was the first to regain consciousness. 

“Poipe down paynut gallery! The Mario guy is up next!” Terrence ordered.

Mario rolled his die onto the floor.

A 6.

Mario began running and ran into another split path. Both led to the star, but the right path was longer than the left, so Mario took the left path. He stopped at a sign with an arrow that pointed down, and above the arrow was written ‘Enter the Item Shop?’ in white paint. Not knowing what to do next, Mario simply nodded. Apparently, that was the correct way to answer, because a pipe came up and transported Mario downward. He fell onto a floor in what seemed to be a dark room.

“Well, well, well! Hello Mario! Welcome to the Item Shop!”

Mario stood up and was greeted with a Monty Mole who was in charge of a stand. This Monty Mole was normal size, so behind the stand was just his face. Mario looked onto the stand. There were four separate boxes on the table flanked by an oil lamp on both sides. 

The first box was a pair of red dice, which cost 3 coins. The second box had a turquoise bag with a curved arrow pointed southeast, which cost 8 coins and was the most expensive out of the four item boxes. The third box had white blocks with what seemed to be different paint colors on it with tempered glass. These cost 2 coins. The fourth box had the cheapest item in the shop, single die blocks that only had 1-5 on them. They were purple, green, and frankly unappealing, but they only cost a single coin each. Mario thought for a minute and decided to take the red dice pair, so he pointed at it. 

“That’s what you rocking with baby? So be it! Double Dice for you!” The Mole shouted enthusiastically. 

His brown, curved eyes glowed yellow, and three coins materialized in front of Mario and floated away behind the stand. In return, a single pair of the Double Dice floated to Mario and reappeared in his pocket. 

“Yeah, yeah that's how we roll big man! Anything else?” The mole asked.

Mario only had 15 coins now, so he shook his head, deciding to save his money for now.

“Thank you!” The Mole shouted. A pipe appeared again and brought Mario back to the surface, where he traveled one more space before landing on another blue space.

“What was that?” Daisy asked.

“The shawp! Yah can buy items weeth your coins to use faw yourself, aw aguynst other plaoyrs.” Terrence explained.

Peach was next. She rolled her die on the floor.

A 5.

She moved five spaces and landed on another green space, one that was extremely close to the star. Terrence looked down and saw that she was next to Big Bertha’s water hole, and grinned.

“Tuff luck gurl. Big Bertha! Blahst her!” Terrence ordered.

Big Bertha heard the order from under the water and flopped onto land. She opened her mouth and created a large vortex to try and swallow Peach. Before Peach could be swallowed though, she tried running away which forced Big Bertha to continually sucking in the air, and everyone else watched intensely in both horror and anticipation. Just as it looked like Peach was finished, Big Bertha began coughing, which stopped the vortex and allowed Peach to get away from her mouth. Creating the vortex apparently cost Big Bertha tons of energy, because she attempted in vain to create another vortex. Eventually she gave up and began thrashing about, upset that she failed, before descending back into her water. Peach breathed a huge sigh of relief.

“Big Bertha, it's ok! Ain’t no shyme in it!” Terrence shouted, attempting to console the giant fish. He then turned to look at Peach and frowned. “Cawnsidah yourself lucky preencess! Next toime she wawn't mess up.” Terence threatened, which was met by a similar frown by Peach.

It was finally Toad’s turn. He rolled his die on the ground, hoping his luck would finally turn around.

A 10.

“Aw yeah!” Toad shouted with excitement. He pumped his fist before running down the path. He chose the right path as Daisy had and continued down it, landing on the same blue space Daisy had. Three coins materialized in front of him, and in total, he now had 18 coins. One more blue space would give him enough for the star.

“Oolroight hoons! Toime faw another minigyme!” Terrence shouted.

The Sky Crystal once began to emit more bright yellow light that enveloped the entire area. After a few seconds the light finally dissipated and everyone looked around. This time they were in a smaller cramped area. Noises rang out from everywhere, and everyone simultaneously looked up. Now they were in some sort of mechanism. Gears were turning, machine parts clicked in and out of the walls, wheels spun, and many metal pieces stood dormant as platforms. The mechanism was tall, and the last platform was a bright gold color, which was big enough for the four of them, and very clearly represented the goal. A clock hand was on the wall near the top. 

“Are we inside of a clock?” Peach asked out loud.

“Shooah are gurl!” Terrence jumped up from one of the platforms onto the ground. 

 “Welcome to All Geared Up . Faw thiis minigyme, yah gawtta jump up ooll the why to the tawp before anyone else. First one to the tawp plahtfohm weens!” Terrence explained. Everyone nodded and prepared to jump. Toad and both of the princesses knew they were going to have to work overtime to win against Mario, who was famous FOR his jumping abilities. The four of them were in a much more competitive mood, and did not prepare any argument or complaints, which Terrence was grateful for. He readied himself to shout.

“Raydy? Set... go!” He shouted.

