Well, the new chapters finally here! I was pretty much just unmotivated to write, so hopefully that will change...

Murder in the mushroom kingdom

Chapter 9-Getting the Scoop

"Good idea," Mario nodded his head, "Give him a call!"

"Me?" Toadiko asked, glancing around. The tone in Toadiko's voice made Mario sound as though he were crazy. It's not like he asked her to jump off the roof of the castle or anything…

Mario nodded, "Well, you're the one who knows him…,"

"Of course…how silly of me…"

"Let's go sit down…" Mario said as he watched as the Toadette disappeared up the stairs to make the phone call. Who was this detective guy, anyway? For all they knew, he could be some crazed lunatic that Toadiko made friends with when she was drunk at a bar or something…

The entire group moved into an adjacent room to sit down. Well, if you're going to talk about a murder, why not be comfortable in the meantime? While Mario was debating whether or not this detective could be trusted, the sound of incessant pounding on the front door was heard. Either someone was quite eager to tell one of them something, or they just needed to use the bathroom…

Everyone glanced around at each other. Apparently no one really had that desire to go and open the door. There was one problem though: the knocking wouldn't end. It was enough to drive someone crazy, even though half the people in the room were already a bit loopy.

"I'll get it…" Toadetta sighed, disappearing into another room.

Silence settled over the room…again. Everyone's glances shifted from one person to another, almost to say 'well aren't you going to speak'. It reminded everyone of the many other times when silence was the only thing that could be heard. Well, not actually heard…

Peach (of course), was the person to start the conversation. She had always hated silence, and would enjoy any situation much more if there was a lively conversation rather than peace and quiet, "It's a good thing that the murderer didn't come back last night…"

A sudden light sparked in Mario's mind. He practically scared a few people half to death as he jumped up and said "Oh!". He was quite surprised Toadsworth didn't have a heart attack right then and there. Now that wouldn't be good…

"What?" Toadbert asked, a bit curious as to what the plumber had to say. Either Mario had a clue to the case, or he just remembered that he left the roast in the oven…

"Now that Peach said that, I just remembered hearing the sound of a window being smashed last night…" Mario glanced over to Peach, who had a semi-horrified expression on her face.

Each person let out their own gasp. The thought that the murderer was in the castle when they went to bed wasn't exactly a relaxing thought. Again Mario expected to see Toadsworth dead on the floor, but again the old Toad managed to survive this new revelation.

Poor Toadsworth…he was certainly having a bad day today. He woke up an hour and a half earlier than he usually did, he missed his favorite TV show, and now he just had two near-death experiences…

"Umm…Mario?" Toadetta came back into the room, "There are a few reporters outside that want a word with you…"

Mario let out an annoyed sigh. He had always hated it when he would get flooded with reporters after each of his adventures, so he wasn't exactly looking forward to the upcoming events. He began to reflect upon the time when he had once locked himself inside his house to avoid contact with an obnoxious group of people that were flinging questions at him left and right. One of the impatient and short-tempered reporters even tried to break one of Mario's windows by throwing a rock at it…

As soon as Mario stepped out of the castle, a horde of people swarmed in front of him, demanding answers for the explanation of this and that:

"Who do you think the murderer is?"

"Do you think they were aiming at Peach?"

"Do you think he'll strike again?"

"How did the murderer get in the castle?"

"Do you know where the murderer is now?"

But there was one question that stood out amongst the rest:

"How come you weren't at the party?"

Now how did that reporter know that Mario wasn't at the party? Gee, these reporters knew everything, didn't they? Mario didn't really know why they needed to ask questions; it seemed as though they already understood the entire case inside-out! It was quite odd, yes…, "You knew that I wasn't inside at the party?"

"Yes…now don't you have an answer?" The reporter, who appeared to be a female Goomba, asked. She seemed a bit snobbish, in Mario's opinion.

Before he had a chance to answer, Peach opened the front door and went outside. She immediately took position next to Mario and eyed up the Goomba girl that stood before them.

"I, umm…" Mario began to answer the reporter's question, but stopped. She stared at him blankly; maybe he just couldn't think of the right words to say?

No, that was certainly not the reason for Mario's sudden hiatus. The real reason behind it was that he didn't find it necessary for her to know such information. The fact that his name was not on the list would answer one of their questions, but only make a hundred more…

"Well…?"

"Maybe he doesn't want to answer!" Peach said, a bit angry.

The Goomba girl was a bit taken back, at first (as were all of the other reporters), but she wasn't going to give up without a fight…literally…, "Oh princess…," The Goomba girl said, smiling, "Why must you be such a fool when you're not being talked to? Is it the attention you want? Or are you trying to stick up for Mario to help repay him for all of the times when you've been pathetically kidnapped by Bowser?"

Now it was Peach's turn to be taken back. She even managed to work a tear out of her eye. For a matter of fact, Mario was quite shocked, as well. Did she really just say that to a princess?! Peach may be a bit whacky at times, but she didn't deserve this verbal abuse…especially considering that the stupid Goomba said it in front of over thirty people that would be ranting and raving to the public that someone was daring enough to humiliate the princess and nearly put her into tears…

At this point, Mario just wanted to disappear. This girl was rude…very rude…