"I think we're close."
Betty stopped, folding her stubby arms. "What makes you say that?"
Nathan pointed forward. An actual mine cart on a track was just ahead of them. "If we can follow these tracks, it'll lead us right to the mine where the money is!"
"Ugh, finally!" The Boo floated forward, "Let's hurry this up so I can get my routine massages."
Nathan flew up and looked the cart over. "And if we can find a way to get it moving, it can save us a lot of walking time."
Betty on the other hand, simply floated down into it. "Can you actually be useful then?"
His eyes narrowed. "Don't test me, woman." Then he looked up. Noticing a stalactite hanging from above. An idea came to him. He plucked a few feathers from his wing, and flung them up at the rock, slicing right through it. Part of the rock fell to the ground, causing a shockwave that shook the ground and knocked the cart forward. "There, now it's loose."
Then he moved forward to give it a push, sending it down the track before hopping into it. "Now we're moving."
Betty rolled her eyes. "Finally, you actually do something useful."
Concurrently, both Captain Toad and Toadette were getting closer as well. They had found their own set of minecart tracks to follow, and were making their way at a rapid pace.
Well mostly.
"Pass me the rations," Toadette said, holding out her hand.
The Captain reached into his backpack, "Ehh...tuna? Are you serious?"
"If it keeps your greedy little mits off it." She snarked, snatching the sandwich slice from him, "The last time we went out, you ate my PB&J!"
"It was an honest mistake!"
And Toadette bit into her sandwich before shrugging. "Eh, doesn't matter. I think we're close now."
"Oh final-"
"Shhh!" Toadette shoved her finger in his face, "Don't shout like that. You could wake up some Swoopers or something."
The Captain pushed her hand away, and walked ahead of her. "Please. Those bloodsuckers can't stand the purity of my bravery!"
Her eyes narrowed while nonchalantly biting her sandwich. "Uh-huh."
"There!" The Captain pointed to a door that was sealed off with wooden planks and barbed wire. It also marked the end of the end of the mine cart tracks. "The treasure has to be behind there! I'll be taking my award now~"
By now, Toadette had finished her sandwich, and poured some hand sanitizer on her palms, casually rubbing them together. "The award for laziness?"
"Hey!"
She closed one eye. Inspected the sealed doorway carefully. "Aha!" From her backpack, she pulled out a Bob-Omb-a non-sapient variety.
The Captain blinked, inching towards a rock to hide behind. "Uhh...what are you doing?"
Toadette had a violent glint in her eye while winding up the Bob-Omb's key. "Having some fun~"
Nathan and Betty rode the cart through the mine, passing by a few more of the same crystals on the way. The Paratroopa's eyes narrowed, and the Boo kept looking on with a somewhat miffed expression.
BOOM
Out of nowhere, an explosion went off in the deeper region of the mine, and both of them perked up at the noise.
"That's it! Someone else is after that gold!" Nathan shouted.
"Uh, duh-"
The Paratroopa stood on the edge of the cart, leaning forward to help it move faster. "Follow the sound!"
"...Did you hear something?" The Captain asked.
Toadette was grinning at the destruction she caused, pumping her fist when she saw the door was down. "Aw yeah! We're in it now!"
"Hm…" Captain Toad was skeptical. To him, he swore he heard the cries of someone else in the mine. And they sounded close. "Toadette, I think we should hurry…" he muttered while pushing her through the doorway.
Once inside, it was pitch black, so both toads had to turn on their headlamps. And when they did, they found something even greater than what they expected.
"Holy cow bones!"
Nathan looked ahead, realizing that the track had come to an abrupt end, broken off and leading to a steep drop. "Oh no. Betty, we're gonna have to jump!"
The Boo had already lifted herself up and out of the cart, looking on at him with a bored expression. "You and your drama…"
"Bah…" Nathan flew out of the cart, "Can't ever have fun with anything?"
Said cart ended up plummeting off of the broken track, down into the shaft right where the Toads were. With a loud crash, it landed right in front of them, missing them by near inches!
"AH!" They both leapt back, the Captain jumping in Toadette's arms. The girl Toad shot him a look, to which he replied with a sheepy smile.
"Hey, who's up there?!" The girl Toad cried out.
"Aha!" The Paratroopa shouted back. "I knew someone else was here!"
"...WHat?!" Toadette yelled. Unable to hear what he said properly.
"What?!"
"Huh?!"
"Look-forget that, I'm coming down. C'mon, Betty…" And Nathan started to fly downwards...
"...What?!"