Everyone began jumping on the dormant platforms immediately. Mario had the least issue, and already had a huge start before everyone else. On the other end, Toad was struggling the most, and at times he had to climb up certain platforms and stop to catch his breath. Once everyone got past a third of the way, they began jumping onto moving platforms that entered and exited the walls. Everyone struggled here; even Mario was caught off guard by a few of these platforms and fell down a few times. Toad tried picking up the pace, and actually succeeded well enough. He managed to climb and traverse a few of the gears and some nails in the wall, allowing him to pass Peach and Daisy and ending up just behind Mario. Both took tumbles on some of the disappearing platforms, and both ended up in front of the other at times. On the last gear before the goal however, Toad was tricked by a moving platform, and fell on a rotating piece. Without paying attention or thinking, he got back up with a fervor and managed to get to the goal platform.

Where Mario already was.

“OOLRIGHT! Thaht's a wrap! Mario is the supahstah!” Terrence shouted. Everyone groaned in response, besides Mario, who pumped his fist in the air.

The yellow light appeared again and everyone found themselves where they were on board. Toad was still exhausted, and upset that he lost. He felt terrible, but refused to accept this defeat. He didn’t really understand why - it wasn’t like they were fighting against each other - but he still felt a fire in his belly. He swore to himself he wasn’t going to lose anymore. No more pleasantries; it was time for action! 

The Sky Crystal glowed in response.

Daisy was up again. She rolled her die on the ground hard to try and get a good number to move back up again. 

She got a 6. 

“Cmonnnn.” Daisy whined. She moved six spaces, and instead took the left path Mario went on, not wanting to go through the pipe path again and try her luck. She grabbed a card off the hex table without seeing its contents and landed on a blue space and three coins materialized for her; she now had 21. She looked at her hex card and realized she had grabbed a hex for swapping coin amounts with another player.

Mario was next. He decided to use the Double Dice he bought since he now had enough for the star. He rolled the dice on the ground.

He got a 6 and a 3.

A total of 9.

It was enough for the star, and Mario soon found himself at the star’s base. He looked up and grabbed the star. 20 coins floated out of his pockets and disappeared. The star entered his body and a golden light shone in it for a few seconds before disappearing.

“Wahoo!” Mario cheered, to everyone else’s jealousy. Why were they jealous though? Should Mario get another star, the crystal would be theirs again. This strange feeling overtook Toad and Daisy, and even Peach was beginning to feel the effects. All four of them wanted to be the one to win.

The Sky Crystal glowed in response.

“Congratulations Mario! Yah ooll bettah work hardah now, the gyme is hahfway ovah!” Terrence pointed out. He then jumped onto one of the walls of the hideout. The star was originally at the top of the board, and the path afterwards split into two paths once more. Both paths lead back to the beginning of the board, where the three paths split again, and the board looped. Bloopie was on the wall parallel to this split path, seemingly watching the players. 

“Theah!” Terrence pointed to the space before the three-path split, where another Star suddenly materialized. Mario moved a few more spaces and traveled to the right path which had fewer spaces between it and the main path. 

It was Peach’s turn now. She gripped the die and rolled it onto the ground. 

A 5. 

She ran only enough spaces to get onto the space before the split. She landed on a blue space and three coins materialized for her. She now had 21 coins and enough for the star.

Toad was next. He rolled the die, a little miffed as he now had to make his way back to the main path, and he hoped for a big number to help it. 

A 3. Which meant he was about to land on the green space.

“Aw gravy…” Toad dreaded. He landed on the green space where the pipe was. The pipe began to shake, and the cap opened. A vortex then pulled him in, and he began traveling through the pipes, just as Daisy had. Unlike Daisy however, he didn’t travel to the beginning of the board. The pipe launched him out to the right path that looped back to the beginning, meaning he had gotten much closer to the star. He fell on his back and had stars circling his head. 

Daisy’s mouth dropped. “Hey! What gives! Why did he get put there and I lost money and got sent back!?” She shouted.

“Tuff luck, gurl. It is whaht it is.” Terrence shrugged.

“Woo…hoo…ugh.” Toad squeaked out in pain.

“Toime faw another minigyme!” Terrence shouted.

The Sky Crystal once began to emit more bright yellow light that enveloped the entire area. After a few seconds the light finally dissipated, and everyone looked around. It was still incredibly bright, but it soon became clear where they were. They were outside! Not just outside either, they were in some kind of kiddie sand pit, with toy blocks, toy cars and trucks, and shovels littered across the pit, which was long but not wide. At the end of the pit was presumably the goal: a large sandcastle looming in the distance. In front of them were 4 colored balls, which were normal size as they were practically as tall as the players. Terrence stood atop of these toy balls and cleared his throat.

“Oolroight hoons, thiis one is gawnna be a bit trickier. Thiis minigyme is called Roller Coasters . Real seemple; get to the end of the sahnd piit. However, the tricky paht is thaht yah gawtta trahvel there and bylahnce on these orbs whoile yah do it. Wahtch faw road blawcks too. Unduhstood?” Terrence asked.

