Hello Readers, and welcome to the story, it's been quite some time since I've uploaded a chapter of this series (For real, it's been nearly as long as the gap between Chapter 5 and 6, I'll try to never do that again.) And there's been numerous reasons as to why I hadn't uploaded a new chapter for the last four to five months(At least until now that is).
The long and the short of it is well, life happened.
I had taken a new semester of college(Three classes for a lot of it, three really tough ones), I started a youtube channel(One with a consistent upload schedule, elaborate editing, commentary, etc.) I was developing a fan game(which you can check out on my discord), along with a number of other things too like participating in an online gaming event, etc. And given just how much other stuff I was doing, this had left me with next to no time to write these stories like I had been wanting to.
However, just recently, winter break came along, my schedule freed up, and as a result of this, I finally found the time to get this new chapter up. While nothing can be promised(after all, I am still quite busy), I'm hoping these chapters can return to being released on a somewhat consistent basis in the future.
With that being said, enjoy the story!
Previously…
Having been tired of the constant conflict with The Koopa Troop and the 8-bits, the Mosaic Group decided to set out for a getaway, as their choice, choosing Sarasaland.
However, the timing in which they had couldn't have been more off, Professor E. Gadd, previously entrusted by the group with a mysterious round object, unlocked the secrets in which dwelled behind it, to the interest of Mario, Luigi, Toad and Link.
However, when the group went to inform the princess, it seemed that once again, a cliche had taken precedence when it was learned that the princess had been abducted once more by the Koopa Troop.
Wasting no time with either task at hand, with the Mosaic Group on vacation, leaving them four as the only ones who could act on the matter at hand, Mario and Luigi went to save the princess while Toad and Link further looked into the secrets of the compass.
Within the groups' travels, many trials, tribulations, adventures, discovery, and more, faced them head on in the lands of the Mushroom Kingdom, Subcon, Dinosaur Land, and even Link's own homeworld Hyrule. The Mario Bros. found themselves split up, and Toad and Link with the help of friends, unlocked many secrets behind the mystic frame. The Princess, while this went on, took matters into her own hands and unlocked the chains which held her prisoner. In several different senses.
As of the present, the stories of our heroes now resume.
I: Step Tracing
"Hmm, so the-a princess is around here somewhere? Let's-a take a look around."
A take a look around he did, so enough however, he caught the attention of a certain familiar clan.
"Who's-a there?" Mario asked, forming one of his signature fireballs within his hand, giving a sign that anyone who is to approach him is playing with fire and better be ready to be burned.
Soon enough, the Hoopsters had gotten to a similar point they had already been at with Peach early, however save for the restraining, fighting and questioning. On second thought, keeping the questioning in.
"What is your business here, human?" one of the hoopsters asked while wielding a spear.
"I'm just going to ask one-a question...and one-a question only…" Mario responded. "Have you see a woman here in a pink dress, blonde hair, and blue eyes?"
It was in the plumber asking this question to the bugs that their short-term memories were immediately jogged.
"A-Actually yeah...someone like that was just here in fact...left with that blue shard that Oved used to ha-"
"Blue-a shard?" Mario asked.
"Yeah, blue shard, it gave him like telekinetic powers or some-"
"Would you mind taking me to your-a leader real quick?"
"Umm...sure…" the hoopster that had been discussing multiple fast-paced subjects with the Italian informed.
And with that, Mario found himself at the same exact elevated stone footholding that the princess had just recently been at just before him.
"Sire, this guy wearing the red wanted a few words with you."
Oved, in the current moment, was still looking at the cane in which he held in his hand; still enamored by the rare gem that had been acquired. But getting this call from one of his servants, was willing to look up from it.
"Oh? What would it be he was wanting to-" Oved began.
Upon looking at who stood before him, Oved was in shock.
"Hey...you're the Marty-o person, correct?"
"Mario…" Mario corrected.
"Wow...both of you showed up in one day...what brought you here?"
"Well...where's-a Peach? One of your clan members had told me that she had just left earlier."
"Indeed, that is what has happened,"
"Oh...well then where did she-a go?"
"That way, several hundred feet, to the nearby warp pipe, in other words, she should be at the Mushroom Plains."
"Huh...looks like she's-a okay...maybe it's time I headed-a back myself?" Mario thought. "If you don't-a mind, I think I'll be taking the pipe my-aself."
"Oh, of course I don't, you go right ahead…"
"Well alright, thanks for the-a info, I'll be-a going now."
