Toadette's Story: Book 1

Chapter 25 - Storming Shy Guys' Toy Box

The dive into the toy box lasted an eternity. Just as my eyes opened, I went into a panic. What was going to break our fall on the way down!?

BOING!

Huh, a spring? Well, that was good. Before I could barf, a mass of footsteps headed in our direction. Though I couldn’t see them, the heavy pitter-patter noises made it clear.

“So, this is how we’re starting, huh!?” I yanked Minh T. onto a set of train tracks.

These tracks were designed to give us a difficult time. I fought tooth and nail to maintain my balance, but these slippery flats couldn’t grip onto the surfaces. In contrast, trailing behind me, Minh T. ran with a tighter posture.

“Do you know where we’re going?” she asked.

“Wherever the tracks lead, we follow!”

But my idea was hacked to pieces. About 100 metres or further ahead, another group of Shy Guys headed towards us. Their blobby shadows cast upon the inner train tunnel, and the dozens of high-pitched wails struck fear in me.

Damn! Cut off from behind and front. Looked like we had no choice but to fight. So, I skidded to a halt and reached for my shoe.

“Come here!”

Next thing I knew, I fell face-first behind a wall of colourful blocks. Then, something pulled me into a corner, covering my face.

My muffled screams fell on deaf ears, for something was pushed deep into my mouth. When the world finally became visible again, it looked to be… a giant foot! Someone’s upside-down foot was forcing itself down my throat. But it wasn’t just any foot. Of course, this toxic body part belonged to the Sarasaland princess herself.

As her toes twitched in my mouth, the sounds of the Shy Guys grew to thunderous levels. It was as if a locomotive was roaring right on top of me because the ground was shaking with such intensity.

I waited breathlessly, expecting the minions to spot us. Yet soon enough, the screaming and footsteps faded altogether.

“That’s not fair at all. They didn’t even give us a headstart,” the princess pouted.

When she pulled her foot out my mouth, I scurried to my feet. Penelope stood behind me, panting with her hands over her own lips.

Wait. That’s one, two…

“Where’s Minh T.?” I did a 360° scan of my surroundings, yet there wasn’t a single cap with pink spots.

“Ran there,” the princess said, pointing to a doorless room. “Guess she got a burst of crazy energy when I snatched you.”

“THEY’RE HERE!”

Our attention diverted to a lone Shy Guy waving his hands at his distant peers. Not taking the chance, Daisy grabbed him and drove him to the floor.

“Help me knock this cretin out,” she ordered.

Running to her side, I stepped on the face of this Shy Guy. Upon getting a whiff of my smell, he began screaming. Bad news! Bad news! Even stomping my heel against his mask had no effect.

Suddenly, there was a wet noise.

The princess had stuck her toes through the mouth hole of the mask. Damn! She actually made the hole bigger.

“Like a big baby,” she snarked. “Gotta pacify him with my dirty toes.”

Ten seconds later, she drew her foot out his mouth. Saliva was indeed dripping from her toes and a decent amount at that. Finally, we all made our way to where Minh T. had run off to.

This doorless area spanned the height of this surprisingly colossal toy box. The whole place looked like a creative child’s bedroom. Floor tiles that formed pinkish-yellow diamonds covered the entire floor, and the beforementioned train tracks sported a blue and cream colour scheme. And never was there a completely empty area, in stark contrast to the building housing the toy box.

Now, that’s what made navigating this place more of a hassle. As we entered the room Minh T. hid in, letter blocks were scattered in seemingly random locations. They were at least Penelope’s height, if not bigger.

“Duck!”

I spun around. “What?”

BA-BOOM!

The princess’s command didn’t get me to move, but that noise pulled me to the floor. I hugged the top of my head, clenching my teeth because it felt like the toy box was collapsing. Did Minh T. mess this all up already?

BOOM!

