Super Mario Christmas

8. What goes up must get down

Toadette watched her friend depart. Peach moved to the edge of the wall and stopped. Toadette had no idea how Peach was planning to get down. She wondered if Peach knew either.

A pang of guilt built in her side. She really should have been offering to go with her but she just couldn't tear herself away from Toad, not when the two were connecting so well. 

Peach knew how long Toadette had been crushing on Mario's dashing offsider, so Toadette hoped she'd understand her need to remain behind. Maybe that was why the princess hadn't asked her to return home too. Or maybe Peach just thought that Toadette agreed with Mario's idiotic plan. 

Toadette tried to push her guilt to the side. Whatever Peach's thoughts, Toadette would make her peace with it. She had never dreamed she would actually have a shot with Toad, not when so many others of their kind were interested in his adventurous spirit and kind heart, yet here they were together and he had presented her with that beautiful gift, so she was not going to waste her chance. 

Still, it was something more than that. She had no idea how or why, but a niggling voice in her head told her, "Without you, they will fail." It didn't make sense, considering she thought they would fail anyway, but for some reason she trusted it.

She looked to the rest of the group. She was eager to get on with the task at hand. Even if it was doomed to fail, better to fail earlier than later.

"Well then, Mario brothers, what is our next step?"

Luigi opened his mouth to speak then looked around. "Mario?" he deferred.

Mario stepped away from the ledge where he'd been surveying the ground below. He straightened his hat, ran his fingers through his moustache, then gave the pals one of his award winning smiles.

"It's okay, I have a plan. You three, all link arms and stand by the ledge. I'll get a run up with Yoshi, and as we pass, you grab onto his tail. We'll all use my cape to fly back down to Cloudland to safety, and from there we'll take a vine to Boo House."

Toad locked eyes with Toadette. His expression mirrored what she believed hers must have looked like. They had all held Mario or Luigi's foot before while they flew a pink yoshi, but the weight of five creatures was too much for one cape. Not to mention what would happen if a gust of wind blew them sideways and they missed one of the platforms for Cloudland.

Toadette looked to Luigi. He smiled at Mario. The poor fool really was too trusting for his own good.

She looked around their landscape for alternatives. Over in the distance, Peach was holding up her white and red Christmas dress and trotting quickly away.

"Why don't we try following Peach first? She seems to know where she's going..." 

She pointed to where Peach was hurrying away.

Toad quickly jumped upon Toadette's train of thought and set off bouncing heroically through the cloud, calling Yoshi along with him. Toadette turned sparkling eyes on Luigi and Mario before setting off to join the other two. The Mario Bros were left with no option other than follow along or go on alone.

As Toadette caught up with Toad and Yoshi, she identified what Peach had been rushing towards. Underneath a marshallow rainbow, at the far end of the gate, stood a line of pipes the likes of which Toadette had never seen before. They were not green, or gold, or clear, or even red. They were a silver-white marble of colours. As Toadette approached she couldn't help but think they reminded her of extremely pale oil puddles made solid. In front of them golden plaques named destinations near and far. 

Toadette looked up. Within the rainbow archway above them, the words 'The Gateways' shimmered.

Peach stood speechless. Toadette thought it must have came as a shock to her, learning of the existence of such a place. She moved over to the Princess, placing her hand on her shoulder. 

Peach looked down at her and smiled. 

"There's my pipe," she stated softly, pointing. "Good luck."

She stepped up onto the pipe and warped down. Her silhouette was just recognisable heading downwards as Peach travelled through the pipe, into the layers of cloud that made up Marshmallow Gates.

Toadette returned to the rest of their group.

"Which one do we take?" Luigi asked.

Toad pointed. "Candy Corn Pass is as close to the Boo House as we're going to get," he stated, looking to Mario for confirmation.

Mario nodded, running his fingers through his moustache once more.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Toadette asked, striding towards the marble pipe. 

Jumping onto the top of the pipe, Toadette stared at her friends' trepidatious faces. To her, the journey through the pipe was going to be one of the least anxious moments of the whole adventure, so she didn't know why they chose this moment to show their fear.

As her legs disappeared, she gave them a reassuring wave.

"See you all on the other side!"