Everyone nodded and jumped onto the balls. Although they all struggled to balance at first, everyone stayed on and readied themselves, once again with no resistance or complaints. Terrence again readied himself to shout.

“Raydy? Set... go!” He shouted.

Mind you, no one in the gang knows any tricks with balancing, so everyone was equally shocked when they were all individually able to balance and travel with these balls with no problem whatsoever. No one stayed and pondered on this revelation however; they immediately went back to trying to race each other across the sand pit. Even with the new ability to travel and balance however, everyone struggled to actually move. Mario had the least amount of trouble, but he still ricocheted off the blocks uncontrollably, and got stuck behind a moving toy truck. Peach was in the same situation; despite better balancing she still had trouble actually moving. Toad fared even worse. He tried sprinting on the ball to get moving faster but all it did was dig him a hole in which the ball got stuck. He managed to free it by applying pressure forward onto the ball to push it loose. Once he was freed he kept trying the same technique, but he would only move a slight bit. Daisy had the most trouble. At first she tried just running but that didn’t work. Then she tried shaking the ball around to move, but all she did was move around in place. Then she tried kicking the ball forward, which made her go backwards.

This minigame wasn’t easy at all. It was like trying to get an elephant to move with nothing more than a stylus pencil, and your own hopes and dreams. 

Toad stopped at the first quarter of the pit. He was sweating profusely and out of breath. Nobody else was faring any better, Mario wasn’t even at the halfway point.

“No…I can’t do it” Toad thought to himself. He felt like giving up. He was behind in Party, and he was behind in the Minigame. It didn’t matter anyways, right? Whoever won would still get the Crystal back from Terrence, so what did it matter if he lost? He would still technically ‘win’ in the end, right? So why didn’t it feel that way? Why did he feel like he was failing? Maybe it was because he had failed a lot over the years. He clenched his fist. No. He didn’t want to just fail again. He wanted to win. He wanted to prove he could. He wanted to prove to anyone that ever doubted him that he was a fighter too! 

He no longer felt like giving up. He wanted to win this. Even if the outcome would be the same if he lost. 

He wanted to win! He was practically glowing with resolve! 

He looked down at his feet. There had to be a way to move the ball easily. He got it to move, even if it was a little, but how did he do it? He tried shuffling his feet, and slowly but surely he was moving again. Then he realized! 

He had to move back for every forward step! 

As soon as he shuffled his right foot towards the front of the ball which propelled him forward, he brought it to the back and shuffled his left foot. He started to gain speed and momentum! He got excited and began moving even faster. He got the hang on the movement and zipped past Peach and Mario. He kept running around the blocks then made a beeline for the sand castle. In his excitement however, he realized that he was moving too fast. 

“Woah woah woah!” Toad shouted out loud. He tried to jump off, but perhaps the same force that was keeping him on the ball was the same one preventing him from jumping off. He made it to the goal line, and whatever force was keeping him on the ball disappeared as he did, because he flung off the ball, and landed face first into the sandcastle.

He got first.

“Oy don’t believe moy oeyes! The fungus is the supahstah!” Terrence yelled.

“Woohoo! Superstar baby!” Toad cheered; his voice muffled from being in sand.

The yellow light appeared again and everyone found themselves where they were on board. Ten coins materialized in front of Toad and landed in his pocket. He now had 28 coins in total. Enough for the star. He also had sand in his mouth.

“Yuk!” He gagged. Toad never liked sand. It was coarse, rough, irritating, and it would always get everywhere. That didn’t matter to him now though. He had just won a Minigame!

“Thiis is gyettin good! But yah hoons are steell gawnna lose! Preencess, your tuhn now!” Terrence shouted to Daisy.

Daisy rolled her die on the ground.

A 7.

She moved through the left path, and decided to enter the item shop.  She dropped onto the ground and looked around, the small, cave-like area. 

The Monty Mole running the stand gave her a smile.  “Princess Daisy of the Hot and Beautiful Sarasaland! What can I get for you baby?” He shouted enthusiastically. 

“Who are you dude?” Daisy asked.

“No one important, baby! Just a guy who wants to help you! For the right price of course.” He answered. 

“Well alright then. Let’s see…” Daisy scanned the items on the table deciding what to buy. She pointed at the glassy block with different colors. 

“Hey uh, what is that thing?” Daisy asked.

“That there is the Warp Dice Block baby! It’s cheap, but unpredictable. It’ll warp you to a random spot on the board.” The Monty Mole explained.

“Ehh…no thanks. What about that? Are those two dice tied together?” Daisy asked, referring to the Double Dice item in one of the boxes. 

“That there is the Double Dice pair item. It’s err…self explanatory. 3 coins only baby!” The Mole explained.

“I’ll take it!” Daisy exclaimed.

The Mole’s brown, curved eyes glowed yellow, and three coins materialized in front of Daisy which then floated away behind the stand. In return, a single pair of the Double Dice floated to Daisy and reappeared in her pocket. 

“Yeah yeah that's how we roll baby! Anything else?” The mole asked.