Another one! To get a better vantage point of the situation, I climbed one of the heavy blocks. A decent distance ahead, Penelope was wrestling a slingshot away from a Shy Guy.

This dude had on some bush attire as if he’d trained rigorously on Lavalava Island. And right behind them, the wall was in shambles, glowing from the tiny licks of fire that tried to escape.

These morons! They were using explosive ammo to weed us out!?

Worse yet, as Penelope got some toes through this Shy Guy’s mask, another soldier set his sights on her. He drew back on the slingshot with a direct line of fire.

“Do something!” I screamed to the princess. Between Minh T. getting herself in danger and Penelope about to be blown up, my mind was drowning in panic.

PLONG!

The tiny cannonball zipped from the slingshot, and it was a sight you couldn’t ignore. He had to have godlike skills to aim so accurately for Penelope’s forehead. The poor girl didn’t even notice as she smothered her occupied foe into unconsciousness.

Princess Daisy shouldered Penelope into the wall. Just a hair afterwards, a heavy THUD echoed through the toy box. Then, the ear-bleeding BOOM sound took place and shook everything. As a wisp of grey smoke rose, I ran to try and caress Penelope.

“What are you doing!?” The princess pushed me back. “We’re intact. Deal with the grass guy!”

How fortunate that she told me this, for the Shy Guy was quickly drawing another bit of ammunition. Popping off my shoes, I zig-zagged over to the short menace.

Just as he grabbed the slingshot’s band, we stood face to face. Or rather, foot to face. I delivered a kick before following with a stomp to his mask. Even without my foot close to my own nostrils, I got a good hint of how strongly they stunk. Imagine an old, dripping cheese pizza with extra garlic, and you’d have my feet in the present moment.

I penetrated his mouth hole with my heel. “Take that!” My sticky toes dipped into the opening, and I let loose. As they wiggled, the Shy Guy’s tiny body squirmed and contorted. Eventually, it gave out and went still. Yet the fool’s tongue remained between my toes.

“How do you like that, huh!?” I screamed in frustration, letting out louder grunts as I pinched his costume with my toes.

“You deaf!? Stop!”

The princess, in turn, kicked me off the Shy Guy. My flats then smacked me in the face before hitting the tiled floor.

“Keep screaming like that, and we’ll have the whole shorty force right on top of us,” she growled.

“…Right.”

Princess Daisy must’ve been a genius today. At first, there was a brief buzzing noise that made Penelope jump. But after that, three high-pitched blares activated throughout the toy box.

A fuzzy voice said, “May I have your attention. Four intruders have been reported in the toy box. All workers, do whatever is in your power to detain them. And if they die in the process, we won’t blame it on you.”

We were screwed.

I ran back to pull Penelope up, brushing her body off. Good thing that strike missed her. Otherwise, I don’t even want to imagine what it would’ve been like. Why didn’t I expect this level of danger? I thought we’d be encountering spears like what they held to us yesterday. Not weapons more deadly than anything Her Highness’s guards had.

“I’m fine,” Penelope assured.

Nodding, I held her hand into the next room.

Doth my eyes deceive me? Right at the end of this room, past two open blue doors, was the missing Toad herself. And she was chatting with a Shy Guy!?

“Minh T.! Are you TRYING to get us killed!?”

Daisy shared my frustration tenfold. “I didn’t know you Toads were the traitorous type!”

When she caught me marching up on her, she nearly jumped out her flip-flops. Hands outward, she stammered her next excuse.

“I can’t get a thank you for finding us some help?”

“Help!?”

I looked at what was the big blue shoe of a Shy Guy. Oh, that was only the beginning. This beast was at least a good 8 feet tall, bigger than Bowser of all monsters. Yet at the very top was a mask no different than any other Shy Guy, aside from being slightly pointed.

Grabbing Minh T. by the collar, I growled, “Be glad I’m nice enough to not let them capture you, even though you just gave them our location.”

