I: Important Meeting

"The Mosaic Group, along with Mario, Luigi, and Link,had all made their way to Toad Town, a town about a mile away from Mushroom Castle, in which Peach lived in her rule of the Mushroom Kingdom. Today, Peach called all of them over, because she wished to discuss something of importance with all of them."

"I wonder why Peach wants us to meet with her?" Rosy wondered.

"Maybe she just wants to eat some-a cake, it wouldn't-a be the first time," Mario replied.

"That is a possibility," Link added. "Then again, did you guys get a letter about this beforehand?" he then asked.

"Yeah, we-a did actually," Luigi replied.

"Well what did it say?" Link then asked.

"It said-a to 'meet with-a her as soon-a as possible, tomorrow morning at best. We must-a discuss something urgent,'" Luigi quoted.

"Huh, I wouldn't expect it to just be cake if the letter said that," Link replied.

"Yep, who knows? Maybe she's saying the urgent thing is that they're out of cake ingredients," Hoops added in.

"Umm, Hoops? I don't think Peach would consider that urgent," Mosaic replied.

"Of course," Hoops responded.

"Either-a way, I'm curious as all of you on what-a this is about," Mario stated.

Berry then stated in his language that he wonders that too.

A bit of time later, the group had made their way through Toad Town, and had crossed the bridge that went into the field surrounding Mushroom Castle. The field itself was rather open with only the occasional short tree here and a few, unopened question blocks that generally were keep in place for decoration, and finally a dust path that lead to and around the castle.

The castle itself was white in interior and decorated with several mushroom shaped windows bering gold frames and a blue tint on the windows themselves. The roof was painted red and had several prism shaped protrusions at the top, with the center one having a flag up top.

The group enters the castle and Princess Peach, along with Toad, were waiting for them inside of the main hall of the castle along with several Toad guards, each of them wielding spears.

"You all have arrived!" Peach stated. "Now, may you all follow me so that we may discuss the subject?" Peach then asked.

"Of-a course," Mario replied.

Rosy, Berry, and even Hoops, however, seemed to be eyeing the walls of the castle rather curiously.

"Hey Peach?" Hoops asked Peach.

"Yes Hoops?" Peach asked.

"Me, Berry-" Hoops started.

"Ahem…" Rosy retorted unamused.

"Oh...and Rosy were curious about this castle and wanted to take a look around," Hoops started to explain. "Is it okay if we look around for awhile and then join the discussion later?' Hoops then asked.

"Well…" Peach began to respond.

"I personally think it'd be fine," Mosaic inputted, "considering your letter told the Marios what we're discussing is serious, which is correct, right?" Mosaic then asked.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Peach asked.

"I just wanted to make sure you didn't make the same mistake as she did the other day," Mosaic explained.

"Oh, yeah, that is what the letter said. And yeah, considering how young Hoops, Rosy and Berry are, I don't think we'd need to have them discuss it," Peach replied.

"Great! Catch up with you guys in a bit then," Hoops said, leaving with Rosy and Berry to look around the castle.

"Now, Mario, Luigi, Link, Mosaic," Peach began. "Follow me into the throne room so we can discuss this," she continued.

"Okie dokie," Luigi said.

"Let's-a go," Mario said next.

"Alright then," Link stated.

The four then followed Peach up the staircase leading to the room, with two Toad guards closing the door behind them. They then made their way through the hall and into a rather spacious room, where there was a large, rectangular table with fancy looking chairs surrounding it on all sides, the total number being around twelve, and one large chair on one side of the table, presumably the one for Peach to sit in.

"Heya Peach, I guess-a it slipped-a my mind, but, where's-a Toadsworth? I haven't seena him around lately," Mario asked her.

"Oh, well, he doesn't feel the need to constantly keep his eye on me anymore, and felt that he needed a vacation, so he's been out of town the last few weeks," Peach explained.

"Oh, I understand-a," Mario replied.

"Anyway, we should get to the meeting, considering you said it's important," Link added.

"Of course," Peach replied, as they made their way to the main seat and the others sat around the table. "So the topic at hand relates to our resources around town," Peach began to explain.

"A shortage of resources?" Mosaic questioned.

Meanwhile, Hoops, Berry, and Rosy were looking around the castle and have been looking around the hallway leading into the main room.

"This place is pretty interesting huh?" Rosy stated.

