Toad's Party

Chapter 1: The Toadening

                It was another beautiful day in the Mushroom Kingdom. The sky was blue, the birds were chirping, and various street vendors were preparing to con people out of their money. Toad Town was already bustling with busy Toads, Goombas, Koopas, and Boos.

In a small out-of-way pink cottage on Generic Name Street, Toadette was working obsessively on her latest papercraft invention – another robot replica of Mario. Her younger brother, Toad, was upstairs. He had just woken up and was eagerly changing out of his High School Musical onesie and into his typical trendy diaper-vest-loafers combo.

Toad was excited. He was more excited than the time his Born to Die vinyl came in the mail a day early. Today was not just any regular Toad Town day. Today was the day. The day that Toad was going to have the greatest party ever known to Toadkind. He knew it in his heart. He felt it in his bones. He couldn't shake the feeling that today was going to be the best day ever. While looking in the mirror and fixing his mushroom cap, he decided that he was going to invite everybody he knew to the party.

He waddled down the stairs and burst through the grimy door into Toadette's lab. "HEY TOADETTE!" He greeted in his traditional annoying screechy Toad voice.

"Oh my god. What the hell do you want??!" Toadette screamed at him. "I'm working on an extremely important papercraft!"

"Another one of Mario?" Toad asked, looking over Toadette's shoulder. "Haven't you already made fifty two of those?"

"NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" Toadette glanced over at the trash can, overflowing with Mario papercraft replicas. "THOSE WERE JUST PROTOTYPES! THIS ONE IS THE REAL DEAL!"

"Okay, sure whatever you say!" Toad remarked cheerfully. "Hey, you wanna come to the party I just decided I was gonna have five minutes ago? It'll be super fun! It'll be like Mario Party, except...Toad Party! We'll play fun minigames, get coins, nearly kill each other...whaddaya think?"

"I think I'd rather make out with Wario after he ate ten onions." Toadette answered, looking back at her Mario figurine.

Silence.

"...is that a yes?"

"NO!!!! GET OUT!"

--

Toad wandered the streets of Toad Town. Sure, his sister couldn't join the fun, but that was her loss. Toad was sure his other invitations would go smoothly.

He walked up to a familiar looking house at the end of a dirt road. There were overalls hanging on a clothesline outside, and the trash was overflowing with pizza boxes. Mario's house! Toad thought to himself. He'll totally come to my party!

Toad went up to the door and knocked, calling out Mario's name. "MARIO! MARIO! ARE YOU IN THERE?"

The door swung open with such force that Toad almost fell backwards and fatally smashed his head open on Mario's house steps. He caught himself at the last second, which was pretty lucky considering that his head was way bigger than his body and he shouldn't have been able to stand on his knobby little legs anyways.

Mario was standing there. He was wearing his hat, but it looked like he hadn't shaved in a while, and he was in underwear and a stained red t-shirt. There was crust under his eyes and he was swaying, like he was unable to keep his balance. "Wha- Toad?" He said, startled.

"HEY MARIO!" Toad screamed excitedly. He started jumping up and down. "WANNA COME TO MY PARTY?"

"Uh...sorry, but I'm not-a really feeling up to it right now." Mario answered, rubbing his head. "I had too-a much pizza last night and I think I'm-a having a hangover. Yes, a pizza hangover. Don't-a ask."