Disclaimer:...Repeat. But there's more. I have all rights to Minty Garden and multi-coins as currency, but none for Mushroom City, Mihn T., Ruff Puffs, Lakilulu (and Lakilester), the Bubble Flower (and anything involving the word Bubble), and any others that may sound unfamiliar.
The three of them soon arrived in Mushroom City's famous Minty Garden. The whole place, as usual, reeked of strong mints.
"I thought that the door to Flower Fields was supposed to be in Toad Town," Lakilester commented.
"The name changed to Mushroom City as soon as the population hit a million," Toad explained. "It changed to that because it wasn't just Toads that lived there anymore."
"At any rate, we'd better do this quick," Yoshi remarked.
The three got out of the kart and into the garden.
"Five multi-coins for admission," the Toad cashier said in a monotone voice.
Toad got out the required multi-coins and led them all in the garden.
"All right, where is the door?" Lakilester asked impatiently. "This garden looks completely different…"
"It has been five years since," Toad emphasized. "And I think the door's still up. It's somewhere in the middle of the garden, I know it is…"
After nearly half an hour of stumbling around the huge garden, the threesome finally found the door. They also found Mihn T. working on it.
"Painting the door, aren't you?" Yoshi asked.
"Of course I am," Mihn T. replied. "Can't you see its peeling old paint?"
"Can you please open the door?" Toad asked pleadingly. "We have some very important business to do."
"And this 'very important business' is…" Mihn T. mocked.
"Well, it involves rescuing the princesses," Toad replied.
"Whoa, you are trying to rescue them?" Mihn T. exclaimed incredulously. "Of course you can, then. I'll open it."
After Mihn T. opened the door, the three of them walked through it and entered Flower Fields.
"Oh, my heartwood!" a huge tree in Flower Fields suddenly shouted. "What happened in there?"
The three of them then opened a door and came out of that tree. The tree then apologized, "Oh, I'm sorry. I haven't had anyone travel to Flower Fields this way for so long. Why not try the airplane?"
"We needed to save time," Toad answered.
"Sorry, right on ahead," the tree replied.
As the threesome walked into Flower Fields, they all saw six paths come out of their patch of the field.
"Hold on…which way did you say Lakilulu was?" Toad asked.
"I never said we had to search for her first," Lakilester answered, "but she's that way." He pointed to the path that went southwest.
"Hey, isn't that the Bubble Flower's path?" Toad asked, and then continued, "How are we ever going to get a Bubble Berry?"
"Don't worry, I can swim, as I already proved to him," Yoshi replied as he pointed to Lakilester.
"I can jolt that tree into giving a berry anytime," Lakilester suggested.
"Hey, can you swim?" Yoshi asked everyone.
"Nope," Toad answered.
"Me neither," Lakilester responded, "and I can't go to the Bubble Tree's island because I'll sink to the lake's level if I ever try to cross."
"And that means…" Yoshi asked, puzzled.
"That means I'll drop to the bottom if I ever try to cross," Lakilester answered. "And that's not funny."
"Let's go, then," Toad said with authority as he yanked the others toward the eastern path.
They all went to the Bubble Tree and its huge lake. The three of them stopped at a wooden platform.
"Hey, what's that for?" Yoshi asked.
"Apparently, we can land here," Toad answered. "There's another one of those over there."
"Right, so what's the strategy?" Yoshi asked.
"I think I've got it," Lakilester proclaimed. "Yoshi can swim over to the Bubble Tree (you can go too, Toad), then I throw a Spiny at the tree. One of those berries will probably drop, and then Yoshi picks it up and swims back. If anyone else knows how to handle Spinies safely, he can give the Spiny back to me. Okay?"
"Fine," Yoshi accepted as he swam from the platform.
Yoshi swam (leaving Toad with Lakilester) to the Bubble Tree. When he arrived, Lakilester threw a Spiny at the tree. It hit, causing a Bubble Berry to drop and hit the ground. Yoshi picked the berry up before the Spiny could eat it, then shouted across the gap, "How do I give the Spiny to you?"
"If you don't know, then you can just swim back," Lakilester shouted back. "Just make sure the Spiny doesn't get you."
Yoshi jumped straight into the water and swam back as fast as he could. The Spiny chased the green reptile to the shore, then waddled hopelessly back to the tree.
"Good, there's no water in the berry," Lakilester commented when Yoshi came back. "I think the Bubble Flower will accept it."
They all walked out of the lake and along the southwest path. The Bubble Flower was waiting for them.
"I heard a Bubble Berry drop a few minutes ago," the Bubble Flower chirped in a bubbly voice. "Is that for me?"
"Guess so," Lakilester answered as he gave the berry to the Bubble Flower.
"Thank you," the Bubble Flower muttered as she ate the berry and spat out two huge bubbles. They were more than big enough to hold Toad and Yoshi combined.
"Thank you," Lakilester emphasized as Toad and Yoshi pondered how to get in the bubbles.
"How do we get in?" Toad asked.
"It's not that fragile!" Lakilester responded. "Just jump in and it'll hold you."
Toad and Yoshi decided to be brave and jumped into the bubbles. The bubbles held, then floated across the sea of thorns. Lakilester followed the bubbles, and then outstripped them as he glided ahead.
When Lakilester got across, the bubbles suddenly dropped Toad and Yoshi onto grassy land—and on top of a Ruff Puff.
"Yowch!" the Ruff Puff screamed as it got the wind knocked out of its lungs. "What's with you landing on me like that?"
"Gah, the Ruff Puffs are still here?" Lakilester cried in astonishment. "I thought they all went with Huff n' Puff!"
The Ruff Puff then flew toward the trio. In desperation, Yoshi spat water into the Ruff Puff's face, and Lakilester threw as many Spinies as he could at the Ruff Puff. This worked, as the Ruff Puff quickly collapsed and disappeared.
"Neat!" Yoshi exclaimed as he saw the Ruff Puff vanish.
"I think we had better continue," Toad remarked as Lakilester picked up his Spinies.
They all went southwest, following the path. Then Toad asked, "So where exactly is Lakilulu?"
"She's this way," Lakilester responded. "I'll show you."
They all continued on the path. Suddenly, Lakilester stopped near a patch of flowers.
"Lakilulu! I didn't expect you here!" Lakilester cried in surprise.
"And I didn't expect you to be back so soon," Lakilulu replied. "Why now?"
"A bit of a change of heart," Lakilester replied. "These guys convinced me to help them rescue the princesses, even though I'm still supposed to lop others' heads off. And no, I'm not supposed to kill them next week."
"At least we're not killing others," Lakilulu sighed with relief. "But isn't it dangerous? Les, don't kill yourself!"
"How many times have I told you not to call me that?" Lakilester cried with a touch of knowing futility. "And anyway, I am not committing suicide. At least that chance's less with them around."
"I'm not sure whether I should go with you," Lakilulu considered. "It's a bit dangerous, but I don't want you to be gone…"
"And I don't want you to be gone, either," Lakilester replied.
After a long and pregnant pause, Lakilulu finally decided, "I'm going with you. At least if we're going down, we're going down together!"
The four of them went back up the path, hopeful that they could rescue the princesses and stop the killings before it was too late. But there was no uncertainty in their minds that something always got in their way.