Berry agreed in his language.

"Yeah, it is. I never really got the chance to look around here much when I met Peach here for the first time," Hoops stated.

"So you've been here before Hoops?" Rosy asked.

"Yeah," Hoops replied.

Berry then asked a question.

"Yep, and it's where I met Peach indeed, Berry," Hoops replied to his question. "Kinda funny, but when I first met Peach-" Hoops started.

"Hoops, hold that thought. I hear talking over there," Rosy interrupted.

"Is that so?" Hoops said. "Guess I'll have to wait," he then stated, rolling his eyes.

Hoops, Berry, and Rosy peeked into the room and listened to the conversation.

"So what you're saying is we're running short on food for the orphanage?" Link asked, giving his input into the conversation.

"That is pretty much the case," Peach replied.

"That's not-a good!" Mario stated in response.

"It indeed is not," Peach said. "And along with that, it's possible we don't have the funds to provide for them straight up, which makes this a problem," Peach then said.

Upon hearing only these words, Hoops told Rosy and Berry something.

"Hey guys, follow me," Hoops told them.

"Wait, we're not going to-" Rosy began to ask.

"No, I have a different idea," Hoops interrupted, then having her and Berry follow him in the hallway.

II: Extreme Measures

"Okay, so here's my idea on what we should do," Hoops started. "We should go to several stores and borrow the food from there so we can give it to the orphanage,"

Hoops then stated, giving his idea.

"Wait, Hoops, we don't have any money, wouldn't that be stealing?" Rosy pointed out.

"We could just pay them back later on for it," Hoops replied.

"Wouldn't that take forever though?" Rosy argued.

Berry then added to it.

"Rosy, this is important, i don't think that matters," Hoops responded to her. "And Berry, there isn't a need to worry about us being locked up, i can assure you that won't ever happen to you, me, or Rosy, especially not to me though, being quick on my feet and all," Hoops said.

"I guess…" Rosy admitted.

In which Berry also agreed in his language.

"Good, now that you two get it, i'd like you to follow me please," Hoops then said, leading the way, only just missing the discussion that went on in the mainroom as they made their way out the castle.

"I think a good idea could be if we had the orphanage establish a giveaway donation for food and had it be posted up around town," Mosaic suggested, giving his input.

"To be honest, that doesn't sound like a bad idea," Toad replied.

"It could work," Link inputted.

"Sounds-a good to me," Luigi responded.

"I agree Mosaic, that-a does seem to be the best idea," Mario said, giving his opinion.

"Surprised i hadn't thought of that," Peach stated. "But hey, I think it'll work out," She then said. "Let's start by calling the orphanage and asking them about this idea," Peach then said, going to a different room to use the phone there.

Once she made it to the phone, she dialed the number.

"Hello? Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom speaking," Peach said, beginning to speak into it.

III: Plan Execution Go!

Meanwhile a bit of time later, Hoops, Berry and Rosy had made their way to Toad Town and to a place rather distant from the rest of the town in a field, and Hoops was looking at their first stop, a store that sold different kinds of produce.

"This is a good place to start, Franklin's Produce," Hoops said, also stating the name of the store. "Let's see what this troopa koopa here is doing right now," He then stated, peaking into the window.

"Yes Harriet i'll try to get those Strawberries delivered to you by tomorrow," The Koopa farmer said, talking presumably with someone he knew over the phone. "But for now i gotta finish my harvest for any customers that come by," he then said. "So i'll talk to you later," They said and then paused a bit, awaiting a response. "Bye," he said afterwards, then grabbing a sickle they left hanging up and heading outside with it.

"Huh, lucky break," Hoops stated. "Now you two, let's go inside and grab as many of the crops as we can!" Hoops told the others, then rushing inside the store.

"Here goes nothing…" Rosy said, following Hoops inside along with Berry.

The three then proceeded to take multiple different kinds of fruits and veggies from within the store and then made their way back out with it.

"Okay Hoops," Rosy said. "Where do we go now?" she then asked.

"next i'm thinking...how about that convenience store that just a bit south of Toad Town?" Hoops suggested.

"I guess that could work," Rosy replied.

"Then that way we go!" Hoops said.

"Wait Hoops," Rosy interrupted.

Hoops then stopped and questioned this. "What was it?" Hoops asked Rosy, sounding a bit unamused.

