Toadette's Story: Book 2

Chapter 105 - New Friends, New Radars, New Stars

Jasmin attacked her pasta with a surprising fervour. The girl who normally minded her manners around dinnertime with family noisily slurped down noodles. Forkful after forkful disappeared. Everyone watched with a shared relief. It was like somebody had finally put new batteries in an old toy.

Minh laughed, taking Jasmin’s plate. “Good thing I made a big pot, eh?” Jasmin nodded, handing over her cup. As Minh headed for the kitchen, she glanced at Penelope, who was staring at the last few noodles on her own plate. “Full, Penelope?”

Penelope rubbed her stomach. “How do you people eat so much?”

“It’s in our blood,” Violeta said with a warm smile. “Or perhaps you’re just too small.”

“I’m bigger than Jasmin! I think.”

Minh’s father Floriano chuckled, rubbing his niece’s cap. “Then clearly Jazz is the stronger eater between the two of you.”

Penelope thought of how Jasmin wolfed down all her food at the Great Geek Convention, eating more than Penelope could stomach. Maybe being rich meant Jasmin was used to getting all these grandiose meals at her home.

The click of the front door cut through the chatter. Toad’s posture stiffened.

“Have fun while you can,” he whispered to Penelope. “The wicked witch has arrived. Looking haggard as ever.”

A loud snort of laughter erupted from Jasmin. It devolved into a series of squeaky giggles until a hand landed firmly on her shoulder. She let out a sharp yelp, and the laughter ceased.

“I’d say I expect more from a captain of the guard.” Sofia’s voice was smooth as she peeled off her silk gloves. “But I’ve learnt not to expect anything from you. Why are you even here, boy?”

“He’s watching Penelope,” Minh answered.

At the mention of her name, Penelope waved to Sofia. The latter’s gaze swept over her.

“See? Permanent frown,” Toad mumbled, taking a sip of wine.

“Toad,” Minh warned. “I’m in a good mood. You don’t wanna change that.”

“Chill, I’m an angel,” he snickered. “Still, show Penelope some respect, Sofia. If it weren’t for her, Jasmin wouldn’t be walking right. They have me feeling snubbed for not getting some of that Life Shroom.”

“Ew!” Penelope blurted out. “I wasn’t gonna spit it up in your mouth, Captain Toad.”

A wave of laughter overwhelmed the table. Face burning, Jasmin looked down.

Sofia let out a sigh, pulling a seat next to her sister. “Well thank you, Penelope. The less heavy care Jazz needs, the better for all of us.”

The comment flew right over Penelope’s head. She just gave a thumbs-up and returned to poking at her pasta. Her gaze, however, drifted below the table. She saw Jasmin’s bare foot was gently rubbing against Minh’s leg. Minh, seemingly oblivious, continued her meal, but Penelope noticed she never shifted away. She also saw how Jasmin’s eyes would fixate on Minh’s face whenever she wasn’t speaking.

A strange feeling tightened in Penelope’s stomach. Taking a deep breath, she slid her own foot forward until it brushed against Jasmin’s other ankle.

Jasmin flinched and let out a small hiccup. Her head snapped towards Penelope. Penelope’s stare locked onto her eyes as she finished the last of her pasta. She never looked away.

After a moment of shock, a faint, nervous smile appeared on Jasmin’s face. She returned to her large plate, allowing Penelope’s foot to remain.

Sofia plucked an eyelash. “So I’ve decided I’ll be going back to Poshley Heights for work. Off and on, until things are settled.”

“Sofi, no,” Minh groaned. “The air quality’s still garbage there.”

“Perfectly safe if I’m spending most my time on the Excess Express,” Sofia countered. “And with my value, they’re more than happy to accommodate an extended stay.”

Violeta leaned forward. “Your determination has always been admirable, querida. But your stubbornness concerns me at times like this.”

“No, no, let her go,” Toad chimed in. “This is easy, guys.”

Sofia’s eyes narrowed, but her smile grew. “You want something bad to happen to me? I’m afraid I’m just as difficult to destroy as your precious Toadette.”

Toad rolled his eyes. “Dream on. Toadette’s almost as strong as I am.”

“And that’s supposed to intimidate me why?”

Under the table, Jasmin was still multitasking. Penelope was following the arch of Jasmin’s foot with her toes, sending a slow tingle up Jasmin’s leg. As much as Jasmin was trying to solely focus on touching Minh, Penelope’s deliberate movements caused her to lose her concentration. Moreover Penelope’s staring hardly subsided.

Penelope wasn’t going to leave without some further contact with Jasmin. Her heart would be let down if she didn’t receive it.

Jasmin, wanting an excuse to further caress Minh, lifted her fork. Just as she dropped it, she heard another piece of metal clank against it mid-fall. She and Penelope looked at each other, each with an empty hand.

