(A/N: I bet you weren't expecting the Toad Brigade to appear in this story, were you? Well, it's about time they did something in this story! Now let's see if they'll get started on this tall order that Peach has given them.)


Captain Toad put away his smartphone, looked at the Toad Brigade, and said, "All right, men. I just got off the phone with the Princess, and she has given us a very tall order. She wants us to infiltrate Bowser's airship."

The Toad Brigade stared at their captain with surprised looks on their faces. Had they heard that correctly? The Princess wanted them to infiltrate the airship of their greatest enemy? That sounded more like something Mario would be able to do with no problems. They were Toads, and no match for someone like Bowser!

"D-did she really... s-say that? She w-wants us... to go into B-B-Bowser's airship?" asked Hint Toad, feeling highly nervous about going into Bowser's airship.

"Yes, Hint Toad, she did say that. We have some serious work to do." said Captain Toad.

"O-okay... If th-that's what she w-wants... then we sh-should do it..." said Mailtoad, also nervous.

"We shall, because we must. You guys know that we can't exactly deny an order from Princess Peach!" Captain Toad said.

The Toad Brigade didn't need to be told twice. If the order came from Princess Peach, then they had to obey it, or die trying.


So the Toad Brigade slowly started towards Bowser's airship. They noticed that Bowser was a good distance from his ship, and he looked like he was feeling sorry for himself.

"How long is he going to sit there like that?" Banktoad asked.

"I don't know." Yellow Toad replied.

"No one does. But the good news is that as long as he's there, he's nowhere near his ship. And that should make our mission a lot easier to complete." Captain Toad reminded his crew.

"Right." the Toad Brigade said, feeling a lot better about doing this now.

So they sped up, making their way to Bowser's airship in record time. Then they boarded the ship and went inside.

"Okay, where on this stupid ship do you think Peach's things are hidden?" asked Mailtoad, as he looked around.

"I don't know. But we've got to find out! So let's start searching." said Captain Toad.

At that moment, the Yellow Toad opened a door to one room, and he was shocked at what he found inside.

"Oh my... you guys had better come here and see this!" the Yellow Toad called out to the others. He sounded like he'd just found something horrible, like a dead body, or worse: Mario and Peach, bound and gagged!

"What is it?!" asked Captain Toad in a worried voice as he and the rest of the Toad Brigade entered the room.


They saw what looked like a security guard's office, the kind where you can see monitors showing surveillance of different areas and rooms in a building. There was a camera in every room on the airship. There were even cameras in the bathroom, where you aren't supposed to have surveillance cameras!

"What in the world...?" asked Captain Toad.

"Look at that! It seems Bowser was able to see what was going on at all times!" Hint Toad said.

"Even in the bathroom! See? Several of these monitors are showing us inside the bathroom!" said Banktoad.

"Ohhhh, if the Princess knew about this..." Captain Toad gasped. He turned to the Toad Brigade and said, "Not a word of this room and what we discovered to her! She's been through a lot this time around, and she doesn't need to hear about this! You got that?!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" the Toad Brigade replied, saluting their captain. News like this would cause their delicate princess to go into cardiac arrest!

"Hey! Look on that monitor there! I think I can see Peach's things lying on a chair in that room!" said Mailtoad, pointing to said monitor.

"Let's split up! We'll find the room she was in faster if we do that!" said Captain Toad.

So the Toad Brigade split up and started searching for the bride's chamber. That wouldn't take too long, since there were 5 of them checking the different rooms on the ship.


Back with Peach...

After she ended the call with Captain Toad, Peach dialed Mario's number again. Mario obviously hadn't put his smartphone back in his pocket, because Peach heard him answer on the first ring.

"Ciao Principessa. Hello, Princess." Mario said.

"Wow, that was quick." Peach giggled to herself, before saying, "Yes, Mario, it's me again. I had to ask the Toad Brigade to run some errands for me, and one of them is to take you home after they get done with the other things I asked them to do."

"Really?" Mario asked, sounding surprised.

Pauline looked at him, and Mario quickly told her, "Peach already arranged a ride home for me. She asked the Toad Brigade to take me home tomorrow."

Pauline had to smile at that.

"So, I should tell you the address of the place I'll be staying at tonight." Mario suggested.

"Actually, I kind of told Captain Toad that I was going to ask you to text it to him. You do have his cell number on your contact list, don't you?" Peach asked.

"Oh yeah, I have it." Mario said, remembering.

"Text him the address of where you're staying, and they'll come and fetch you when they're done." Peach assured him.

"Okay. I'll do that, because Pauline and I have just about reached our destination." Mario said.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Mario." Peach replied.

"I'll see you then, Peach." Mario replied.

Then they ended the call, so Mario asked Pauline what her address was. He needed to text it to the Toad Brigade.

"Hand me your phone, and I'll text him the address myself." Pauline said. So Mario handed her his smartphone, and she texted her address to Captain Toad.


Back with the Toad Brigade...

About one minute later, Hint Toad found the bride's chamber. He gathered up Peach's dress (which the princess had neatly folded), and her gloves and shoes. Then he went to look for his comrades, since he hated being alone on this ship that belonged to Bowser. He was glad to find Mailtoad and Banktoad out in the hall just as he was leaving the room.

"Oh, you found the bride's chamber already? That's good." said Banktoad, seeing the clothes in Hint Toad's arms.

"Yeah." said Hint Toad.

"Don't worry. I'll wrap them when we get back to the Starshroom. It'll keep them safe for the Princess, and you can carry them with ease when we give them back to her." Mailtoad promised.