“Nah I’m good. I just needed an assist.” Daisy responded.

“Ok! Thank you!” The Mole shouted. A pipe appeared again and brought Daisy back to the surface, where she traveled a few more spaces before landing on another blue space that was just before the split path at the end. 

Peach’s turn was next. She grabbed her die and rolled it on the ground.

A 9.

She made her way to the split path at the end of the board. Since both paths led to the main path at the beginning anyway, she decided to go left, as she noticed she would land on a red space and lose coins if she took the right path. She landed on another blue space, earning three coins and having 24 in total. 

Toad was next. He breathed on the die for good luck, a Mushroom Kingdom superstition, and rolled the die onto the ground.

Who says superstitions aren’t real? He rolled a 7; enough for the star!

“Oh yeah! Who’s the man!?” Toad cheered. He made his way to the end of the path and landed back on the main path. He got to the base of the star and grabbed it. 20 coins floated out of his vest pockets and disappeared. The star entered his body and a golden light shone in it for a few seconds before disappearing.

“Congratulations fungus! Who would hahve thawt?” Terrence shouted.

Terrence once again jumped onto one of the walls of the hideout. 

“Theah!” Terrence pointed to a space on the split right path before the main path, where another Star suddenly materialized. Daisy and Mario both now had a huge advantage, and Toad ran a few more spaces before landing on the space before the three way split path. Unfortunately, this was also a red space. He lost three coins, bringing his total to only 5 coins.

“Alroight, toime faw the lahst minigyme!” Terrence shouted.

The Sky Crystal once began to emit more bright yellow light that enveloped the entire area. After a few seconds the light finally dissipated and everyone looked around. It was still incredibly bright, but it soon became clear where they were. They were underground! Toad opened his eyes and looked around. He was in some sort of dirt mound, and he was holding a spoon! Not just that, but Daisy was right next to him with a spoon as well. Terrence suddenly popped up inside the dirt mound, with the Sky Crystal in hand.

“Oolroight yah two, it's toime faw somethin deefferent. Thiis is gawnna be a team effort! Yah two will face off aguynst the pink preencess and Mario in thiis minigyme: Mole Thrillers . Oy used to play thiis weeth moy bruhthahs when oy was a smohl bug. Yah two need to work tohgethah to escuype the mole comin through thiis here dirt.” As Terrence explained, both Toad and Daisy looked down at their spoons, but they also noticed that their legs were tied together with a rope! Terrence laughed.

“Diid oy mention yah two ahh tied tohgethah? Myke it to the end of dirt befoah the mole gets yah, and yah two both wiien. Raydy? Set… Go!” Terrence shouted before disappearing.

Daisy and Toad booth looked at each other, before hearing noise behind them. The sound got closer and the dirt wall behind them began to fall apart.
Daisy spun around.

“Okay just go go go go go!” Daisy ordered.

The two of them began thrashing their spoons about, digging as fast as they could. They had no idea how far the exit was, only that they didn’t want to know what happened if they stopped.

Eventually however, they hit a rock.

“Here let me just…” Daisy tried to dig her way, but Toad tried to dig his way.

“No no this way!” Toad shouted.  They both tried digging their own way. The result? They went nowhere, and both just kept hitting their spoons and heads on the rock. They stopped and glared at each other, but only for a few minutes before the digging sounds of the mole got closer, and they broke off their stare and faced back from where they came. Toad gritted his teeth, before sighing. 

“We have to work together, princess. I…trust you. You need to move us out of the way!” Toad shouted. 

“Right… you’re right!” Daisy responded.

Toad stopped his movements and let Daisy take control. She continued digging and eventually, they both were able to go around the rock, to which Toad stepped up his digging. They continued forward, but noticed they were heading into another rock. Daisy stopped digging.

“This one is yours, buddy!” She shouted.

Toad nodded and continued digging as fast as he could. This became the new pattern. Whatever rock they went into they allowed the other to continue digging, and then when they were cleared of the rock, they both would start digging again. They continued together and tried to dig faster, not knowing whether or not they were behind or ahead. They kept digging and digging until they began digging into sand! White sand, which increased in area and soon, that’s all they were digging through. Sunlight began to appear, and they were temporarily blinded before their eyes adjusted and they fell onto solid ground again. They both looked up, and they were out! Mario and Peach then appeared next to them, both having just escaped themselves. Terrence appeared and grinned.

“Congratulations to the orange preencess and the fungus! Yah ahh both supahstahs!” He cheered.

“Aw yeah!”
“Woohoo!”

Daisy and Toad high-fived each other.

The yellow light appeared again, and everyone found themselves where they were on board. Toad and Daisy both received ten coins, and both had enough for the star.

“Leesten up hoons, thiis is the lahst round! If none of yah get two Stahs, the gyme is ovah, and oy get the rawck! Bettah myke thiis round count!” terrence shouted.

Daisy was up next. Since this was the last round, she brought out her Double Dice, and rolled them on the ground.

 A 7 and a 5.

A 12.

