Hey! It's Popple's first day on the job, remember, if you haven't read Popple's Predicament, then I suggest you go read it before this. Otherwise, the whole beginning won't make sense. In this story, Popple takes on the Montys, but is he going by the book, or by his likings?

…

Popple sat down at the castle meeting table. It was pretty posh, complete with carpet ON the tables. Peach had given him his first mission since he agreed to the job. She was nice to have taken him in after his brave act and courtesy towards her. It wasn't long until his talents were needed. He was the only one there. He whistled and waited for a few minutes when Toadbert walked in.

"This meeting is top secret, By Boogity! No one can know of this. We have confirmation that Bowser has hired the Montys to build him a network of subway tunnels under the whole Kingdom. If he succeeds in doing this, well, it would take a ton of time to fill back in, schzaam! Golly, even the Mario Bros would poop out!" Toadbert declared.

"So why ask me? The Mario Bros could stomp those Montys any time of the day, or, night if it's dark in the tunnels. Boo, I say!"

"That's the thing, by the time the Mario Bros get down there; their highly polished sneakers will have made too much noise! You can sneak down there. You grab the plans, bring them back here, and find out which Moles are involved. And the Mario Bros will fill in the action by taking out any Montys you discover as part of it."

"What, so, I just hang back and let the Bros take the credit? BOO, criminey!"
"You get paid in the end, anyway. Besides, you signed up for this exact job; that job being a thief. We let you do your job, since you're the best at it. We also let the Mario Bros do what they are best at, to be thorough and efficient, I say."

"Fine, I'm in. Where do I go to quit these Monty's merry making, see?"

"As far as we know, it starts at a grove in Dimble Wood. It's towards the edge where Dimble divides into Bubble Lake. You should see it." Popple grabbed his bag of 1-ups and a few mushrooms, vile as they were. Before he left the castle gates, he searched his shelves for a coffee canister in his house. His house was a lovely fungal shaped house on top of a hill. It was surrounded by trees, but there was a space to view the castle. There were a few Treevils, but they were already dried and ready to morph into splinters.

He could battle pretty well; he still didn't understand why he couldn't whack the senses out of those vermin. After a few acres of land, he found a mysterious cave. That had to be it. Time to take this dirt trap. He hugged the wall as he went in, even though there was a lot of room to enter, stealth was still a factor. He kept scootching along the wall until he met roughly carved stairs. The Montys never work hard unless the project is of some important. He descended flight after flight of a winding, and gradually narrowing staircase. It took at least 5 minutes to safely climb all the way down. It wouldn't have taken that long, but the tunnel was completely black.

Popple remembered his time in the sandy caverns of the Beanbean Kingdom. He shivered. The ground was on a smooth slant, but flattened out. Seconds later, he heard voices… The voices were growing louder, and more impatient…