"Thank you, Mailtoad. Now let's find Yellow Toad and the captain so we can get out of here. This place gives me the creeps." said Hint Toad.

"I don't blame you for that. After that room Yellow Toad found, I don't fancy the idea of being here either." said Banktoad.

"I feel you, guys." said Mailtoad.

It wasn't long before they found Yellow Toad. He had been in the bathroom, looking around it for the surveillance cameras, but he couldn't find them, which he thought was rather scary.

"I had to go potty, but if Bowser came back while we were looking for Peach's stuff, I really didn't want him to see me using the toilet. But I couldn't find where he put the cameras so I could cover them and prevent him from seeing me. It looks as though I'm going to have to hold it in until we get back to the Starshroom." Yellow Toad explained.

"We'll be on our way back to the Starshroom as soon as we find the captain. We can't leave without him." Banktoad said.

Just then, they all heard what sounded like the 'text' chime whenever Captain Toad's smartphone got a text. They hurried in the direction the sound came from, and there, in the engine room, was their captain, reading a text message on his smartphone.

"Captain! We found Princess Peach's things. We can go now!" said Hint Toad.

"Great! Just let me do one quick thing." Captain Toad said to them as he replied to the text. Then he said, "Okay, we're all done here, so let's get going."

"Thank goodness!" said the Toad Brigade, glad to be leaving this ship at last.


"So, Captain, what were you doing, and who texted you?" asked Mailtoad as they left the ship.

"First of all, Mario texted me the address of the place he's staying at. The address is 123 Dixie Street, APT #409, and it's in New Donk City. He must not know that Peach told us where he is headed." said Captain Toad.

(A/N: I chose the number for the apartment, while my brother came up with the address, an obvious reference to 123 Sesame Street.)

"Good. So now we'll know exactly where to look for him when we get to the city. I hear that New Donk City is a really big place." said Yellow Toad.

"As for what I was doing in the ship's engine room... I tampered with the engine so the ship won't go when Bowser tries to start it up. It'll keep him busy for a while. Plus, after what he did to Princess Peach and Mario during their adventure, he more than deserves to suffer." said Captain Toad.

None of the Toad Brigade members were going to argue with him. They knew that Bowser had that coming for the trouble he gave Mario and Peach. They didn't know everything Mario went through, but Peach had said that Bowser kept trying to kill him, so it was only fair Bowser couldn't get his ship running in order to finish what he had started.

With their biggest job behind them, the Toad Brigade felt happy to board the Starshroom. Mailtoad wrapped up Peach's clothes in a brown paper package all tied up with strings, for that's one of the Princess's favorite things. (A/N: I'm sorry, but I had to do it.) And Yellow Toad went to their ship's bathroom, knowing that he could go without worrying about somebody watching him on a camera.

The Toad Brigade debated on leaving the Moon Kingdom right then or early the following morning after they've had a good night's sleep. After a few minutes of deliberation, they decided it was best to leave right away, in case Bowser saw their ship and decided to attack them while they slept. They weren't about to allow themselves to be sitting ducks.

"Yeah, we'd better leave right now. We'll fly to the Metro Kingdom overnight, so we'll be able to pick up Mario first thing in the morning." said Captain Toad.

"That would be the best way to go about it." said Hint Toad.

"So let's get going!" said Yellow Toad.

With that, Captain Toad set a course for the Metro Kingdom, and the Starshroom took off, making its way to New Donk City.


As the Starshroom flew away from Honeylune Ridge, leaving Bowser and his fruity airship of doom behind them, Captain Toad called Peach and said, "We finished the job in record time, Princess. We infiltrated Bowser's ship and recovered your things. You should have them back tomorrow."

"You found my stuff? That's good. Thank you so much, Captain Toad." Peach said with a yawn. She had crawled under the covers for the night and was about to fall asleep when she heard her smartphone ringing on the nightstand.

"You're welcome. Now we're making our way to the Metro Kingdom to get Mario. We'll pick him up in the morning and bring him home." Captain Toad said.

"Okay. Thank you for letting me know." the Princess replied, ending the call and allowing sleep to finally claim her.

With that, Captain Toad then decided to send a text to Mario, to let him know they were now on their way to pick him up.


Meanwhile, in New Donk City...

We find that Mario was staying at Pauline's apartment for the night, and he was lying on the hide-a-bed in her living room, trying to sleep, but he couldn't sleep. It wasn't because the hide-a-bed was uncomfortable (it wasn't), and it wasn't because he was surprised that he was staying at his old flame's apartment. All he could think about was that awful moment at Honeylune Ridge, when what he and Peach had fell apart. It was keeping him from getting any sleep.

All of a sudden, Mario snapped to attention when he heard what sounded like a Toad saying, "Yay!" That was the chime he'd hear whenever Captain Toad sent him a text on his smartphone.

Mario picked up the phone and read the text message he had received from the captain. It said, "We finished those errands for the Princess, Mario. We are currently on our way to New Donk City, so we'll be there to pick you up tomorrow morning."

"Grazie. Thank you." Mario texted back with a tired half-smile, before turning off his smartphone for the night and attempting to try and get some sleep.

Now that Mario and Peach had been notified, the Toad Brigade allowed themselves to drift off to sleep as the Starshroom slowly made its way to New Donk City, where Mario was staying for the night.


And tomorrow morning, that's where they'll be. What'll happen next? That's for me to know and you to find out! Stay tuned in order to do so!