"We should find a way to do this in less exposing way," Rosy explained.

"Oh? How exactly?" Hoops questioned.

"By traveling through the Mushroom Kingdom's sewer system of course!" Rosy answered.

"Through there?" Hoops asked.

"It's the safest way to do this," Rosy began to explain. "Most people wouldn't be looking around down there, aside from, i don't know, plumbers or such," Rosy continued.

"Hmm, good point, i guess we could…-" Hoops began to say before making a realization. "Wait a minute, but aren't Mario and Luigi plumbers?" Hoops pointed out.

"We don't need to worry about that! They probably won't be down there," Rosy replied.

"Good point i guess," Hoops replied. "But if this goes badly, i think you know exactly who's to blame here. now, lead the way?" Hoops then shortly after added and asked.

Though unamused at his attitude, Rosy replied "This way, I think I know where the nearest manhole i-"

And at that moment, Rosy got cut off by something.

"Oh my stars! Where are my crops?" The Troopa farmer exclaimed, having entered his mart and seeing the crops gone.

"Shoot, and we better hurry to it as well," Rosy stated, rushing for them to follow her way, in which they do.

The rest of the day for the three was pretty much more of the same. They made their way to the grocery store, where they snuck into the storage room when none were watching and took several packs of cheese, yogurt and milk out of it.

They then proceeded next to the supermarket, where they took different kinds of meat, as well as snacks such as crackers and chips.

Meanwhile, Team S.M.B.X and Mosaic were all gathered at Mario and Luigi's house and discussed.

"Alright, so now that we've established a way for the orphanage to get a food supply, what should we do now?" Mosaic asked the others.

"Can't we just-a relax for once instead of always looking for a something to do?" Luigi inputted.

"Well…" Mosaic started.

"I agree with Luigi, this is like...the fourth time something's happened in a row with us getting no chance to just not do much?" Toad stated.

"Yeah, you're right to be honest, how about we just watch a movie or something?" Mosaic suggested. "Okay with you Mario?" Mosaic then asked.

"Don't-a see why that's an issue." Mario replied.

"Hmm, shouldn't we call Hoops and the others and see if they want to see the movie?" Peach suggested.

"I was wondering where those three are to be honest," Link stated.

"Good idea Peach, i'll try calling him," Mosaic stated.

Mosaic dialed Hoops phone and awaited an answer, however, receiving none.

"Weird, he won't pick up," Mosaic informed the others.

"That is strange indeed…" Link responded.

"Well, I guess they-a will need to miss out then if they aren't-a going to show up," Mario stated.

"I guess so…" Mosaic replied. "Let's get the movie started," Mosaic then said, looking for a DVD to put into the player afterwards, which after doing so, started the television up, which played the movie on the screen like so.

Meanwhile, Hoops, Rosy and Berry had been hiding out in the sewers, and at this point it seemed that they would have enough food so that they could feed the orphanage, and were hiding out so they could discuss how they were going to handle things from here on out.

"Alright, so now that we've gathered enough food, what should we do now?" Rosy asked.

In which Berry asked the same.

"I was trying to think of that, and well…" Hoops began. "Do you have any ideas?" Hoops asked.

"No I don't, I wouldn't have asked that question otherwise," Rosy explained.

"Hmm, let me think about this for a second then," Hoops replied.

A few minutes later, Hoops tells them what he came up with.

"Alright so here's what we're going to do," Hoops began. "We should find a time that we can bring the food to Team S.M.B.X and Mosaic so then we can give it to the orphanage," Hoops laid out.

"But Hoops, what if they ask us where we got all this food on such short notice? Don't you think they'd be atleast a bit suspicious of that?" Rosy pointed out.

"Eh, I think we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Hoops answered.

"You mean you never came up with a plan for that to begin with?" Rosy asked.

"Nope," Hoops replied as he began to make his way over to the food pile and curl up his legs a bit and yawn. "Anyway, i'm getting kinda sleepy, we should sleep out here tonight until tomorrow morning and then go from there," Hoops finished.

"I guess so," Rosy responded, yawning a bit herself and curling up to rest in the same area as Hoops.

Berry gave agreement in his language before settling down to rest in the same general spot himself.

The Next Morning…

IV: Exposure

Mosaic, Peach, Link and Toad had all still been at the Mario Bros'. House. They had slept there overnight as it saved time incase they needed to discuss again and they just had felt like doing so, and were all gathered in the living room looking for something on TV.

