Super Mario Bros. Super Show: Six Golden Coins

Episode Five: Macro Mansion Part Two

"I'll show them." Toad grumbled as he walked down the road. "I'll come back with that coin, and the Princess will be like, oh Toad, I was wrong, you're so much better than Mario and Luigi. And I'll be like, darn tootin', Princess, I guess we can send those two idiots back where they came from, huh? And she'll be like…

Suddenly stopping mid-monologue as the road ended, the Mushroom Man looked up and couldn't help whistling at what was in front of him. It was a house with two floors, but the place was huge. The walkway and single step up onto the porch were gigantic, much bigger and higher up than Toad could stand, and the front door… well, for starters he didn't even know how he was going to get the thing open.

"Okay, Toad, this is your chance." He said to himself, starting up the walkway. "If Luigi can handle a haunted mansion full of evil spirits, you can handle a really big house."

Now running up the path, Toad got moving as fast as he could, before leaping upward with all his strength. His plan was to land on top of the single step and continue toward the door, but this plan was brought to a halt when he crashed into the step, having achieved only about half of the jumping height required. He bounced off the concrete, and fell back down onto the walkway, only to get to his feet and try again.

"Relax, Toad, that was just a, uh… warmup." He continued to himself. "Yeah, just a little practice run before the big jump."

Deciding on a longer running start, the Mushroom Man backed up about twice as far as where he had started the first time, and sprinted forward. Yes, he was moving much faster this time, and all he had to do was leap at the right time, and he would fly up to the… he would fly up to… he would fly…

Suddenly Toad started slowing down, breathing heavily as he approached the jump point, but instead of leaping, the Mushroom felt the need to sit down for a second. Sweating profusely, and trying to catch his breath, he was just glad that the Princesses weren't there to see him in that condition. It hadn't been so bad back when Mario was the only real hero, and Luigi was nothing but another sidekick like he was, but then the green plumber went and rescued Princess Daisy, and now Toad was the only pointless sidekick.

"Trying to get up here, little man?" A high-pitch voice asked from above. "Hate to break this to you, but you're too short, fat, and slow to use this door."

These heckling words were followed by laughter that sounded like squeaking, and when the Mushroom Man looked up, he gasped when he saw that there was a large rat sitting on top of the single step. More importantly, though, was what the rat was carrying… because the end of its tail was wrapped around the large golden coin that he had come to Macro Mansion to retrieve.

"What? You want this coin?" The rat continued. "Well, sorry, but that's not gonna happen, shorty. See, Wario told me to guard it against anyone who came looking, but to show you that I'm not completely heartless, I'll let you take a closer look at it."

Suddenly the rat's long tail swung down like a pendulum, striking Toad in the head with the coin, and sending the Mushroom Man sliding across the walkway. The rat laughed and laughed as it pulled the coin back up, and Toad was just starting to sit up, when the large creature scurried away. But it didn't head for the front door, instead it ran along the porch to a lower spot where it vanished into a large mouse hole.

"Hey!" The Mushroom Man yelled, scrambling to his feet. "Hey, come back here!"

Following after the rat, Toad reached the low spot, and thankfully there was a rock nearby that he was able to stand on. It was still a bit of a struggle to get up onto the porch, but eventually he made it, and wasted no time in following the rat into the mouse hole. This allowed him to pass through the wall, and into what looked like a giant study. There were humongous books piled everywhere, as well as furniture that looked like something out of 'Jack and The Beanstalk'.

But there was no sign of the rat, leaving the Mushroom Man to begin exploring the massive house. Suddenly he heard a squeak, squeak, and looked up to see the rat waving at him from on top of one of the bigger desks. He knew that he had to get up there, but the legs of the desk were too smooth to climb… but there were plenty of stacks of books around. These stacks of books made a structure that was almost like a staircase, so he ran to the end of it, and began climbing up onto them once at a time.