“Oops,” Penelope said softly.

Jasmin bit her lip. Damn it! Before she could even go for it, Penelope was already in motion. She disappeared beneath the cloth. Suddenly Jasmin felt a brief pressure on her left foot. It felt like Penelope’s nose was stuck between her big and second toes, followed by a strong inhale.

Jasmin’s brain fused out. Her facial expression reverted to completely neutral.

Penelope emerged a second later, clutching both forks. “Here you go.”

“It’s carpet, Penelope,” Minh chuckled. “Unless you wanna dine on hair, wash ‘em.”

Penelope’s smile faltered, replaced by a pout.

Later, as the remains of dinner were cleaned, Penelope turned to Jasmin.

“You have a great family,” she said.

Jasmin, still processing the foot-sniff situation, quickly replied, “At least you think so. Hey… You can come back again, if you ever want to.”

“I’d love that!” Penelope’s energy spiked. “I can bring you to the castle too. It’s humongous. So many rooms, so much space to just run around, my bedroom…”

“The castle?” Jasmin’s jaw dropped. “Sure.”

Penelope wrapped her arms around Jasmin in another hug. As she squeezed her, she buried her face briefly in Jasmin’s raven hair. Jasmin felt a bit of air tickle her, along with a soft sigh from Penelope. Her brain went back to fusing out.

***

Through the following month, the Mushroom Kingdom’s reconstruction crawled. Block Fort remained sealed, its strategic operations forced into the subterranean levels. In Mushroom City, where the casualties were zero, the scars remained. A sudden clap of thunder wasn’t just weather anymore; it was a phantom explosion that sent people hitting the ground. The crunch of shattered glass under people’s boots was a grating reminder of the day their city fell.

“Text your sister,” T. Ana told Dan. Her own hair was a frizzled mess. Dane obliged, sending Toadette a quick photo: himself ready to head to school, their sleepy mother in the kitchen.

The reply was instantaneous: a single heart emoji.

The bombing of Poshley Heights sent financial shockwaves through the kingdom. With Poshley Bank now a smouldering crater of melted servers, corrupted accounts and vaporised magic back-ups, confidence dropped. The price of a simple Super Mushroom skyrocketed. Layoffs increased.

The air, thick with the stench of gas, remained unhabitable.

Pikari Middle School was permanently closed. Relocated to Toad Town, Jasmin opted for online classes. Yet her social skills got more chances to shine, for she made awkward forays into the local parks and arcades. But her greatest moments were found in sleepovers at the castle—whose restoration was speeding along—where Penelope and her would chat for hours.

But back in the quiet of her temporary room, she went to the closet. She retrieved a sealed plastic bag. Inside were a pair of dirty socks. Jasmin would stare at the bag, tracing it with her finger.

“You won,” she’d whisper to the memory of the girl she never considered a friend. “You made me better, Rachel.”

This positivity was a shield Toad Town desperately needed as it mourned its dead. In the main hospital, Captain Toad’s surviving brigade recovered, their accounts adding fuel to the city’s fear. Toadette channelled her own anger into action, training Penelope with new urgency.

Meanwhile in Diamond City, the architect of the kingdom’s pain was lauded as a saviour. Though not formally convicted, Wario rode the wave of fury his actions had unleashed. His purple car crawled through streets teeming with rabid supporters holding signs.

‘LONG LIVE WARIO’, read one. Another depicted a Toad being crushed under a boot, captioned ‘PEACH LIMITS OUR TRAVEL! THE BITCH HATES US’. An even larger one read, ‘TOAD TOWN DESERVED WORSE!’, all while showing a crude drawing of a Toad girl being sodomised by a human. Hooting and hollering took place whenever Wario was in town.

He threw up his hands, waving. “Thank you! I love you! The kingdom doesn’t respect me—I mean us enough.”

While the Mushroom Kingdom’s overall economy dropped, Wario saw a bump as his people donated tons of extra money to him and Waluigi. He drove with a satisfied grin, thinking of how livid Peach was of his million-ranged profits.

As he pulled into Doctor Crygor’s laboratory, he could practically taste the grease.

“Crygor! That radar ready or what?”

Crygor spun from a console of blinking lights. “Ah, Wario. Excellent timing. Your Ethereal Star Radar Mark II is fully operational.”

Wario loomed over the device. It looked the same as the last one—a Game Boy-styled object with the buttons to match. “Don’t be screwing with me, doc. If this fizzles out again because of some Virtual Crap magic…”

“Never,” Crygor said. “The Mark II triangulates the star’s unique energy signature to pinpoint specific coordinates rather than the general location of the Mark I. I’ve also, per your feedback, significantly reinforced the housing.”