"And goodbye to you too!" the large beetle replied.
And with that, Mario followed suit with Peach from before, he made his way down the same path, located the same pipe, and ultimately went through it, and in no time, ended up in the same place, Mushroom Plains.
II: Dusty Dreamy Duo Duel
Meanwhile in the Subconian Dunes...
Toad couldn't believe who the two he saw were, he had heard rumors that they were lurking, but wasn't certain of it, and even then was not expecting to cross paths with them.
One of the two was large...long...scaly...multi-headed...Tryclyde…. The same hydra that the Mosaic Group had encountered just the other day. And was in the desert again, this time with assistance.
The other one of the two stood a bit under the height of Link, he wore a pair of brown shoes, had a pudgy, olive green body, a somewhat rounded, but narrow head, two round ears, a thin tail, and a characteristic pair of shades. This is the one Toad hadn't seen, nor heard anything about in quite some time. Mouser.
"Toad...are these guys...who I think they are?"
"Yeah...I do suppose you've only seen them once or twice so you wouldn't remember too well...but...they're both high ranking members in the 8-bits…"
"Oh...but...what do you think they're doing here?"
"Who knows? That's what we should find out…"
"Alright…"
And as such, the two did exactly that once they finished whispering to one another, they hid behind the large rock, and eavesdropped.
"So...this desert is where you guys found that thing right?" Mouser asked the serpent.
"Well yessssssss, it would be…" the middle, highest head responded.
"And we'd be going back here...because?"
"He feelssssssss like we forgot ssssssomething," the second highest head answered.
"More or lessssssss…" the middle head affirmed. "Though, I gotta wonder why you two were so quiet that day…"
"Didn't feel like talking…" the second highest head answered.
"Wassssssss...lost in thought…" The lowest head replied.
"Well...that explainssssss that I'd sssssay…"
"Huh...not saying too much at the moment…" Link commented as the two watched.
"Let's keep listening…"
"What did you guys find anyway? And why'd you leave so soon? You could have cleaned the place out."
"We found sssssssome sssssscrap of old paper with this writing on it...couldn't underssssssstand a word of it…" The second highest head informed.
"Hmm...like a scroll?" Mouser asked.
"Yeah...a sssssscroll…it wasssssss torn on it'ssssss sssssside and ssssssome kind of riddle..." the lowest head answered.
"Hold on...what?!" Toad commented under his breath, hearing this.
"Interesting…" Link added.
"Hmm...and do we have any clue where the other half of this thing is?"
"Nope, none…"
"A refresher if I may...why didn't you guys try to find the other half?"
"Well, the Mosaic lossssssersssss, and Glow and Beryl chassssssed usssssss out…"
"What a bunch to run into...an old buddy of yours, a rebel, a traitor, and three meddlers accompanying them…"
Having acquired this juicy information, Toad and Link had many questions about it. A lot of it was essential, while some of it just held their interest, even if it hadn't been as important in their given situation. Eventually, they decided to discuss it with each other more behind the rock.
"Did you hear that? They have the scroll...the other half of it!" Toad told Link.
"It would seem that's so…"
"But also...what do they mean 'a rebel, traitor, and old buddy?'"
"I wouldn't know…"
"We should try an-"
"Get help from the others first?" Link suggested.
"Huh…"
"I just feel like...though we may be able to get the scroll half from them...it may honestly be better to get help from the others before attempting it…"
"Okay…"
"Let's just sneak away from these two and stay out of their sight for the time being."
"Alright…" Toad agreed.
At that moment, the duo turned around, intent on slipping by. Like silent ninjas in the night, or in this case silent ninjis. But at that moment, fate decided to play a cruel prank.
The terrain in which the two stood was less straight and stable than what had meant the eye, the two slipped down the hill at quite a rapid speed, and reacted accordingly; letting out large yelps with shock.
"I heard a sound…" Mouser stated.
"You did?" Tryclyde commented.
"Yes, I'm pretty sure...it was over there."
There was another brief period of silence in the air, the two 8-bit elites knew at this point, something had to be up, their discussion was not as private as they had first conceived. Someone else was receiving the information in which they were sharing amongst themselves.
That being the case, the two headed towards the source of the sound, but by the time that they peaked, no one was in sight.
This is because Toad and Link had narrowly found another hiding spot.
"It seemed like we were being watched by spies or something...and one of those voices was seriously familiar…" the bomb hurling rodent stated.
