An entire week went by, and Toadette hadn't heard from Gruber. She hadn't seen him lurking around, either. Finally, she could have a little peace. At least that's what she thought. What she didn't realize was Gruber was hiding out in the bushes, with a camera, taking candid photos of her. If she wasn't going to send him pictures, he had to take his own. For one whole week, he would follow Toadette around, making sure he was well hidden, and take photos of her. Once he got the photos developed, he would tack them up on the walls of his apartment, until they were completely covered. He even put photos on the ceiling when there wasn't any space left on the walls. Not only did he have photos, he also drew pictures of Toadette (all in crayon), and put them up as well. He even cut out pictures of Toadette's head, and pasted them onto photos of famous paintings (his favorite was one he called "The Birth of Fungus"). But he didn't stop there.

Gruber went to Toadette's house on garbage pickup days, and dug through her trash, just to get a souvenir. He had a whole table full of plastic containers with Toadette's garbage in it, such as orange rinds, an empty carton of milk, a dented soda can, and the like. He would watch Toadette's house like a hawk, and sneak in whenever she left. And every time, he left with a different souvenir. At first, it was little things, such as a couple of pens and pencils, and a spoon from her dishwasher. Then he began getting bolder. He took an extra pair of Toadette's shoes, her toothbrush, one of her extra vests, and some other nicknacks here and there.

One day, as Gruber was cataloging his collection, there was a knock on his door.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"It's me, Gordy," a voice said from behind the door.

Gruber walked over to the door and opened it, revealing another Goomba, named Gordy.

"Hey, Grube," he said, walking into the apartment. "Just came over to see how things were. Since Lord Bowser gave you the axe, nobody's seen you around . . . . for . . . . a . . . ."

Gordy trailed off when he got a good look at Gruber's "wallpaper." He wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

"Uhhhh," he said. "New decor?"

"Yeah," Gruber said. "What do you think of it?"

"Well . . . . . it's different, I can tell ya that. What made you decide on Toad photos for your walls, anyway? I mean, if you wanted mushroom decor, why didn't you just go to Spores and Roll-rim's? The missus went there and did our whole kitchen in Funny Fungus."

"Because Funny Fungus doesn't have the face of my little snookie-wookie-shoogie-woogie-honey-bunny-pookie pie!"

"What?"

Gordy gave Gruber a weird look. Gruber didn't pay any attention. He just began rearranging the items on his table, with a huge smile on his face.

"You feeling okay, Grube?" Gordy asked.

"I'm feeling fine," Gruber said. "Why wouldn't I feel fine? After all, I'm surrounded by my beautiful, beloved Toadette!"

"Hold the phone! Are you telling me you're in love with a Toad?!"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, really. I'm just a little surprised, that's all. I mean, I prefer lady Goombas, myself, but, meh. To each their own. I guess . . . . ."

"Oh, Gordy, come here and check this out!"

Gordy walked over to the table, and looked at all the stuff on it. There were stuffed dolls, plastic figures, a couple of models of her Mario Karts, a plush doll of her in her Toad Brigade outfit, a doll of her in a cat suit, a doll of her as a flying squirrel, and a Russian nesting doll featuring Toadette's likeness. There were also old Mario Kart programs, pink pennants with Toadette's name on them, and various other souvenirs from various Mario Karts, tennis tournaments, and other sporting events that featured Toadette's likeness on them.

"Look at my Toadette collection!" Gruber shouted.

"That's . . . . really neat, Gruber," Gordy said, a little confused.

"Yeah, isn't it great?!" Gruber shouted.

"Yeah, great . . . . how'd you get the money to afford all this . . . . stuff?"

"The Mario method. I smashed a bunch of question blocks with my head."

"That explains a lot."

"Now come and look at my one of a kind Toadette collectibles! No other Toadette fan in the world has stuff like this!"

"I can hardly wait . . . ."

Gordy walked over to the next table. Everything was inside either a jar, a plastic container, or a plastic baggie, and labeled.