"Since Hoops and the others still haven't arrived, how about we see what's on the news right now?" Mosaic suggested.

"Wait, but does he and the other two even know where we are?" Toad asked.

"Well he should, I sent him a text message and everything," Mosaic answered.

"And he still won't answer?" Toad then questioned.

"Nope, he won't," Mosaic replied.

"Odd, but I do agree we could just see what the TV is broadcasting in the meantime," Toad said in response. "Mario, may you turn it on since you're holding the remote?" Toad asked.

"Sure-a thing," Mario replied, then reaching for the remote and clicking the TV.

The electronic device's large screen flashed on, showing a live news broadcast, running it, the Mushroom Kingdom Press. And the press' speaker began to announce the following:

"This just in, in the areas around Toad Town, we've been receiving multiple reports of food being ransacked from the stores around town."

"Mama mia! Trouble again?" Mario stated, surprised to hear it.

"The police during their investigations found that the places that have been ransacked are the following: the produce store, owned by Koopa Troopa Farmer Franklin, the grocery store, where when multiple cartons of milk, as well as several packages of cheese and yogurt, a shortage was found when the amount in storage was counted, and finally, the supermarket, where multiple kinds of food, such as crackers, chips, among other things were found to be missing as well."

"Oh man, that's really not good…" Mosaic inputted.

"The police are unable to find any form of a lead on who was responsible for this otherwise, but are still trying their best to find at least a shred of evidence pointing to it, and intend to update when they do find something."

At this moment, Peach turned off the TV, then asking a question.

"Alright, who do you guys personally think is responsible for this occurrence?" she asked.

"Do you think it could-a have been-a Bowser?" Luigi answered.

"I wouldn't think so Luigi," Link replied. "I doubt Bowser would go to doing such a small thing so quick considering his last endeavor," Link explained.

"Yeah, and knowing him, he probably would be so incompetent that he'd leave behind something very incriminating," Toad added.

"That is-a true…" Luigi said in response.

As they talked, Mosaic had been in thought about who it could have been and spoke quietly to himself.

"Th...that actually lines up…" he thought aloud.

"Hmm? What-a lines up Mosaic?" Mario asked.

"Oh, umm, nothing, nothing," Mosaic bluffed. "But I was thinking that we haven't seen Hoops, Rosy or Berry since our meeting yesterday afternoon and it makes me wonder what their doing to just disappear suddenly," Mosaic continued.

"That is an interesting question," Toad replied.

"Yeah, i wonder that too," Link added.

"If their not-a going to come to us, at this-a point maybe we should try to look for-a them? Who's-a with me?" Mario suggested.

"That's not a bad idea, they could probably help out with tracking down our culprits," Toad answered.

"I'd agree," Mosaic inputted.

"I do too," Peach stated next.

"Doesn't sound real bad," Link said.

"Er, maybe I could-a stay here and hold-a down the fort?" Luigi said, trying to get out of it.

"Come on Luigi, you can't negotiate all the time," Toad said.

"I guess im-ma in too then..." Luigi graciously replied.

"Alright-a then," Mario said. "Now that we've all agreed, what's the most-a effective way to look for-a them?" Mario questioned.

"How about we split up in pairs?" Mosaic suggested. "It was rather effective when we did it the other day so it should work out this time," he then explained.

"Good idea Mosaic," Peach said. "And looking in the three places we see them most often should help out," she continued.

"Exactly what i was thinking," Mosaic replied. "I'd say that Mario and Luigi look around Grassland a bit to see if they went there," Mosaic began to layout. "Toad and Link could probably see if their anywhere around Toad Town," Mosaic continued. "And Peach and I will check my and their house to see if their there as well, if their not there, we'll try looking around the neighborhood and then go on from there," Mosaic finished. "Sound good to you all?" he then asked.

"I'd say-a so," Mario opinionated.

"Sure…" Luigi inputted.

"That'll work," Peach replied.

"I suppose so," Toad answered.

"Pretty much what's already been said," Link said.

"Then it's settled, let's get going now, the sooner we find them the faster we can figure this situation out," Mosaic stated, as he walked over to the door. "Come on Peach," He told her as he went through the door leading out of the house.

"Sure thing Mosaic," Peach replied as she followed him outside to go with him to search for the three.