"You sure? Maybe your ears aren't on right today and you were just hearing things."
With this statement from one of the hydra's heads, the mouse grabbed the snake's specific neck, something having triggered him.
"Now you listen here firebreath. And this goes for you two as well," Mouser snarled. "I've about had it with this. 'Mouser, your ears are on wrong!', 'Mouser, your base of operation isn't deadly enough', 'Mouser, you're really not that smart to be honest,','Mouser, why do you carry all those bombs on you?', 'Mouser, why are you olive green with brown shoes instead of gray with pink shoes?' It's always me doing this, me doing that, how about for once, instead of assuming I have no clue what i'm talking about, we actually investigate this?"
While the three body sharing snakes heads thought of an answer, Link discussed the next move with Toad.
"What should we do?"
"I'm not sure...the route back is right in their line of sight, we're surrounded on all sides by a valley on top of this...they'd definitely see us climbing out...the best we can do I feel is just wait things out…"
"Hear sssssomething, probably the sssspiessss," the middle head stated.
"Oh,is that so? Nah, I think you're just hearing things," Mouser replied, unamused. "Where are you hearing it from either way though?"
"Over there," the left-positioned tryclyde head informed.
"Similar to exactly what I've been saying…"
"Now...whoever'sssssss hiding back there, we know that you're in there, sssssssso why don't you show yoursssself?"
"That's the novice way," Mouser began. "You don't tell them to come out, you drive them out,"
"Ah? Being?" the middle head asked Mouser.
"Observe," Mouser responded, as he pulled out a round, purple object ending in a fuse on top. It was pretty clear what this was.
Mouser then, being the hasty, bombastic rodent he was, hurled this object in the direction of the blocks, in which it bounced several times, and then landed right next to the rocks in which Link and Toad hid.
Having no choice, Toad and Link rushed out of range of the explosive, diving away from the stacks of blocks as it got demolished by the blast.
"Man...I wish we didn't have to do that…" Toad stated.
"It's not like we had much of a choice…" Link added.
"Well well well, would you look at that; we do got ourselves some spies after all," Mouser stated. "And it looks like they're none other than Toad. And...this other guy…"
"The name's Link…"
"Well okay then...Toad and LINK were spying on us."
"I mean...I wouldn't agree with that," Toad began. "I'd say we're more of detectives if anything."
"Meh, Potato, Potot-o mushroom," Mouser replied. "Getting to the point, you know what we do with spies correct?"
"Er...what do you do?" Link asked.
Pulling out another one of the purple round objects from before and lighting it, Mouser answered his question.
"We let them...have some bomb!" the rodent upon finishing this sentence hurled the bomb in which he held in hand the two's way.
The two however evaded the explosive before it could cause them any real harm when it blew.
"Wow, Mouser takes no prisonersssssss…"
"A bit...violent…"
"Well...guessssssss we're fighting…"
"Seems like we're fighting…" Link stated.
"Err...you don't say Link?" Toad replied.
Inhaling air, Tryclyde fired several balls of heated breath the two's way, seeing it coming from a distance, the two easily dodged it to the sides, seeing the danger in the high temperature projectiles quite easily.
"Okay so...I'll try to deal with the big snake guy...you deal with Mouser...okay with you?"
"I...think I can…" Link replied.
"Alright, make sure we stick close when dealing with them either way…they aren't exactly the weakest foes we're contending with..."
"Okay…"
Ready to face the rodent, Link had a bit of inner thought on his strategy.
"I know that he throws bombs...but not much more than that…. Perhaps we should throw him off and only stick with that ourselves?" Link thought to himself.
"Ready to be toasted?" The middle head of Tryclyde asked Toad.
"No…" Toad replied.
Mouser prepped a new bomb as Link prepped his own; the fire breathing serpent got ready to fire again. The sandy brawl was on.
Meanwhile...at Toadstool Valley
Luigi had made it to the other side of the vibrantly colored tunnel and into the spacious rock seclusion. The plumber took a brief look around.
"This must be the cave he was-a talking about…" Luigi thought, taking a peak at the things which surrounded him, not seeing much of note other than light shining from the left exit of the cavern.
"Here we-a go…" Luigi stated, making his way to it.
Soon enough, he found himself out of the cave and down the ledge, and after a brief look to his left and right figured out which way was the way to Toad Town.
En route, he thought of something.
