After reading the name of the only of Dr. Mario's patients for the day, Nurse Toadstool clutched it closely to her chest and called for him sweetly, "Mr. Roshi, the doctor will see you now."
"Why, helloooo nurse!" the aging, pale red Yoshi croaked back. He was no longer an athletic dinosaur as he had been in his youth, and one look at his belly would reveal that he had had one too many Yoshi Cookies in his years. He was in Dr. Mario's clinic because he had hurt himself badly trying to stuff himself into a pipe that was way too small for him.
Toadstool rolled her eyes and sighed indignantly. "Just come this way, sir," she instructed, then walked off down the hallway that led to the doctor's examining room, pursued closely by Roshi. One too many perverts had objectified Toadstool because of her good looks, especially because of the nurse outfit she was wearing; this particular one was very lucky that she didn't have her frying pan with her at the moment.
"Why, certainly…but only if you'll come with me, pretty lady! Eheh, eheh, eheheheh—hack, wheeze, gasp!" Though he continued after Toadstool, the Yoshi's immature joke and laughter were cut short by a sudden coughing fit. Toadstool smirked, and decided to let him suffer.
Seated, with his elbows propped upon a desk in his examining room, Dr. Mario held his head in his hands gravely. The number of patients he'd been receiving had dwindled recently, but the number of bills he'd been receiving most certainly had not. In fact, if he didn't get more patients soon, Mario would be forced to give up the doctor biz.
The sound of elegant high heels and squeaky Yoshi boots stepping against the tiled floor of the clinic diverted Dr. Mario's thoughts away from his immediate situation. He looked up to see Nurse Toadstool and an elderly red Yoshi standing before his desk. "Dr. Mario, the patient is here," Toadstool informed him. Behind her, Roshi was still coughing and wheezing.
"Thank you, Nurse Toadstool." Because a patient was present, Mario decided to be formal and call her Nurse Toadstool instead of Peach. "You may leave now." Dr. Mario gestured towards the door while rising from his chair.
"No, thank you, Dr. Mario." Toadstool glared at the dirty old Yoshi reproachfully, then gladly departed. Coincidentally, Roshi's coughing spell seemed to vanish as soon as the nurse had gone.
"Now then," Dr. Mario began once Nurse Toadstool's footsteps were no longer audible. He clasped his gloved hands and rubbed them together, anxious to treat his paying customer. "Why don't you go have a seat up there and tell me what happened to you, hmm?" He gestured towards the patient bed.
"Ah, doc…good to see you." Roshi somehow managed to hop up onto the bed. "I'm not big and buff like I was, back in the day…" The Yoshi inhaled and attempted to flex his muscles, as if trying to disprove the statement he had just made. He didn't have much success. "Yesiree, these ol' bones have been through a lot, but not those new-fangled warp pipes they set up at the end of Yoshi Island, no! I swear, they make those dadgum things much, much smaller than they used to…"
"Thank you, I believe I can figure out what happened from here," Dr. Mario interrupted the Yoshi's story before it could bore him any longer. He peered closely at the Yoshi's skin through a magnifying glass. "Hmm…"
"Is it real bad, doc?"
"Not in the slightest," the good doctor replied warmly. "Just a superficial bruise, nothing to worry about." The patient exhaled, relieved. Dr. Mario procured a small jar of something from his cabinet. "I'll just give you this jar of mushroom cream to rub on the sore parts, and you can go on your merry little way."
"Why, thanks, doc!" Roshi gratefully accepted the cream. "You're so good at this doctor shtick, I bet you get business from everyone in the entire Mushroom Kingdom!"
"Heh." The doctor couldn't help but chuckle at the Yoshi's completely erroneous opinion of him. "No, man, I'm afraid you're wrong there. I haven't had a decent clientele in…" Mario had lost track. "…a while."
"What?" cried the Yoshi, shocked. "That's horrible!"
"It is, indeed."
"You know what? I think it's those…" the old creature trailed off, trying to call to mind the name of Dr. Mario's patented vitamin capsules. "…miracle vitamins of yours."
"Megavitamins?" Dr. Mario supplied.
"Yeah! Those! Mecha Vitamins." Roshi still didn't get the name right. Dr. Mario didn't bother to correct him. "After you gave everyone a dose of those, no one's really been getting sick here. Only old fools like me, who manage to hurt themselves, have use for a doctor now! Eheh, eheh, eheheheh!" The doctor nodded. It was true; his vitamins did cure sickness miraculously. "Who knows…you may have to resort to breaking a few bones yourself to get a little business! Eheh, eheh, eheheheh!"
Dr. Mario considered the idea…and suddenly, he knew how he could save his business.