“They only know we’re in this station ’cause you were screaming like a dying Bumpty,” she said.

She interrupted me before I could continue on.

“And my friend, Gourmet Guy, is offering to hide us.”

Unbelievable. Like I always say, she makes friends wherever she goes.

The now-trembling floor sent me into a panic. Not only were we cut off by a dead-end wall, but the guardrails near us were too high to hop in time.

Clasping my hand, Minh T. yanked me behind this lump of mass known as Gourmet Guy.

HICCUP!

The hell? Right below me, Penelope let out three more hiccups. What else could make our situation worse? The Shy Guy horde barged into the room with its high-pitched wailing. I shut my eyes, trying to brainstorm an alternative escape.

“The intruders. Where are they?” a voice huffed.

“Absolutely nowhere near here. They said they’d go back to Toad Town to bring along more friends.”

Gourmet Guy and Minh T. shared one thing in common. Neither could tell a decent lie. You’d have to be as brainless as a Goomba to buy that claim.

“Dang it! Why didn’t we—” A Shy Guy slammed something on the floor.

A second voice, deeper in tone, spoke up. “Boys, half of you go into the tunnels and guard Secret Entrance A. The rest, conduct a thorough search of the other stations.”

“Yes, sir!”

Penelope broke from our huddle and peeked past Gourmet Guy’s fat rolls.

“You!”

Just like that, another hiccup bubbled out her mouth!

“If you see them again, make sure you report it this time.”

When the Shy Guy was out of audible range, Minh T. skipped in front of Gourmet Guy. Her blushing cheeks scrunched as a wide grin overtook half her face.

“Thanks, Mr Gourmet Guy.”

“No problem,” he bellowed. “But in return, you know what I’d like most.”

Minh T. paused, still keeping that grin strong.

“What?” I asked.

“You got any sweets on you?”

“Yes, because I totally carry sweets when I’m trespassing.”

Daisy checked her pockets, resulting in nothing. And Penelope shrugged as well. Hmm…

“PENELOPE!”

I swung the little girl towards this behemoth. Though his mask was expressionless, he must’ve been confused.

“You can’t eat her, but you can lick her feet like a lollypop.”

“What kind of offer is that!?” Daisy yelled.

Too late to reverse the decision. Gourmet Guy was already lifting Penelope all the way to his massive mask. The girl was kicking and flailing in every direction. Although it was cute in a way, a muscle or two twitched. Nothing was fun about seeing a little kid terrified.

“You’ll be fine, Penelope,” I assured. “If not, don’t worry. I will kill Minh T. to avenge you.”

If those guards in the desert thought Penelope’s feet tasted sweet, Gourmet Guy must’ve had the same tastebuds. This unique trait of Penelope’s feet could be what saves us in the long run.

The Shy Guy stuck the kid’s feet in his mouth hole, and the loud slurping commenced. Imagine a fat man slurping up a plate of noodles.

“IT TICKLES!!”

Penelope’s worried whimpers turned into a mix of sniffles and laughter. Could you blame her? A giant, slimy tongue was pushing against her toes with the force of a tsunami.

“Oh… Oh… OH!! DELICIOUS!! TOO UNBELIEVABLY DELICIOUS!!!”

The room shook for another time as the big man zipped from corner to corner, ceiling to floor, and bounced against the giant walls. When he landed before us, Penelope’s hair was a frizzy mess. Kinda cute…

“Listen up,” Gourmet Guy began, reinserting Penelope’s feet into his mouth, “If you’re looking for the big man, you can find him in Red Station. One of the two big rooms there connects to his chamber. But I can’t tell you which.”

Penelope collapsed to the floor upon being released. Her feet had spit bubbles all over them like she’d been dipped in a bubble bath.

“I can’t feel my feet…” she panted.

So, all Shy Guys weren’t complete scum. Though, it was best not to chance chatting another one up.