"There was-a something Midnight had told me to watch out for on the-a way back…what was-a it again?"
As soon as this question was asked, as if they had heard him or something of the sort, he heard the ground's soil being dispositioned, making way for an exponential number of familiar red-bulbed plants.
Seeing this, given he was all alone, the plumber had the expected reaction to this.
"AAAAAAhhh! That's what it-a was!"
And as such, the cowardly person quickly navigated out of the piranha plants' turf; in which the sharp-toothed plants seemed to snicker at him somewhat.
Having made his way out of the dangerous 'garden' of sorts, the navigator next looked for his next destination.
"So he-a said to go to the Toadstool Valley next…I know where that-a is, so this shouldn't be too-a difficult."
And surely enough, it wasn't. After some short searching, he saw the large gap in the rocky plains and knew what it was that he had arrived at.
"Here's that-a valley…next he said…to not go into the-a valley and stay up high like-a this? I'm pretty-a sure that was it…" Luigi thought as he kept the course the slime creature had bestowed upon him.
"And then…he said I just-a have several fields to go through…and I should hit Mushroom-a Castle…. Mama-mia…I hope that he is-a right…"
Back at Subconian Dunes…
The brawl between the two duos had initiated full force. Mouser threw a bomb Link's way; he dodged the projectile and it blew up.
He countered with a bomb of his own. Mouser jumped aside, dodging it and threw another back at Link.
Link dodged again, hurled another back.
Mouser evaded once more, this time kicking his own explosive like a soccer ball Link's way.
This deceptive trick failed to get the better of Link, as he found he was able to deflect it with a swat of his shield to a safe blasting distance.
It was made pretty clear from this exchange, the two were evenly matched to one another. There was a pause in which the two stood, facing each other intensely, waiting for the other to make a move. Who was going to be the one to continue this vicious cycle? Was there a point in doing so with it continuing in this way? The two were practically evenly matched, either way, it wasn't clear; but the two continued the duel anyway.
On the contrary, Toad fought with the large hydra, having to play it more strategically rather than face the monster head on, the latter having far more power and size than him.
Given this advantage, the tri serpent wasted no time in using it to his advantage, firing a barrage of searing shots in Toad's path.
Being speedy, the mushroom kid had no trouble moving aside from them and letting the balls of fire hit a distant wall harmlessly.
Seeing a brief window of attack, Toad quickly thought about if there was anything he could use to hit back with.
Taking a brief look around, Toad saw there was an option in the buried sprouts, but saw a lack of mushroom blocks of any kind.
"Looks like I won't be using that strategy again huh…" Toad thought to himself. "Looks like I have no choice."
With this observation having taken place, Toad continued to evade Tryclyde's assault, intent on reaching the sprouts to see what they can do.
Once Toad found that one of the sprouts was right at his feet, he unrooted the contents.
He found what one would typically expect from Subcon's sprouts.
"A turnip…I guess I can chuck it at him…"
Dodging the next shots coming from the incoming barrage, Toad chucked the veggie into one of the hydra's faces. in which the head gave a slight moan in pain, but continued on with the assault anyway.
"Didn't do much…as I expected…best I can do though is just throw more unless I find something better…" Toad thought to himself.
Continuing to keep his distance and analyze his surroundings more, it was then that Toad eventually realized that there was an alternative to the mushroom blocks in stone walls around the area.
Putting these to use, Toad was able to simulate his strategy he had previously used against Tryclyde back then, which he did so, trading blows with the serpent. Whenever the serpent would shoot more flames, he'd throw more vegetation.
Meanwhile, Link was still dueling with the bomb throwing mouse.
While he and the green tunic'd fighter continued to trade blows with one another, Mouser eventually caught the eye of what Toad was doing with fighting Tryclyde.
"I see his strategy…I know what to do about that…"
As such, Mouser turned his way to where Toad and Tryclyde fought, which puzzled Link.
The mouse then hurled one of the round explosives at one of the barricades in which Toad used to guard himself.
Being distracted with Tryclyde as was, Toad didn't immediately detect the object which was coming his way.
Shielding himself from an incoming stream of flame balls, Toad finally heard something hit the wall and took a look.
Knowing what was about to happen, seeing that the bomb was flashing, Toad quickly jumped out of the way before it blew up, crumbling the nearby wall Toad had been using on top of this.
This came about as a shock to Toad and Tryclyde's heads, but the latter still found that it was smart thinking on Mouser's part either way.