She moved 12 spaces and easily made it to the star.  “Well at least I get one too.” She said, accepting that she probably wasn’t going to get two stars. She got to the base of the star and grabbed it. 20 coins floated out of her pockets and disappeared. The star entered her body and a golden light shone in it for a few seconds before disappearing. She then landed on another blue space, earning three coins.

“Everyone except the pink preencess now has a Stah. It's anyone's gyme, and let me tell yah ooll now; yaw ooll gawnna need a mirahcle to wiin huyhahhuyha!” Terrence laughed. He again jumped onto one of the walls of the hideout. 

“Theah!” Terrence pointed to the first space on the end split left path, where another Star suddenly materialized. Terrence smiled. This was untenable and he knew it. Nobody was anywhere near the star, with the exception of Toad, but he would need to roll a 9 or higher to get to it. Low, low odds.

Mario’s turn was next. He rolled the die.

A 7.

Unfortunately, he couldn't do much without the right amount or coins. So he simply landed back on the main path, and on a blue space, earning three more coins.

Peach’s turn was next. She rolled her die on the ground.

A 3.

Peach sighed and moved three spaces. She landed on an entirely different space however. 

She landed on a purple space.

“Hmm? What space is this?” She asked.

Terrence got excited and rubbed his fellers and hands together. 

“Now thiis is gawnna be a show!” Terrence exclaimed.

Suddenly, a purple fire surrounded the space. Peach froze at first, unsure of what was going on. She suddenly got hit with a massive headache. 

“Urghh…” Peach struggled to speak.

“Cuz! Are you ok!?” Daisy worryingly shouted out.

“Am I okay…?” Peach asked with a warbly voice.

She stood up tall and opened her eyes. Her eyes were filled with a glowing purple fire. 

“I FEEL INCREDIBLE!” Peach roared with such severity that the hideout suffered a shockwave. Bloopie fell on the ground, and the vibrations shook the pipes. Everyone stood in awe, and Terrence began laughing. Peach then pointed at Toad, who looked behind him, believing that Peach was pointing to something behind him at first. 

“TOAD. I DEMAND WE SPAR!” Peach roared out.

“Wha-what!? S-spar?! With y-you?!” Toad sputtered out.

The same purple fire that surrounded Peach’s space, now began surrounding Toad’s space, and he too felt a headache. He massaged his head, trying to quell it, and it seemed he did, as he stood back up and stood tall.

“You may be the princess that I swore to protect, but if you are so keen on dueling…” Toad opened his eyes. Purple fire filled them and he continued.

“THEN I WON'T BACK DOWN!” Toad roared. 

“Mamma mia!” Mario shouted.

“Terrence! What’s going on!?” Daisy shouted.

“Whaht's going on is thaht the peenk preencess lahnded on a Duel Space ! She and the fungus ahh gawnna duke it out!” Terrence cheered.

“FOR 20 COINS WE DUEL. HOW ABOUT IT TOAD?” Peach roared.

“I ACCEPT! I’LL HIT YOU WITH EVERYTHING I GOT PRINCESS, SO DON’T HOLD BACK!” Toad roared back.

Terrence jumped on the board. “And oy hahve just the minigyme faw it!” He exclaimed.

The Sky Crystal once began to emit more bright yellow light that enveloped the entire area. After a few seconds the light finally dissipated. Peach and Toad looked around. It was still incredibly bright, but it soon became clear where they were. They were in some sort of garage or shed. The walls were adorned with power tools and equipment for house renovation or lawn care. There were even parts for cars like an engine, a license plate, tires, and more. In the middle of this area were several buckets, fluid canisters, soda cans, and tool boxes, some of them were in the middle of what seemed to be a puddle of oil. The two of them were on a counter or tall table, and in front of them were 4 four pieces of rope that hung from the ceiling. Terrence suddenly appeared with the Sky Crystal in one of his hands.

“Thiis one is a great one faw a duel. It's called Trash Landing . Yah two ahh gawnna get ten seconds to desoide whaht rope yah wahnna go on, and yaw gawnna roide them to the end wheah thaht oil spill is. The goal is to' lahnd on one of the theengs down there and nawt fall into the oil. The ropes moight change course, so whuytevah one yah choose is the one yah hahve to work weeth.” Terrence explained.

 Although the fire in their eyes were gone, the fire in their bellies wasn’t. Both Toad and Peach nodded and began scanning the ropes. Terrence noticed this and readied himself.

“Rayday? Set...Go!” He shouted and disappeared.

Toad and Peach both looked at the ropes and looked down at the spill. They noticed a tool in the middle of this makeshift zipline that was undoubtedly for changing course of the ropes. Peach decided on the third rope and got behind it, and Toad decided on the first rope for himself. The other ropes were hoisted up and both players jumped onto their choices, which allowed them to begin their descent down towards the spill. The mechanism in the middle of the line, as expected, changed their course. Both Toad and Peach strayed from their intended object. Toad had planned to get on the rope that went towards the soda can, believing he would make it towards the red toolbox, the safest option. Instead, he went towards a fluid canister. Peach thought of the same strategy, gunning towards a bucket in hopes of heading towards the toolbox. Instead she went towards the bucket. Toad felt his stomach drop and began panicking. Peach tried to focus, but began panicking too. Toad closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing. He didn’t if he could make it, but he was going to try. No more doubting himself. He was gonna win. They both got closer and closer.