Meanwhile, Hoops along with Rosy and Berry had still been in the sewers walking on the sides of one of the waterways, carrying the ransacked food and were trying to figure out what to do next, having have seen through an open manhole that the sun was up.

"Okay Hoops, so what do we do now?" Rosy asked.

"Well, we should probably put all of this food somewhere at least until we find that it's a good time to give it to the orphanage," Hoops explained to her.

"Okay, but where?" Rosy asked.

"Hmm…" Hoops said as he thought to himself. "Well that depends, where are we right now in this sewer system?" Hoops asked.

"Well, i'm actually not entirely sure," Rosy responded. "However, if we climbed out of here through one of the manholes or a warp pipe we could find that out," Rosy continued.

"Alright, how about this one then?" Hoops asked, pointing at a manhole above them.

"Well doesn't hurt to check atleast," Rosy inputted, following Hoops as the latter climbed the ladder leading to the way out.

"Ow!" Hoops exclaimed.

"What happened Hoops?" Rosy asked.

"Bumped my head on this thing…" Hoops replied, annoyed.

Berry gave input, sounding embarrassed with Hoops' mistake.

"Hoops...you know your supposed to push it to get it open correct?" Rosy asked.

"Obviously…" Hoops responded, then pushing on it to get it open.

After opening it, Hoops peaked out and took a look around the outside of it, seeing the area they were in was rather familiar…

"Hey guys...we're right below our neighborhood!" Hoops informed the others, signaling them to follow him up.

"As i say, checking always helps out," Rosy stated, as she climbed up the ladder.

As she climbed up however, she accidently dropped a piece of fruit, which landed next to Berry, who picked it up and was about to put it in his mouth.

"Berry! Don't eat that!" Rosy sternly told Berry.

Berry acknowledged them, stopping what they were doing in the process.

"We haven't paid for this stuff yet, and if we're caught doing anything with it when we haven't paid for it, do you realize what could happen?" Rosy continued telling them.

Berry felt that they should listen to them, so they abstained from eating the fruit due to that.

After the two had made it out of the sewer along with Hoops, they shut off the manhole and talked out what to do now.

"So what should we do?" Rosy asked.

"I'm thinking we head to our house, and hide the food in there until we have an explanation ready for Team S.M.B.X and Mosaic," Hoops told them.

"Hmm, I think that could work," Rosy replied.

In which Berry agreed as well.

"Alright, now follow me, I know where it is," Hoops replied, leading the way.

The three eventually made their way to the acre of land in which they house stood, only to remember an unthankful detail.

"Umm Hoops, I actually just thought of something," Rosy stated.

"Which is?" Hoops asked.

"Well, do we actually have a way to get inside?" Rosy stated.

"Oh, umm, well…" Hoops began to stutter.

"I know we have only two keys to the house," Rosy started to analyze. "Mosaic has one key, but he's not here right now so we can't ask him about it. And the other one, I believe me and you share it?" Rosy continued.

"Oh yeah, we do both share a key." Hoops replied. "Unfortunately…" he then added under his breath.

"I heard that…" Rosy mentioned.

Hoops, ignoring them, continued. "Anyway, I don't have it, do you have it?" Hoops then asked.

"I don't remember bringing it this morning," Rosy replied.

Hoops sighed in disappointment. "Of course…" he then stated. "Well I guess we could just use the key under the mat," Hoops then stated.

Berry gave input, surprised to hear this.

"There's a key under the mat?" Rosy asked, sounding shocked.

"Yeah, i had suggested getting one in case of emergencies," Hoops explained.

This compelled Rosy to look underneath the mat, where they indeed found a shiny gold key.

"Huh, that's pretty convenient…" Rosy stated aloud seeing this. "There's however a problem with doing this," Rosy began to add.

"What's the problem with it?" Hoops asked.

"Well, it's bad to leave this key out here because if someone found it, they would be able to break into our house and take whatever they wanted," Rosy explained.

"It's hidden in a spot that i doubt a burglar would look though, don't see how that's much of a problem," Hoops replied.

"Yeah, it's not likely, but it could still happen, so we should make sure we stay cautious about that," Rosy explained. "But anyway, let's head inside now," Rosy then stated, changing the subject.

The three went inside with the food, closing the door behind them.