"Uh oh…" Toad thought.
"I…may want to start using the other weapons I have on me…" Link thought to himself, then got out his sword, pointing it Mouser's way and fired a few beam shots.
Mouser flinched from the surprise attack and quickly turned back Link's direction.
"You and your sneaky tricks!"
"You're one to talk…" Link replied, continuing to shoot Mouser with more sword beams.
As Link shot Mouser contuinally from a distance, the bomb mouse began to hurl more bombs Link's way, in which Link, figuring it'd be an alternative to dodging, hacks a couple of the round explosives with his blade. Finding that by doing so, by immediately blocking the blasts afterwards, it saved him having to move aside from the shots.
As Link did this, Link continued to get ideas of how to further outarsneal the mouse, and waits until another bomb is on it's way.
Once it's in range, Link smacks the bomb back Mouser's way with a thwack of his shield's edge, sending it flying back Mouser's way.
Not having time to react, the bomb blew up in the rodent's face, knocking him back in a wall, breaking it.
"Man…he's getting smarter with me…" Mouser thought, recovering as he did so.
On Toad's end in fighting off Tryclyde, things weren't going so well for him. Having no walls to shield himself with anymore, he realized he was going to have to find a new strategy.
While he was thinking of this, however, the tri-serpent finally got their aim together and got a bullseye on Toad, sending him flying back.
Toad smashed against a floating vase with a thud and hit the ground, dazed.
"Man…this snake…" Toad mumbled to himself. "If only there was something I could…"-He said as he looked up at the vase, seeing that an ice flower was at the top…the perfect counter to a reptilian creature such as Tryclyde-"Use?"
Struggling to get up after taking the hit, Toad slowly picked himself up from the ground. He knew that if he didn't get this ice flower, he wasn't sure what he would do, he wouldn't have a chance, there wouldn't be much else he could
In all this, however, the hydra was approaching where Toad had landed, and by now had long caught Toad's eye.
"We should burn that thing," the middle highest head said.
"Good idea…" the quiet head stated.
Clear on what their intent was, the three heads all inhaled a large amount of air, and once they figured enough had been inhaled, exhaled it in the direction of the cold plant, sending flaming breath the flower's way.
Toad, who was still on the ground and trying to get to his feet could only watch helplessly as his only hope burned away right in front of him. It seemed like, for one second, in one shining moment, he was finally going to change the course of the battle, only then for it slip out of grasp right in front of him.
He was speechless, and crushed. Feeling so crushed, he sunk back to the ground.
He looked behind him, seeing the large serpent creeping ever closer. It was here where Toad realized how truly outclassed he was without something to even the odds.
The hydra was far larger than him for starters, size already putting one at a disadvantage. But it got worse, Toad always needed some kind of extra tool or utility in fights to even the odds when it came to tougher foes, the tri-serpent however needed no such thing, having fiery breath, and of course his natural size and bulk at his disposal. The one solace Toad saw when he held over the snake was that given Tryclyde's build, he'd naturally be slower than he himself was. In this situation however, he didn't see how that was going to help the current situation.
Looking to his right, he saw in the distance how Link was faring with Mouser, seeing that, even with Link's inexperience against the 8-bits, he was handling things pretty well. It was here where Toad realized what the most optimal option he had left was.
He started off first by waving Link's way to his attention. Link, who was still fighting off Mouser, took notice of Toad's signal, in which Toad then pointed at a previously crumbled path, signaling for Link to try to work his way over to where he pointed.
Toad, finally using his speed to his advantage, ran his way over, dodging the serpent's attempts at making him into a fried shroom. While Link, who had been dealing decently with Mouser for the most part, with caution made his way to the crumbling.
Making it to the rumble, he still had his shield up Mouser's way as he listened to Toad.
"What were you wanting to say?" Link asked.
"I honestly think we're outmatched and should focus on getting out of here."
"But…how could we do that? I don't see any…-"
Cutting Link off, Toad pointed out a platform that went upwards, onto the ledges on the valley's sides, up out of the valley.
"You know…I saw you struggling with the snake and…I'm not faring against this guy much better…sounds like a good idea."
As Link talked with Toad however, he didn't realize he had let his guard down, and Mouser got off a bomb that send Link flying back into Toad, knocking both of them down.
Making a weakened, but frantic recovery, Link added to his statement.
"Let's do that now."
The two then began sprinting their way over to the platform, which Mouser and Tryclyde took quick notice of.