Toad let go first. 

Peach followed soon after.

They both flew towards their respective objects. Toad bounced on the canister, and Peach overshot the middle where she planned on landing. 

Toad had won.

Had he left a second earlier or later, he would have bounced right off the canister. He bounced, but stopped himself before he fell off. The princess wasn’t so lucky, and she flew into the oil spill. 

“Haahuyha whaht fun stuff! Fungus, yah wonn aguyn! The duel is yours!” Terrence cheered.

The yellow light appeared again, and Toad found himself where he was on the board. Twenty coins materialized in front of him and floated into his pockets. He stood in amazement that he did it. It was a thrilling ride, but he won against the princess.

Daisy and Mario opened their eyes. They didn’t see the action. All they saw was the glow of the Crystal grow brighter and brighter until they couldn’t see, before it dissipated again and Toad got his coins.

“Peach you alright!?” Daisy shouted to Peach.

Toad spun around in horror. “Your highness! Are you okay!?” Toad shouted worryingly.

Peach was laying on the ground. She slowly stood up and rubbed her head.  “I…don’t know what came over me. I feel a little sick…” She commented.

“Tuff luck preencess, yah lost the duel, and the fungus won your coins!” Terrence yelled out.

“I see…congratulations Toad.” Peach smiled.

Toad felt awful for the win, but he knew he had to focus on getting the last star. It was his turn now. He took his die and rolled it.

Terrence grinned. This was it now. It didn’t matter what number Toad got now because there was no way he would be able to get a 9 and reach the star. The rock was now his. He began dreaming of what he would use it for. Maybe use the coins and stars to pay off or destroy some other bug and get a bigger place on the coast. Maybe he could even get-

A 10.

…Huh?

Terrence blinked a few times.

“Woohoo! Another 10! I did it!” Toad cheered. He ran the ten spaces and grabbed the star. 20 coins floated out of his pockets and the star entered his body. It was official.

Toad Won!

The Crystal began glowing again and the board suddenly disappeared. The patterns, the paths, all vanished. Everything vanished. Any trace of the Party was gone, and the pipes returned to their rusticity.

“Woohoo! Way to go, Toad!” Daisy cheered.

Peach and Mario began clapping as well.

“Congratulations Toad.” Peach smiled.

Toad’s heart fluttered. He actually won! He felt so proud of himself! Terrence jumped down from the pipe he was at. Still dumbfounded by the win, and Toad ran up to him.

“A deal is a deal, Terrence. I won.” Toad huffed with pride.

“Yah shooah diid fungus. Oy nevah saw it comin. The roight thing to do now, is to myke good on ahh deal and retuhn thiis rawck to yah.” Terrence remarked. He then grabbed Toad by the vest.

“Buh oy ain't doin thaht.” He growled. He launched Toad back towards a wall with a valve on it. 

“Ack!” Toad yelped out in pain.

The Sky Crystal glowed brighter.

Mario, Daisy, and Peach glared at Terrence.

“We made a deal Terrence!” Peach shouted at him.

“That’s it! I'm gonna put him in the ground!” Daisy said, gritting her teeth and beating her fists. Mario nodded and readied himself to fight.

The Sky Crystal glowed brighter.

“Wahh what’s going on? Did we win?” Wario shouted out to ask.

“We did, but this stupid cockroach is trying to go back on the deal!” Daisy angrily shouted in response.

“Oh no!” Luigi cried out.

“Wehehe classic trick!” Waluigi snickered.

The Sky Crystal glowed brighter.

“Big Bertha!” Terrence shouted out, to which Big Bertha surfaced and glared back at Mario and the princesses, putting them into a defensive stance.

The Sky Crystal glowed brighter.

“Oy'm nawt givin thiis bahck. Thiis shiny rawck cahn myke stahs and coins and mygic treecks. Oy cahn myke billions with it, and hahve moy own mahnsion! No moah leeving behind the walls faw me, Bloopie, and Big Bertha. Yah hoons ahh just gawnna hahve to accept it, huyhahhuyha! Big Bertha, prepare to drown these hoo-”

The Sky Crystal glowed even brighter, and it began to violently shake. It was no longer avoidable, and now everyone noticed it, especially now that it started to flicker back and forth into the color red.

“Whaht the-?” Terrence shouted out.

Toad watched in amazement.

Creakkkk

Toad turned his head and saw the valve next to him turning all by itself. He watched in shock, as the valve glowed yellow and turned itself all the way to the left. Big Bertha looked down and watched in horror as her water began draining. Eventually, everyone noticed as well when Big Bertha was suddenly caught in the pipe. 

