Super Mario Christmas

9. Candy Corn Pass - Part 2

Toad stood gob-smacked.

He had never seen so many goombas in the one place at the one time, let alone all running towards him. 

There was no way that their fire-power was going to be enough to deter all of them. Toad wished they had Blue Baby Yoshi with them. That little guy reminded Toad of a boa constrictor, the way he managed to eat everything in sight (whole) by simply opening his mouth.

As they stood, Mario, Luigi, Toad, Toadette, and candy corn obsessed Yoshi didn’t stand a chance. Toad truly feared they would not all make it.

Mario scrambled around in his items kit while Toad and the others prepared their fireballs.

“Yoshi, I need you.” Mario called.

Looking longingly at the nearby candy corn wedged in the cliff wall, Yoshi shuffled towards him. Mario jumped on his back and dug his heels into the steed’s sides. The two galloped forwards.

Toad was stunned. Why would Mario be rushing towards the oncoming danger?

Right before colliding with the first goomba, the one who had alerted the others to their group’s presence, Mario crushed an invincibility star against his chest. His clothes started flashing and the goomba easily bounced off the side of the cliff. Mario barrelled onwards.

He approached the onslaught of goombas, but it was too late. Mario’s super star was already wearing off. He should have used his fire to deal with the first goomba and kept the star until the rest of the goombas had reached him. Now he was stuck by himself with no defence except for Yoshi and a fire-flower.

Mario had also clearly realised his mistake. He ran back toward his friends. Toad rushed forward, hoping he could provide some cover for his friend, knowing though that he could only do so once in range. They all raced to get to Mario, as quickly as they could. 

Once in distance, Mario turned every three to four steps and hurled fireballs at the oncoming goombas, then turned back and jumped, allowing easy access for Luigi, Toad and Toadette’s fireballs. They were each taking out multiple goombas with every one of Mario’s jumps, yet more kept coming, growing closer with every moment.

Mario was almost in reach. He turned to fire at the next goomba.

“NO!” Toad shouted, realising his opponent was too close, but Mario didn’t hear. The few milliseconds it took for Mario to slow down to turn around was all it took for the goomba to touch Yoshi. The skittish reptile jumped, unsaddling Mario and throwing him into the onslaught of goombas. 

Thinking quickly, Toad jumped into the saddle of Yoshi as he rushed to pass the group of friends as he always did when startled. Securing the dinosaur and turning him back in the direction of their enemies, Toad looked for Mario. No longer could the red and white fire suit be seen, nor were any fireballs coming from within the mass of goombas.

Toad’s heart thumped heavily. The goombas had reached Luigi, Toadette and him, and it was possible that Mario had been trampled. As the first goomba reached Luigi, breaking past his fireball, the plumber jumped, bopping it on the head and causing it to fall of the cliff face. He bounced on a second with the same result. The third time, he was not so lucky. 

Bouncing imprecisely, Toad saw his buddy collide with a group of goombas, his clothes instantly changing back to green, and then with the next touch, Luigi shrunk to almost half his size. Lost in the crowd, Toad was unable to focus any more of his attention upon his friend.

“Toadette!” Toad called as the goombas reached her next. 

He madly threw fireballs in her direction, hoping to keep her safe. He dug his heels into Yoshi, knowing he needed to get to her before she suffered the same fate Luigi had.

But she was amazing! She bounced from the head of goomba to goomba. Her plaited pig-tails fanned out like propellers as she spun, launching fireballs in all directions around her. She moved backwards and forwards along the line, thinning the numbers of goombas more successfully than any of the others had.

So triumphant was she that a hole opened up where she had fully cleared the line of goombas. Through the haze of Toad and Toadette’s fireballs, Toad saw the expanse of space too late. Toadette, noticed it mid-spin, but was already on her way down.

Landing hard, she lacked the time to prepare her next fireball. Three goombas rushed at her. Toad hit the first one with a fireball right in between the eyes, but could not stop the second and third from reaching her.

“NO!” he screamed, as he saw her stripped of her fire-flower power. 

Struggling to get out of the way before the goombas overtook her, she rolled.

Toad watched as the woman of his dreams slid over the edge.

Without thinking, Toad twisted Yoshi’s head and dug in his heels. 

The two stepped off the ledge.