About halfway up there was something that looked like a giant child's jack in the box, and although it was a bit higher up than the books, climbing it was the only way to reach the next stack of books. So Toad grabbed onto the crank in order to boost himself up, but this caused the top to open, and allowing a big, scary witch figure to scream in his face when it popped out. Needless to say, the Mushroom Man was startled by this, and his scream of panic filled the whole house while he tumbled all the way back down to the bottom of the books.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what Wario was so worried about." The rat laughed as Toad came to a stop. "If the rest of your friends are as pathetic as you, we won't even need to guard the coins anymore."

"I am not pathetic!" The Mushroom Man yelled as he got up. "And I'll have you know, buddy, that you're not the first hot-shot rat that I took down! So here I come!"

Climbing back onto the first book, and driven by the anger he was feeling toward the rat, Toad climbed faster than he ever had, scaling book after book, and this time not touching the crank on the jack in the box. This allowed him to get onto the second stack, and now all that was between him and the rat were books… books, and books, and books.

By the time he reached the top, the Mushroom Man was out of breath once again, just barely being able to pull himself over the last book and onto the table… where the rat was nowhere to be found. Breathing heavily and wiping the sweat from his forehead, Toad looked around the whole table, but didn't see the rat anywhere until the sound of squeak, squeak drew him to looking over the edge of the table.

"Hey, what are you doing all the way up there, little man?" The rat called from down on the floor. "I thought you wanted this coin, no? Or are you lost, yes? From here you look as confused as a kid in the outfield, holding a hockey stick, yelling touchdown. Here, let me help you."

Suddenly the rat charged forward at incredible speed, heading right for the desk leg as if it were going to ram into it, but instead ran right up the smooth leg just as easily as it had done on the floor. Once at the top, the rat charged across the table, ramming into Toad and carrying him all the way back to the edge, where it instantly stopped… but Toad didn't.

The Mushroom Man screamed as he was sent tumbling back down both stacks of books, rolling and bouncing past the jack in the box, and all the way back down to the floor where he came to a sudden stop of his own. Now dazed and confused, Toad failed at his first few attempts to get to his feet, but was just starting to recover when he saw the rat com running back down the smooth leg. He expected the creature to attack again, but instead the rat changed directions.

"You look a bit tired, little man." It said as it ran toward a giant floor-fan. "Here, let me help you cool down a bit."

The rat laughed as it jumped onto the start button, and even though the fan speed was set on low, the Mushroom Man had trouble staying on his feet once the rotor began to spin. If he could get out of the wind current, then he would be fine, and Toad was just starting to walk sideways, when the rat jumped onto the button that was marked med. The increased speed of the fan made it not only impossible for Toad to stay on his feet, but if he tried to move too much at a time, his body would start to slide across the floor.

"What's that?!" The rat yelled above the noise. "You want more?! Well, okay, mister greedy, here's all the speed you can handle!"

Now jumping onto the button marked high, the fan started spinning so fast that even the rat had to jump out of the way, and as for the Mushroom Man, he screamed as he was sent flying backwards through the air. The fan then started to spark and smoke, shutting down a few seconds later, and allowing Toad to come to a sudden stop by crashing into a large vase of flowers, cracking it as he fell to the floor.

The cracks spread out until a hole was formed, and the Mushroom Man had just started getting up, when all the water came pouring out of the vase, soaking him as it knocked him down once again. Meanwhile the rat was still laughing and squeaking, making Toad so angry that he became red in the face while getting up, but slipped in the water, falling on his face and making the rat laugh even harder.

"Well, this was fun." The rat said. "But let's face it, Toad… you're a wimp, so instead of forcing me to humiliate you any further, just go back and tell your friends, tell them that you can't handle anything on your own, and then go hide behind the Princess like you always do."

Still laughing as it turned away, the rat scurried off again, this time heading away from the tables and desks, on a direct course for the open fireplace. It then vanished up into the chimney… and Toad followed. It took the Mushroom man a few tries to get up, but once he did, he started making his way across the floor, toward the fireplace entrance to the chimney.