“Urk! Big Bertha!” Terrence cried out. He spun around to face Toad, who was in much shock as he was.

“Don't just stahnd theah fungus! Tuhn thaht vahlve! Save moy gurl!” Terrence ordered.

Toad, without thinking, tried to turn the valve, but he wasn’t strong enough. In fact the valve was so rusty, it should have been impossible for anything at small size to be able to turn it, but Toad tried anyway. Suddenly, he made a breakthrough, and Toad spun the valve all the way to the right so fast that he was thrown onto the ground. 

The problem was corrected. Overcorrected in fact! Big Bertha wasn’t just pushed out of the pipe, she was launched out of the pipe! She was launched into the air at such velocity that she was blown out of the wall and into the sky! Big Bertha was gone!

Everyone saw it, including Yoshi, Wario, Waluigi, and Luigi who were in the ditch. Everyone stood shocked and dumbfounded. Terrence was so horrified that he attempted to yell, or scream or something, but all he could muster was a quiet shriek. Peach covered her mouth, Mario took off his cap in shock, all Daisy did was cross her arms. Her mouth was wide open too, but in more of a surprise of the luck. 

“NOOOOOO!” Terrence shrieked in horror, finally breaking the silence.

“Big Bertha! No! She cahn't be gone! She was so prett'- okay she wahsn't raylly thaht pretty, but she was so plesahnt to hahve aroun- well no she koind of stunk up the pluyce, but but but...she was moy sheila!” Terrence cried out.

“Uhh…I’m…I’m sorry.” Toad nervously said.

Terrence slowly turned to face him. A burning anger filled his eyes, and all of his hands were balled into fists.
“Bloopie!” He called out.

Bloopie quickly appeared behind Mario and the princesses and grabbed each of them with his tentacles. 

“H-hey!” Daisy shouted out, but it fell on deaf ears. Bloopie’s demeanor had changed. No longer was he scared, or shaking, or frightened from the gang. He didn’t cry out; his eye wasn’t hurting anymore. Instead, Bloopie sulked. He was looking down at the ground, in shame. 

Terrence walked forward, the fire in his eyes, growing stronger.

“Yah come into moy home, hurt Bloopie, troy to tyke somethin thaht's roightfully moine and defoinitely not stolen, and yah kill Big Bertha!? Well, no moah! Bloopie! We ah gawnna drown every seengle one of these hoons! Stahtin with the fungus!” Terrnece angrily ordered. Bloopie nodded and threw Mario and the Princesses in the trench where everyone else was and threw Toad into Big Bertha’s now waterless trench.

“Wahh, way to go goody two shoes.” Wario said, mocking Mario.

Peach tried to climb up but failed.  “Toad! Are you okay!” She shouted.

Toad slowly got up and realized where he was. Bloopie proceeded to jump onto the pipes above Big Bertha’s trench and stretch its tentacles into the pipe. The trench Toad was in began to fill with water.

“And if yah troy to escuype, we'll hold yah down!” Terrence yelled out.

Toad began panicking looking for something to help him escape, but he couldn’t find anything. All there were three valves colored red, blue, and yellow. There was no way out, and Toad felt his heartbeat faster in his chest.

And then, a glow from the sky.

Toad looked up. The Sky Crystal was now at the ceiling of the hideout. He began glowing a bright yellow, and from it two Stars appeared out of it. They floated down towards Toad and floated around him, before entering his body. Toad suddenly felt his body calm down. He didn’t know what happened, but he felt himself moving faster. He felt stronger, and all his mind could focus on was defeating Bloopie and Terrence. He saw the valves where he was and saw them connect to the pipes where Bloopie had his tentacles in. A lightbulb appeared above Toad’s head. He looked up and grinned at Terrence, who had watched the Stars enter his body.

“Whuytevah! It chaynges nothin’! Bloopie! Finish him off!” Terrence ordered.

Toad took a deep breath and readied himself.

Chapter Text

Toad saw the pipe rattling and immediately thought to turn the red valve. Bloopie saw this and reacted by stretching a tentacle into another pipe, which came out of the yellow valve. 

“Ack!” Toad yelped out as he narrowly dodged the tentacle.

Bloopie brought his tentacle back and tried to turn the water back on. Which worked and began filling the trench again. Toad then ran over to the blue valve where the water was coming from and turned it. The water stopped and began draining. Bloopie reacted by stretching another tentacle out. Toad realized what was happening when he saw the pipe with the red valve shaking and he quickly turned the red valve, which returned a blast of water back to Bloopie, hurting him.

“Haha! How’s that taste!?” Toad mocked. 

Bloopie growled and lifted himself up. He sprayed ink down into the trench, which hit Toad in the face. 