Later…

V: Discussion & Solution

Mosaic and Peach had made their way to the former's house to see if they'd find the other three there and up to the doormat at the front of the door.

"Now that we're here Mosaic, we should knock to see if their inside," Peach suggested.

"That would be logical," Mosaic replied, then giving the door a knock and waiting for an answer.

A bit of time passes, and the door props open, Mosaic's knock having had been heard.

"O-Oh! Hey there Mosaic!" the answerer, being Hoops said upon seeing them nervously.

"So you were here Hoops!" Mosaic replied. "Are Berry and Rosy here too?" Mosaic asked.

"Ah, uh...yeah. They are," Hoops answered.

"That's great, could you have them come over here?" Peach asked. "We wanted to talk with you three about a couple of things," Peach explained.

"...I...I see," Hoops responded. "I'll go get them...umm...you guys can come inside," Hoops continued, then running up the stairs to the two's room to get them.

Inside the two's room, they were in the middle of a random discussion.

"And that's why i'm contemplating being more fashionable past this bow someday," Rosy said to Berry.

Berry understood, however, due to the length Rosy went on for, asked if she really had to go on for that long.

"I suppose i could have been a bit shorter," Rosy replied.

The two suddenly hear a knock, so Rosy opens it up, seeing it's Hoops.

"Guys...they're here!" Hoops informed them.

"Who? Do you mean…" Rosy began to ask.

"Mosaic and Peach!" Hoops answered.

"Oh no, what do we tell them?" Rosy thought aloud, unsure what do.

"I think...we shouldn't mention it yet and try to act casual for now," Hoops suggested.

"Good thinking," Rosy replied.

Berry nodded in agreement shortly after.

"Now, let's go have our chat with them, they wanted to discuss 'a couple things' with us as they said," Hoops informed. "Come on," Hoops then stated as he gave a hand sign and turned around, making his way out of the room, having the two follow him down the steps.

The three made their way downstairs into the living room, where Mosaic and Peach had been sitting on the sofa, waiting for them.

"Oh, so you now that you've brought them down here, I presume you're all ready to talk?" Mosaic asked them.

"I...suppose," Hoops responded, attempting to act natural, then giving Rosy and Berry a sign to do the same.

"That's great, do you guys want to take a seat?" Peach asked in response.

"Nah, we're good," Hoops said.

Rosy didn't approve. "Hey, I didn't-" they began.

"Shh, that's not necessary," Hoops interrupted, whispering to her.

Rosy just sighed, as she preferred to express herself on matters but didn't continue on it not considering it a big deal.

"Okay, so basically, I wanted to ask you guys a couple of questions," Mosaic began. "First off, I wanted to ask you guys, umm...where did you slip off to yesterday?" he then asked. "Last I saw you guys, you said you wanted to look around Peach's castle, but you guys never attended the meeting, what were you doing?" Mosaic questioned.

Hoops was hesitant to respond as he didn't know how he should go about telling them what they were doing in a way that didn't sound off, and went with the one of the first things he thought of.

"Well umm, we sorta overheard you guys talking about the food problem the orphanage was having, so we went out to get some food to provide for them," He told them.

Upon hearing his answer, Mosaic had a bad feeling overtake him as displayed by his change in expression, then looking over at Peach, whom also looked over at him.

"I really...REALLY hope this is just a coincidence…" Mosaic whispered to Peach.

"Are you suggesting that THEY could have…" Peach began to question.

"I hope not…" Mosaic replied.

Putting it aside for the time being, Mosaic moved on to his next question.

"Okay, so now I wanted to ask you guys," Mosaic continued. "Are you guys aware that supposedly there are thieves on the loose at the moment?" he asked them.

Hoops shuddered a bit when he finished, but though nervous, responded. "N-No, we hadn't known that I believe…" Hoops replied.

"This is bad…" Mosaic whispered further to Peach.

"Should we go that route and ask that?" Peach asked.

"I feel like at this point it's the best option," Mosaic replied. "Alright well I wanted to ask," Mosaic continued, turning his attention back to Hoops, Rosy and Berry. "Did you know that these thieves stole food supposedly?" Mosaic asked them.

"R-Really!?" Hoops panickingly replied.

Seeing his reaction, Mosaic asked Hoops a question. "Hoops...where did you guys get this food?" He asked him.

"W-Well, umm...umm...we found it?" Hoops tried to answer.

