Hello again! In chapter two you were introduced to a couple fan-made characters named Peggy-O and K.K. I'll assume they didn't strike too much of a chord with you, but they're gonna have a much bigger role in this chapter and you might end up liking them a little more. Alright, less small talk, more action!

Chapter Four

The Rogue Union

"Aiyaah! 'No Pets Allowed'!" yelled Toad. "What kind of pet store doesn't allow pets inside?"

"A thrift store that happens to carry pet supplies, apparently...;" replied Yoshi. As reluctant as he was at first, Toad went inside and left Bolt-Boy outside. His friends followed suit. Bolt-Boy had this half-confused, half-sad look on his face that may have said something like "I wonder where they're going without me?"

The place had some really strange items on stock. Yoshi was checking out some globes of the planet Shroomstar, the planet the Mushroom Kingdom is on. They also had globes of other planets in the system, Titania, Corneria, etc... Toad was examining a collection of glass bottles of water with labels on them. Most of the labels were written on in a language Toad couldn't understand. Only one bottle was labeled in English. "Windfall Island," it read. Pipsy was the first one to find anything useful: a box of pet treats. The front of the box said "Pika Snacks" and had an image of a Pikachu jumping, seemed like it was flying, in the air with a bunch of floating cookie-like treats in different colors and flavors.

Meanwhile, in another part of town, the Rogue Union, who recently escaped from jail, were walking down the street, thinking of what mischief they can make now. Suddenly, Peggy-O got a wild hair. "Hey K.K., ya know what, somethin's tellin' me we should go to the thrift store."

"Cool idea," said K.K. "Who knows what treasures we can lift from there!"

Back at the shop, the kids were buying the Pika Snacks. "Thank you. That will cost a total of 80 coins," the cashier said.

"Well, so much for my allowance..." mused Toad. All of a sudden, they heard a voice cry out just outside. "Chuuu!"

"GASP! Bolt-Boy!" gasped Toad.

"My dear Pichu!" screamed Pipsy. All three rushed out to find the Rogue Union trying to take Bolt-Boy again.

"Hey you, STOP! Leave 'im alone!" barked Yoshi.

"You guys again?" scoffed Peggy-O. "Don't you ever give up?"

"H-Hey! You're the guys who stole my Pichu in the first place!" said Pipsy. "Give 'im back, please! I'm beggin' ya!"

"You're in no postion to be makin' demands, dollface!" snapped K.K.

"Bolt-Boy is mine! I'm takin' him back!" Toad bellowed.

With that, he tackled Peggy-O, who had Bolt-Boy at the instant. Two against one make pretty bad odds, and so the Rogues easily wrestled Toad down and tied him up to boot. Yoshi and Pipsy, who didn't have much skill at self-defense at the time, came as easily as Toad. Peggy-O and K.K. then tossed their hostages into mech. They called it the Robirdo, because it looked much like that egg-spitting fiend, Birdo.

"You fools! We weren't here just for Pichu!" sneered Peggy-O.

"We recently found out that the little mushroom brat lives with the princess," explained K.K. "...which means she'll likely pay a lot of coins for his release! Deheheh!"

"As for the rest of you, we're teaching you a lesson:" said Peggy-O. "Those who try to mess with the Rogue Union have very short futures!"

"You're not gonna get away with this, you hear?" said Toad.

"Cowards! Untie me so I can pound you!" growed Yoshi.

"Y-you d-don't s-s-scare me..." wimpered Pipsy.

"...Pichu?" sqeaked Bolt-Boy, wondering what the heck is going on.

"Ya know, I could sit here all day and listen to you whine, but we got a lot to do. C'mon, K.K.!" said Peggy as she closed the brig.

To be continued...