The next day, Toadette went to Peach's Castle. Mario wanted to plan one of his infamous "Mario Party" games, and Toad and Toadette had agreed to be the hosts. When Toadette arrived at the castle, Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Toad noticed how sleepy she looked.
"You okay, Toadette?" Toad asked.
"Yeah, I just didn't get much sleep last night," Toadette said. "There was a Goomba in my yard singing, and he was doing it very badly!"
"Oh, I was wondering what that noise last night was," Mario said.
"Yeah," Luigi replied. "At first, I thought something was dying out there."
"I think he woke up the entire kingdom," Peach said. "We all heard it."
"Did you also hear it when he tried to do the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet?" Toadette asked.
"No, we didn't hear that one," Mario said.
"I never knew Goombas could be so persistent," Toadette said.
"Or so disgusting!" Toad shouted.
"Well, I doubt you'll hear from him again," Mario said. "Come on, let's get started planning this party."
Toadette nodded, and started to go over the plans Mario had in mind, doing her best to forget about the Goomba. Unfortunately, she couldn't seem to get her mind off Gruber. She kept getting the feeling she was being watched. The others noticed she kept looking out the window every now and again.
"What's the matter, Toadette?" Peach asked.
"I keep getting this feeling I'm being watched," Toadette said.
"I'll take a look," Mario said. He walked toward the window, opened it, and took a good look around outside.
"Hmmm," he said. "Nothing here. It must be your imagination, Toadette."
Toadette sighed, but she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her. She had good reason to feel this way, though. Someone was watching her, and it was Gruber. He was hiding in the bushes directly underneath the window. Every time Toadette would look, he'd duck down into the bushes. That was why Mario didn't see him when he checked.
"If it makes you feel any better," Mario said, "we'll close the curtains, okay?"
"Thanks, Mario," Toadette said. "That will make me feel better."
Rats! Gruber thought, as Mario pulled the curtains closed, blocking the Goomba's view of Toadette.
Gruber jumped out of the bushes, and began pacing back and forth.
"I've got to get in there," he said. "I must get to my little snuggly-wuggly-buggly-boo!"
Gruber walked around the castle grounds until he got an idea. He ran around until he found the castle's gutter pipe, and climbed it to the roof. Then he ran to the castle's chimney, and jumped down it.
"If Santa Claus can do it, so can I!" he shouted.
Being a normal sized Goomba, Gruber slid down the chimney effortlessly. Unfortunately, his landing left much to be desired. He landed in the kitchen, directly on an old, cast iron, wood burning stove, which was in use.
"Hey, what's cooking?" he asked, sniffing the air. "Smells like roasted mushrooms."
The minute Gruber said that, he realized something. He was a mushroom. Finally, he felt a burning sensation in his rear end, and jumped off the stove immediately.
"YEEEEEEOUUUUUUUUCH!" he yelled, and began jumping around, trying to put out the fire on his backside. "Ooch! Eeech! Ouch! Aaahh! Oooh! Yaaahh! Ow! Eee! Oh! Oooh!"
Gruber found a bucket of water close by, and jumped in it, putting out the fire immediately.
"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh," he sighed, relieved he was no longer cooking. "Whoever said love hurts sure wasn't kidding!"
Gruber jumped out of the bucket, and began to wander around Peach's castle, looking for Toadette. This was the first time he had ever been inside the castle, so he had absolutely no idea where he was going.
"Now, let me see," he said. "Where do I find my little baby bunny bumpkins?"
Gruber began pushing open doors quietly. He didn't want to draw attention to himself. As he was searching the palace, a Toad happened to walk by and see him.
"Eeeeek!" she shouted. "A Goomba in the palace! Your highness! Your highness!"
The Toad raced down the hallway, while Gruber raced in the opposite direction. He didn't want to be caught hanging around, especially if Mario was still there, that was for sure!
While Gruber was trying to find his way out of the palace, the Toad that spotted him raced into the throne room.
"Your highness!" she shouted. "There's a Goomba in the palace!"
"A Goomba?" Peach asked. "Where?"
"Down in the east wing!" the Toad shouted. "Near the kitchen! Bowser must have sent him to scout the place!"
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it!" Mario shouted, and he ran out of the throne room in order to locate the rogue Goomba.
"I wonder if it's the same Goomba that was in my yard last night?" Toadette asked.
"I dunno," Toad said, shrugging. "Could be. But then again, all Goombas look alike to me."
Toadette, Peach, and Luigi had to agree with that one.
Mario searched the east wing of the castle, and found Gruber opening doors. He quietly snuck up behind him.
"Where's the exit to this place, anyway?" Gruber asked.
"I'll be glad to show you," Mario said.
"Hey, thanks," Gruber said, as he turned around to face who was talking to him. "I gotta tell ya, this place is like a maze, and . . . . oh crud."
Mario jumped into the air, and landed on Gruber, squashing him flat. Then he picked up the Goomba, carried him toward the front door of the castle, and threw him out unceremoniously.
"Tell Bowser he's gonna have to do better than that!" he shouted.
"Whooooaaa!" Gruber shouted, as he sailed through the air, and landed face first into a tree. He slid down, and popped back into his original shape.
"I hate that plumber," he groaned, dazedly. He got his wits back and second later.
"Okay, so that didn't work out, either," he said. "I need to come up with something different. But first, I gotta get home and take care of this headache!"
Gruber immediately went to his drab little one-room apartment in the Goomba Arms building, located in the seedy section of Neo Bowser City. Once there, he flopped in his mattress (he couldn't afford an entire bed), and closed his eyes, in order to nurse his headache. That's when he got a brilliant idea.
"That's it!" he shouted. "I need to start out small, and work my way up!"
Immediately, Gruber grabbed a pencil and a piece of paper, and began writing.
The next day, Toadette skipped out to the mailbox to check her mail. Inside she found a letter, but the writing on the envelope looked like it had been written by either a small child, or with someone's foot. There was no name in the return address spot, either. Just a post office box number. The letter was written in the same style, and the spelling was atrocious.
Deer Toedet, I am yor bigest fan. U ar so prittie. Kood u pleez send me an ottograf pickcher? Luv yor bigest fan.
"Awww," Toadette said, when she read the letter. "This must be from a child. He or she probably doesn't know how to spell yet."
This wasn't the first fan letter Toadette had received. She was pretty popular among the Toads, since she joined the Toad Brigade, so she had a few eight by ten photos of her in her desk drawer she kept for just such an occasion.
"To my biggest fan," she said, as she signed the picture. "Love, Toadette. There, that should do it. Too bad he or she didn't put their name on the letter. Maybe he or she is just too shy."
Toadette put the photo in an envelope, wrote the return address on it, and skipped off to the post office to send mail it.
The next day, Gruber went to check his mail at his post office box in Neo Bowser City. When he saw a manila envelope inside, he immediately grabbed it, and ran back to his apartment. He tore it open with his teeth, and found the autographed photo of Toadette.
"She read my letter!" he shouted, happily. "She answered my letter! Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!"
Gruber put the photo in a picture frame (which was covered in red and pink hearts), and began kissing it.
"Love Toadette, she said!" he sighed, happily. "She loves me! I knew it! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! I knew my little mooshie gooshie tushie loved me!"
Gruber put the photo next to his mattress, and then dug out another piece if paper, in order to pen another letter to Toadette.