Wario grunted, snatching the device and testing its weight. It felt like a brick. “Yes, yes, that’s it. So where’s the treasure?”

“Approximately fifteen kilometres southeast of Seaside Town. However, the target is exhibiting unusual behaviour. It’s moving.”

Wario’s eyes narrowed. “I see… Been a while since I had to whip the old boat out.”

“If I may, who do you intend for this expedition? Penny is still recovering from the last plot, and I’m not certain she’s in the best frame of mind for—”

“Did I ask for her opinion?” Wario pulled a golden phone from his pocket, his thumb already scrolling through a list of employees.

He’d need a main team of four, along with some extra goons. He found the main number and mashed the call button.

“You,” he barked. “I want you and your buddies down by the docks by sunset. I hope you like to go fishing.” He hung up, glancing at Crygor with menace. He cracked his knuckles. “So Penny’s not in the best frame of mind, huh? Bring her to me, and we’ll fix that.”

***

“Seaside Town?” Toad repeated. Healed of his injuries, he leaned against a workbench. “Never been.”

“Indeed!” E. Gadd cackled, tapping his finger on the screen of his new radar. “I couldn’t refine the precision, but behold!” He pointed to a newly installed slider. “This little beauty allows you to distort the Ethereal Star’s energy signature.”

Toadette leaned in closer. “So we’re changing the signal? How’s that gonna help?”

“Subterfuge, my dear girl! Tinker with it in just the right ways, and you might coax out a perfect location. Meanwhile, any rivals listening in will be chasing ghosts.” He wrung his hands. “Though I must warn you. Use it too much, and the feedback could fry the entire device. Moderation is key.”

Toadette nodded. “Seaside Town. It’ll be new for me too.”

“I’ll have Hints chart out the safest route,” Toad said.

“And as a parting gift, I’m bestowing upon you one of my personal storage units,” E. Gadd said.

Toad scoffed. “Thanks, but no thanks. Our chubby friend’s bag is basically a pocket dimension, and mine can hold its own.”

The professor spun around. “Ah, but does this friend’s bag contain an updating database of the Mushroom Kingdom’s various threats and landmarks? Does your bag offer enough space to store an Ethereal Star? Think smartly, my boy.”

“Alright, gramps,” Toad sighed, rolling his eyes. “Lay it on us so we can then refuse it.”

“Greetings!”

The voice came from somewhere near their ankles. Toad and Toadette looked around the cluttered lab, then down. Standing there, tapping a red shoe with impatience, was a brown suitcase. It had a cartoonish face on its front and a pair of black legs. It straightened its posture, its eyes blinking slowly as it scanned them from head to toe.

Toad shook his head. “E. Gadd, what am I looking at?”

“Aw, look at it!” Toadette squealed, hoisting it into the air. “It’s so cute!”

“This is Stuffwell,” E. Gadd announced. “The pinnacle of intelligent inventory and travel assistance.”

“Look, we’ve got our system established,” Toad countered. “We don’t need some walking luggage weighing us down, especially when we’ve already got one girl to babysit.”

“Fortunately I am male,” Stuffwell said primly. “And I’m far more than mere luggage. If I may, I shall safeguard the radar.”

“Not happening.”

“I don’t know, Toady,” Toadette interjected. “If one of our bags gets snatched by Wario’s goons, there goes our radar.”

“And how’s he any better? At least we can wear our bags.”

“I am also capable of shrinking to a discreet size,” Stuffwell said. He grunted, his face scrunching as he began to shrink. With a final pop, he hopped neatly into Toadette’s outstretched hand. “My full storage capacity and knowledge base remain at your fingertips.”

A grin spread across Toadette’s face as she placed him in her pocket. She looked at Toad. He just stood there for a long moment, defeated. He let out a sigh.

“Fine.” He pointed a finger at Toadette’s pocket. “You’d better actually be useful, you hear me? Or I’ll…” He trailed off as Toadette shot him a warning glare. He then cleared his throat. “We’re heading out. First thing tomorrow, no later. Agreed?”

“Let’s see… Should I go in my flats or my flip-flops…?”

“Already trying to make me vomit, are we?”

“Hey, a captain’s gotta be strategic about her choice of weapons. Even against those she likes.”

Tomorrow the duo, along with Minh and Penelope, would taste the salt of the wind. They’d face the open seas with the promise of the fourth Ethereal Star waiting in the distance. And somewhere out there, Toadette knew Wario was waiting, his eyes fixed on the very same prize.

The race was on.

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Author’s Note:
The weather is so damn hot right now! This section of peace was originally planned to last seven chapters. Then I realised what a disaster of pacing this would be and condensed it to one. Trimming is your best friend, guys.