“Gross!” Toad yelped out. He struggled to try and get the ink off his face, which allowed enough time for Bloopie to stretch a tentacle out and hit him. Toad was thrown back and hit the wall hard. He fell into the water which luckily cleaned his face, and he stood back up. Bloopie stretched more tentacles into the pipes. This time, two pipes began shaking, which confused Toad, and he didn’t know which one to turn first. He saw one pipe not spewing any water, but the other one did. He waited too long, and two tentacles came out of the two pipes. He dodged the first one but got hit by the other. He was thrown onto the ground, but he stood back up and fixed himself. Again, two pipes began shaking as Bloopie stretched two tentacles into them again. This time, Toad tried turning the valve to the pipe that was spewing water. This wasn’t the correct answer, and a tentacle came out of the pipe, which he was luckily able to dodge. He then tried to think of a new idea, when he looked up and saw something. The pipes were gray with their respective color-coded valves, but in the middle of the pipes was paint that marked all three of the pipes. The red valved pipe had purple paint, the blue valved pipe had green paint, and the yellow valved pipe had orange paint. He then looked down at the valves near him and saw that some of the valves were glowing yellow light before disappearing which he never realized as he was always in a rush. If he turned two of the valves with the combining color, and with the help of the yellow light, he could easily turn the water back. He grinned and readied himself for Bloopie’s next attack.

********************************************************

“Honey! Please come back up here quickly!” Mrs. Hoskins shouted to her husband. Mr. Hoskins flew back up where his wife and Gyumba were.

“Mr. Hoskins! The sink!” Gyumba shouted. 

Mr. Hoskins turned to look at the sink, which was spraying water out. He flew to the cabinet underneath but saw no water escaping from the pipe underneath it, and he immediately knew the problem was coming from downstairs.

“Call Ed and tell him to meet us here asap Mary! The rats must have bit into the pipes or something!” He shouted to which Mrs. Hoskins nodded and flew over to the phone. He and Gyumba then ran downstairs, but as Gyumba ran down the stairs, a thought flashed into his head, and he began silently panicking.

Uh oh…

**********************************************************

Bloopie stretched two more tentacles out and two pipes began to shake. The pipe with purple paint began to shake, so he turned the red valve. Bloopie yelped and then continued trying to stretch a tentacle into the pipe. Toad looked up and saw that only the pipe with the purple paint was still shaking, so he turned the blue valve, which had a glowing light above it. His assumptions were correct. Another blast of water hit Bloopie, and from the looks of it, one more burst of water would be enough to bring him down. 

Bloopie growled and inked Toad again, which stung his eyes, and blinded him.

“Ack! Again!?” Toad yelped out.

Toad tried looking up and saw that the green valve was shaking. So he tried running to the yellow valve and turning it. Bloopie stretched out another tentacle, and Toad ran over to another valve and tried turning it. Unfortunately, he had turned the red valve, which wasn’t correct. He couldn’t dodge the tentacle and got struck. He got his face cleaned off, but as he stood back up, Bloopie inked his face again.

“Ack!” Toad shouted again in pain. He looked up and saw the orange pipe shaking so he ran and turned the red valve. He then ran and tried to turn the yellow valve, but got misdirected and turned the blue valve. Again Bloopie’s tentacle stretched out of the pipe and struck Toad again.

“Huyahaha!” Terrence was watching the entire thing, and he cackled as Bloopie struck him again. Once again, as Toad stood back up, Bloopie inked him again. Toad grumbled angrily. Clearly, Bloopie will not stop inking him now that he is getting close to finishing him. Toad then thought of something else. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down. Bloopie stretched his tentacles into the pipe again, and the pipe with the green paint began shaking. Toad calmly turned the blue valve. Bloopie then tried stretching his tentacle again. Toad’s vision slightly cleared up and he was able to see the glowing light again and he calmly followed it to the yellow valve and proceeded to turn it. 

All the pipes began to shake violently, and Bloopie panicked, trying to twist his tentacles and stretch them into all the pipes. Toad cleaned his face and saw the scene. He then noticed the last valve was the red one, and quickly ran to turn it. 

A large jet stream of water blasted out and struck Bloopie, finally knocking the Blooper unconscious. 

“Grrr! No!” Terrence angrily stomped his feet and jumped onto the pipes where Bloopie was. 

“Thiis isn't ovah fungus! Oy'm gawnna finish the jawb and myke shoah yah-” Before Terrence could finish however, the green pipe burst. Then the purple one. His eyes bulged in horror as he tried to get off, but he slipped and caught his foot in another pipe. All of the pipes began shaking, and water could be heard from the opening where he and Bloopie were.

“Aw cryumbs…” Terrence meekly squeaked out. 

The pipes finally collapsed, and a large water stream blasted out, launching Terrence and Bloopie into the sky, out of the hole Big Bertha was blasted out!

“AIYEEEEEEEE………” Terrence squealed out as he flew into the air, never to be seen by the gang ever again.

Toad looked up in shock, but then turned his attention to the Sky Crystal which floated slowly into the trench. He suddenly felt himself floating out, as if the Crystal itself was carrying him safely out of the trench. He grabbed the crystal and a grin stretched across his face.

“I… I did it! I did it! WOOHOO! How does that feel Terrence!?” Toad shouted out at the hole aimlessly.

“I am the Superstar!” He cheered.