"You guys are running away? Seriously?" Mouser stated, preparing a new bomb to hurl the two's way.
Sensing this however, Link quickly putted it away with his shield, denoting it at a safe distance.
Tryclyde joined in on stopping the two's escape attempts as well, shooting a barrage of fireballs the two's way.
Toad, however, caught on to Tryclyde's intention and saw the fireballs coming and was able to signal Link to dodge the shots as they closed in.
Soon enough, the two made it to the platforms and were on their way up and out.
"Well then, they're getting away…" One of Tryclyde's heads stated.
"Unfortunate…" the quietest one said.
"Well, I guessssssssssssss we're jusssssssssst gonna have to,"
"Have to what?" Mouser saying, tossing a bomb in hand up and down. This bomb however, was notably somewhat bigger than all of Mouser's previous, and along with this, was green in color.
"That'ssssssssssss…a big bomb…" The middle head stated.
"Exactly, gotta make my last shot a good one," Mouser said. After doing so, he swung his arm in numerous circles and hurled the explosive as hard as he could.
"Link! What are we gonna do?" Toad shouted to Link, seeing the bomb was headed their way.
"I…I don't know…I could block it with my shield but…the blast might knock us off anyway…and on top of this my sword beams wouldn't be enough to take it out in time…"
"I'm too short to reach it along with this…what are we gonna…" Toad began, but then saw what Link was preparing to do as he maneuvered his arm back as far as he could.
"Wait…Link…what are you-"
Before Toad could finish however, Link already gave the bomb one massive punch. And that one punch turned out to be enough.
The bomb went flying back down to Mouser, whom of which was frozen in shock at what happened. So much so that he didn't get out of the way and the large bomb blew up right in his face, knocking him down and out.
Back on the platform, Toad and Link were now near enough to the valley's edge where they could finally escape, out of the Subcon generals' vicinity.
"Mouser…you should have just let them go to be honessssssssst…we could have went after them, but now we're going to have to wait ssssssssssome time for you to recover…'' The middle head lectured.
Mouser only grumbled to himself in response.
"Hey…guys…look at that…" the generally quietest head stated.
"Huh? What?" One of the heads stated, looking at what was pointed out.
"Peculiar…" the snarky head stated.
"Let's take it, why don't we?" Mouser said.
Meanwhile...at Mushroom Plains, Toad Town…
III: Meeting
Knowing her way around the kingdom well, Peach had no trouble finding her way back to the town in which her capital was located, and upon her entrance, civilians had been talking to one another.
Soon enough however, they took notice of their authority's presence.
"Guys, the princess has returned!" one of the Toads stated aloud.
Hearing the Toad's announcement, the others in town, regardless of what they had all been doing, turned their attention to Peach. Soon enough they started up different conversations.
"We knew you'd be okay!" One of the Toads stated.
"You knew? Why?" Peach asked.
"This is kind of a normal occurrence at this point…"
"I suppose so…"
"Did you learn anything interesting while being held captive at Bowser's Castle?" another Toad asked.
"Well…I did learn one thing…" Peach began. Before she could clarify however, another Toad started a new discussion.
"Where are the Mario Bros?" the toad asked.
"The…Mario Bros? The last time I saw them, we went to a soccer game together." Peach answered.
"Well…that's odd, because when you were kidnapped, they went after Bowser's fleet to save you…"
"So they did…" Peach replied, not exactly shocked.
"Are they with you?"
"No, actually, I was able to break out of Koopa's dungeon myself."
"You were able to WHAT?" one of the Toads said in response, shocked to hear this.
"And at that point, after a quick stop through the woods, through the plains, and to the town, well, here I was."
"Wow…not something I would have expected…"
"I mean…to be fair, remember the incident with the Vibe Scepter?"
"The wha no-, Oh, that…true, that is a fair point."
"Hey, Princess," another toad began to say.
"Ah, what may it be?" Peach asked the toad that just joined the discussion.
"Someone's at the castle, he's waiting to talk to you."
Pausing for a bit before responding, the princess thought about who it could be. She figured that it probably couldn't be the Mario Bros if they had just left to go off to her rescue, and so she thought through other possibilities, realizing Toad and Link weren't likely to be the ones being talked about either. By narrowing down the possibilities, it hit her of who this probably was awaiting a talk with her.
"Ah, I see, I'll make my way over to him now…" Peach answered.
To Be Continued...