Mosaic sighed in response and asked another question. "Where did you guys really get it?" he asked.

Hoops looked over at Rosy and Berry, and through facial expressions alone, they agreed that they knew what they had to tell them.

"W...We...We stole it…" Hoops hesitantly told Mosaic.

Mosaic expressed disappointment upon hearing his answer and talks it out with him. "Hoops...i know you, Rosy and Berry had wanted to get food for the orphanage, but stealing is really not the way to go in any circumstance…" Mosaic began to explain to him.

"I couldn't really think of another way considering the three of us had no money directly on us…" Hoops explained.

"Hoops, if you three had stayed behind, you'd have realized that we did come up with a solution on the food issue," Mosaic replied.

"O...Oh...you guys came up with something?" Hoops asked, a bit remorseful.

"Yeah, we're going to ask the Mushroom Kingdom's residents for food donations and state to them what our goal is regarding it,." Mosaic continued explaining.

"I...I hadn't known...We hadn't known…" Hoops replied, still feeling bad.

"Hey Mosaic, I realized something," Peach chimed in.

"What was it Peach?" Mosaic asked.

"They could still return the food if none of it's been eaten or opened," Peach explained "which it hasn't, right Hoops?" Peach then asked him.

"Oh no, I don't believe it has," Hoops replied.

"Well then it's simple, you guys just return the food and can apologize to each of the people you took the food from and promise to never do it again alright?" Peach proposed.

"If it'll get us out of trouble, I think we could do that…" Hoops replied.

"You're not going to get us in trouble right Peach?" Rosy asked.

"If you three simply return the food to their respective owners, I won't," Peach answered.

"Then this should all work out," Hoops replied. "Rosy, Berry, let's get that grub returned," Hoops told them.

"Agreed," Rosy stated, which Berry did the same in Yoshi.

VI: Closure

Later that day…

After Hoops, Berry and Rosy had returned the food to each of their respective owners, they along with Mosaic decided to watch the current news broadcast, in which the following was broadcasted:

"This just in, the culprits of the recent thefts of local food shops have been found, the culprits were none other than three of our well known and beloved heroes, Hoops the Hoopster, Rosy the Porcopo, and Berry the Yoshi, still a baby no less," The speaker began. "It seems however that their motives held no malicious intent, though their actions were a crime, they wished to help the Mushroom Kingdom orphanage, whom has been experiencing a food shortage lately," the speaker explained.

"Oh geez, we're on the news," Hoops commented.

"Once they realized the error of their ways, the three returned all of the stolen food as it was, untouched, unopened, uneaten, so the police force, as also favored by our own Princess Peach Toadstool, agreed to not press charges against them. As they also pledged that they'd never do this again," the speaker continued.

"That's a relief," Rosy inputted.

"In others news, the proposed solution to the orphanage's food shortages has not worked all that well," The speaker continued. "The orphanage has only received two donations of food which will not cut it according to them" they continued.

Berry didn't like the sound of that based on the response in their language.

"Team S.M.B.X is looking into finding someone who can provide the necessary funds so that solving this shortage may be a success," The speaker informed. "That's all for now, tune in later for more updates on the current status on the Mushroom Orphanage and more," The speaker finished.

"Phew, nice to know that we're not going to get locked up for what happened," Hoops stated aloud.

"Yeah, I agree," Rosy added, which Berry did as well.

"While I'm as glad as you guys are that your not getting charges for this," Mosaic began. "Please, and let me emphasize this, DO NOT, GET, IN THE HABIT, OF DOING THIS KIND OF STUFF," Mosaic firmly told the three. "You guys could have easily gotten arrested if you had been caught doing any of this," Mosaic explained.

"We'll be sure on that," Rosy replied.

Berry agreed in his language shortly after Rosy's reply.

"Mosaic, there's no need to worry, I've learned my lesson at this point," Hoops began to respond. "I feel that as long as I and we all remember this day, we won't ever have a situation where any of us get arrested," Hoops stated with confidence.

"Well Hoops, be sure you stand by that…" Mosaic replied.

"With their problems solved, another conflict bit the dust. However, though they didn't consider itnow, they still had a problem on their hands. What would they do to solve the food shortage the orphanage still had? What daring adventures or conflict would the Mosaic Group and Co. take on next? You will have all of your answers...in time.

Next Time...Chapter 6: Sporty Sass