Back to the tracks we went. Not a Shy Guy in sight so far. I kept alert, for one could be lurking around the corner at any moment. Based on the map I glanced at, these tracks went in an oval formation. Unfortunately, the Red Station was directly opposite the Pink Station. Left, right, it didn’t matter. We’d have to pass the Blue Station or Green Station to reach our target.

“Miss Toadette—”

“SHH!” I tightened my grip on her arm.

“Can we dry my feet off with something?”

“Keep walking, and you’ll find them magically dried.”

Anything to keep us moving was good. But how long could a little girl like her hold up for? Especially now that her feet were NUMBED.

“Miss Toadette!”

“WHAT!?”

I almost swung her in the face, but something greater in the distance caught my eye. A swarm of Shy Guys locked onto us. In this crowd of yellows, reds and blues, the one emotion I spotted was determination. They were gonna carry us to this leader one way or another. Or worse, kill us on command.

“We gotta run!” Daisy yelled, hoisting Penelope in her arms.

Groaning, I ran in the direction of the Shy Guys. “Keep running that way,” I explained. “I’ll distract them and we’ll meet at the Red Station.”

“But then they know we’re still in here!” Minh T. screamed.

Her concern was well-founded, but things would look bright so long as we kept our speeds up.

Sliding past the Shy Guys, I teased them with a toe wiggle. “What’cha waiting for, suckers?”

“CHARGE!”

So, is this what it feels like to be chased by boys in school?

Both shoes flew off my feet this time. Taking after Minh T., I took advantage of the grip my bare feet offered. With my balance up, my speed got an additional boost. But those Shy Guys came in huge droves.

The high screaming was enough to drive a girl crazy, but on top of that, I could hear radio static. A Shy Guy was relaying our locations!

Giving up the chase, I directly confronted the Shy Guy mob. Maybe I was outnumbered. But the fight needed to be settled here and now.

I drove my foot into one of their faces, growling. Huh? Why wasn’t it knocking this one out? My feet smelt like rotten onions! I switched attention to another, and this one actually conked out. Great, so even some basic grunts learnt to be immune to foot odour.

“No point in resisting,” a Shy Guy said. “You can give up and make this easy.”

I clenched my flats with every fibre of my being. “I’m sure I could.”

BANG!

With one hit, I tackled two Shy Guys with both shoes. Come on, more power! Pushing as deeply as I could into their masks, I eventually heard a crack. Yes!

“What’s wrong?” I giggled. “My toes too strong for losers like you?”

Somersaulting over the two minions, I made another sprint away from them. I’d be leading these fools back to Pink Station, as far away from their target as they could get. Hopefully, the other three didn’t get captured.

TWANG!!

“Ow!”

Out of nowhere, a Shy Guy sliced me with a devastating blow. What the!? He had a guitar!

Alright. If he wanted to play rough, he could get it rough. Aiming low, I swept the Shy Guy off his feet. Though he used the guitar as defence, he fell onto his back.

“Take this!”

I shut my eyes and stomped my foot as hard as I could below the belt. There was a strong wail echoing through these Toy Box walls. My heels dug deep into his crotch before I jumped back. At least this idiot was out of commission for now.

Ugh, they wouldn’t stop coming!

I kicked a Shy Guy with such strength its mask broke into three large pieces. Simultaneously, a second one was pushing me to the floor. I whacked its face with my shoe, but a third one joined! Then a fourth one!

Those two started to tickle my soles.

“NO!” I shrieked. “DON’T DO THAT!”

Curse my sensitive skin. Their little play session with my feet sapped away all the strength in my upper half. So, the second Shy Guy successfully pinned me to the cold floor.

“You’re gonna regret this!” I cried, banging my fist on the ground.

I squirmed like a worm, but it was in vain. The Shy Guys didn’t let up on my feet. If anything, they went even harder. And now, with my laughter echoing throughout the toy box, each and every one knew my position.

Damn it. I lost.