Peach had given the Toad Brigade a day off from guarding the castle, so the Brigade's Captain figured, "Hey, what better way to spend it than at the beach?"

He asked that question to his underlings in the courtyard.

"Uh, Captain? Do we really need a day off so soon?" said the Blue Toad.

"Of course we do!" said the Captain. "It's only been two days since we got off the Starship Mario! Remember all the work we did in space to help Mario save Peach?"

"But the thing is, we didn't do much work at all. We spent most of the journey goofing arou-"

The Captain quickly covered Blue Toad's mouth with his hand. Peach had been walking by. "Did you say goofing?" she asked.

"No, he said... Roofing! We're considering becoming roofers someday! Seems like an honest job, y'know?" the Captain said nervously.

There was an awkward silence. "Well... Alright then..." Peach said, walking away. Once she was out of sight, the Captain removed his hand.

"You know it's true..." muttered Blue Toad as he adjusted his glasses.

"Alright, you guys might not have done much, but I helped like crazy!"

"Like how?"

"Are you kidding? There were SO many times when I pointed Mario in the direction of the star! I also found a star in a treasure chest all by myself!"

"You mean the chest you got stuck in until Mario got you out?" asked Blue Toad.

"...How'd you know about that?" asked the Captain.

"Mario kinda told everyone."

The Captain turned red, clearly flustered. "Whatever, I'm off to the beach. Blue, are you in or not?"

"I'm think I'll go read a book."

"How about you, Green?"

"I'd rather watch TV. The digging championships are starting today."

"Yellow?"

"I'm gonna take a na-"

Suddenly, Yellow Toad collapsed and fell asleep.

"You'll come, won't you Purple? You love swimming, right?"

"Oh no, that was before. I'm more of a Mailtoad now, remember?"

"But..."

"Speaking of which, you have a letter!" Purple Toad handed him an envelope.

"Oh boy! I wonder who it's from?" The Captain tore off the envelope and unfolded the paper. It only had one word printed on it. "...'Goodbye?' What's that supposed to mean-"

He realized just then that Purple Toad was gone. "Fine then! Be like that! I'll just go by myself!"

Yellow Toad snored.

The Captain- whom we'll just call Toad from this point on- wandered across the beach.

"Ah, the beach. Sun, sand and water. The others don't know what they're missing."

His eyes widened when he heard a jingle. "An ice cream truck!" Toad ran to the nearby parking lot and got in line behind a Bob-omb.

"I'll have one scoop of vanilla, one scoop of strawberry, and one scoop of chocolate," said the Bob-omb.

"That'll be seven coins," said the Monty Mole driver.

"...What coins?"

"You don't have coins?!"

"Well, duh. I have no hands. How do you expect me to carry coins around?"

"Sorry, but I only give ice cream to paying customers."

"Just give me some ice cream!"

"No!"

Unfortunately, the Bob-omb couldn't contain himself and jumped through the window, scurrying past the driver and into the ice cream storage.

"Hey, get out from back there!" yelled the Monty Mole as he grabbed a cane and went after him. Four seconds later the truck exploded.

"Ack!" went Toad as he ran from the flaming wreckage. "Well, so much for ice cream! I wonder if there's a soda machine around here-"

He froze when he spied a woman on the beach. She looked almost exactly like him, but her mushroom was pink with white spots, she sported pink braids, and she wore a matching dress.

She was Toadette.

Toadette skipped across the beach, happy as can be, while Toad dreamily floated after her. As soon as he realized he was floating, he fell flat on his face.

"I have to find out who she is," he said after spitting out some sand.

"Let's see... I'll say hi to her, and she'll say hi back! Uh-huh! Then I'll ask her if she wants to get some mushroom shakes, and she'll say yes! Yeah, that's how it's gonna play out!"

Toad walked up to her and said, "Hi!"

Toadette turned to face him. "Hey," she replied.

"Oh no! She was supposed to say hi, not hey! This isn't going according to plan!"

"Uh..." Toad began to stammer.

"Yes?"

"Okay, I can still pull this off! I just have to ask her if she wants to get a mushroom shake!"

"You wanna go shake some mushrooms?" he blurted.

"Shake some mushrooms?" she asked, looking at the drink shack behind her. "Oh, you mean mushroom shakes! Sure, let's go-"

By the time she looked forward again, he was gone. "Where'd he go?"

Meanwhile, Toad was hiding behind a palm tree. "Okay, Plan B! Call for help!" He dialed a number on his cell phone and waited for an answer.

"Hello?" a voice answered.

"Luigi! I need some advice on how to get a girl!"

"You should try rescuing her from a castle. It works every time."

"But she's not stuck in a castle! She's at the beach!"

"Oh... Well, I don't have any other ideas."

"No wonder he doesn't have a girlfriend..." Toad muttered.

"Hey! I heard tha-"

Toad hung up. "Okay, Plan C! Think of a Plan D!"

Eleven Seconds of Thinking Later...

"I've got it! I'll compliment her beauty!"

He jumped out from behind the tree and ran up to Toadette. "Hey, where'd you go?" she asked, confused.

"Your pretty are very braids!" Toad exclaimed, stumbling on his words.

"Huh?"

"Your diamonds are like eyes!"

"Um..."

"Your clothes! They're very, very-"

"You want to get some mushroom shakes?" Toadette asked, cutting him off.

"...Sure!"

And with that, they walked towards the drink shack together.

"So what's your name?" Toad asked.

"It's Toadette. What's yours?"

"Toad."

"Cool name," she said with a smile.

"I've still got it!" Toad gloated internally.