TOO TOONEY

CHAPTER 31 A TOAD'S TALE

Location: Over a forest in (former) Russia. Thursday, September 2nd, 3127. 1:33AM.

"Brrrrrr! It's freezing up here!" Captain Toad complained as he rode the magic carpet that served as his method of transportation in the sky over a forest, while shivering and rubbing his hands together in a desperate attempt to help keep himself warm. "Why didn't I listen to my mom's advice all those years ago and bring a jacket with me whenever I go anywhere where it's cold like it is here?"

Despite this inconvenience, though, Captain Toad had a job to do and he had to get help if he had any chance of rescuing Leslie and, of course, Princess Peach of The Mushroom Kingdom. Besides, he had been on a lot adventures and had been through a lot worse things as a result and a little cold weather wasn't going to slow him down!

Captain Toad then remembered how he, Princess Peach and Mario and Luigi had gotten mixed up in this mess in the first place. While it had been many years since the day it had begun, Captain Toad remembered it clearly as if it was yesterday!

Captain Toad recalled that back home, after countless attempts to marry Princess Peach and take over the Mushroom Kingdom and humiliating defeats by his long-time enemies, Mario and Luigi, Bowser couldn't take it anymore and he had had a huge nervous breakdown in the process! To no one's surprise, Bowser was furious and went back to his own castle and swore he would destroy those blasted, stupid plumbers! This had been nothing new and Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Captain Toad and the rest of the citizens of The Mushroom Kingdom knew he would get over it within a week and then return to once again kidnap and try to marry Princess Peach, get his ass kicked by Mario and Luigi, go back to his lair unleash his anger and frustrations and repeat the whole cycle all over again and again and again and again and so forth!

However, this cycle changed one day when Captain Toad, Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and the rest of The Mushroom Kingdom noticed that Bowser hadn't attacked anyone or the kingdom in over 6 months nor had he even been seen or heard from since his last scuffle with Mario and Luigi. They had all found this to be odd as the longest Bowser had ever went without causing anyone trouble was a three weeks at most!

Sure, they had appreciated and enjoyed this long break and not having to deal with that big brute for all that time, but not seeing and hearing for him for 6 months was something they knew he would never do! They knew that something was up and they had decided to find out what was going on!

Afterall, what if Bowser's long absence was just a brilliant ploy to get them to let their guards down as part of some new, clever, evil scheme that he had! If that was the case, they needed to find out what he was up to or there could be real trouble for all of them!

They had been right to think this because as it turns out, Bowser had been about to make a huge comeback indeed! In fact, before Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Captain Toad could head out and sneak into Bowser's castle to try to get answers, Bowser was already outside Princess Peach's castle, waiting for them!

The four of them had demanded to know what he was up to now and unsurprisingly Bowser wore a huge grin on his face and said that it was the same as always, to marry Princess Peach and conquer The Mushroom Kingdom! As you may have guessed, Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Captain Toad had all told him that would never happen and that if he didn't want to be turned into turtle soup, he better leave immediately.