"Toadette's breakfast orange rinds," Gordy read. "Toadette's pens and pencils, Toadette's milk carton, Toadette's soda can . . . . why would you want an old, dented soda can?"

"Because her lips touched the rim of it!" Gruber shouted. "And look at this spoon! Her lips touched that, too! And they touched this plastic straw, too!"

"Riiiiiiight."

Gordy continued looking at the items on the table, getting more and more uneasy as he went.

"Flower from Toadette's garden," he said, "clippings from Toadette's lawn, batteries from Toadette's TV remote control, Toadette's empty lip balm tin, Toadette's used bubblegum . . . . used bubblegum?! Dude, that's disgusting!"

"And she was just cutely skipping along the street, happy as a bird on the wing, blowing little pink bubbles, tra-la, tra-la . . . . then she stopped, put the gum in a tissue, threw it in the trash, and skipped along her merry way . . . . I had to grab it before someone else could!"

"You are one sick Goomba, dude."

Gruber didn't pay his friend any mind. Gordy just shook his head, and continued looking at Gruber's collection, just for the sake of curiosity. He kind of wanted to see how far Gruber had gone.

"Uhh, why is there an empty jar here?" he asked.

"That's the air my sweet sugar lump breathed," Gruber sighed dreamily. "And look what else I got! Her cute little shoesie-woosies!"

"Shoesie-woosies?"

"Yup! Her cute little shoesie-woosies that she once wore in the winter, that kept her cute little toesie-woesies all nice and warm and snuggie-poo!"

"Snuggie-poo? Grube, are you getting enough oxygen in here?"

"And wait'll you see this!"

"I'm not sure I want to . . . ."

Gruber pulled a box out from under the table. It turned out to be a small TV set, straight out of the 1970's. Gruber plugged it in and turned it on. Static appeared on the screen, and then Gruber began fiddling with the rabbit ear antennae on it.

"Wow, Grube," Gordy said, somewhat sarcastically. "That's . . . . really great, dude. Way to keep up with the times, man."

Gruber didn't answer. He just continued fiddling with the antennae, and then wound up kicking the side of the set. Finally, the static cleared to a scene that looked like an empty kitchen, with nothing going on.

"What kinda channel is this?" Gordy asked.

Gruber didn't answer. He just turned the dial on the TV to another channel, and it revealed a bedroom. Nothing was happening there, either.

"Toadette-Vision!" he shouted, happily. "I bought a bunch of little cameras, and hooked them up when she wasn't home. It's got four channels! Living room, kitchen, backyard, and bedroom. Now I can watch my little snuggle bumps while she sleeps!"

"Gruber, you're sick. I'm getting outta here before I catch your crazy!"

"Wait a minute! You need to check this out, too! I picked this up after I installed the cameras!"

Gruber then pulled out a small pink nightgown with short, puffy sleeves, and white lace trim on the collar and cuffs. Gordy looked at it, and then at Gruber, as if he were crazy.

"It's you, Grube," he said. "It's definitely you. I can just see you walking down the street wearing that, starting a fashion trend."

"It's not for me to wear, stupid!" Gruber shouted, giving Gordy a kick in the behind. "It's Toadette's! Just think! She wore this one night while dreaming of me, her wittle Grubie-Wooby-Goomby-Woomby-Gooby-Goo!"

Gruber then began rubbing his face against Toadette's nightgown, as if it were a security blanket. Gordy once again looked at him as if he were out of his mind (which he probably was), and slowly inched toward the door.

"Yeah, okay, Grube," he said. "I'm just . . . . gonna go now, okay?"

Gruber didn't acknowledge Gordy, and continued cuddling with Toadette's nightgown. Gordy left the apartment, shut the door behind him, and raced down the stairs as fast as he could.

"Somebody oughta call those nice young men in their clean white coats to pick him up!" he shouted. "Now I know why the boss fired him. He's nuts!"