Several days later, Toadette was sitting in her kitchen, eating her breakfast when her phone rang. She immediately got up to answer it.
"Hello?" she asked. There was no answer on the other end. "Hello? Is anyone there?"
The next thing Toadette heard was a click, and then the dial tone. She put the phone back on the hook, shrugged, and went back to her breakfast. The caller happened to be Gruber. He had forgotten he still had the page he tore out of the phone book that had Toadette's address on it. He had completely forgotten it also included her phone number, and decided to give her a call. However, when she picked it up, he choked, and hung up. A few moments later, he summoned up his courage, and decided to call her again.
By this time, Toadette was putting her dirty breakfast dishes in the dishwasher. When her phone rang a second time, she went over and picked it up.
"Hello?" she asked. Once again, there was no answer on the other side. "Hello? Hello! Not again!"
Toadette heaved a sigh, and hung up the phone. Two seconds later, it rang again. And for the third time, nobody was on the other end. Toadette growled a little, hung up the phone, and left her house. She had things to do, anyway.
As Toadette walked around Toad Town, she suddenly got the feeling she was being followed. But every time she turned around to look behind her, there was no one there. Unfortunately, she just couldn't shake the feeling someone, or something, was following her. Of course, she was being followed. Gruber was staying a good five feet away from her, and ducking behind bushes, trees, or whatever else was handy whenever she turned around to look.
When Toadette got home that night, she found a note on her door. She knew it was from Gruber. She recognized his handwriting.
I still luv u. I will nevar stop foloing u. I wil folo u to the ends of the erth. Kissie kissie!
"Ick!" Toadette shouted, and she ran inside her house immediately.
The minute Toadette was inside, her phone rang. Nervously, she picked it up.
"H-hello?" she asked.
Instead of complete silence, Toadette heard extremely heavy breathing on the other end. She immediately hung up. Almost immediately, the phone rang again. Toadette hesitated in picking it up, worrying that it was another obscene phone call. But it could have also been Mario, or Toad. She heaved a sigh, and picked it up.
"Hello?" she asked, nervously.
"Hello, my sweet sugar puff muffin," Gruber said, and he started panting. "It's your little Goomby-Woomby! I just called to say I love you!"
"Goodbye!" Toadette shouted, slamming the phone down.
Five minutes later, the phone rang again. Toadette moaned. She decided to just let it ring this time. She also made a mental note to herself to get caller ID the next chance she got.
After about ten rings, the phone finally stopped. Toadette heaved a sigh of relief, but the relief was short lived. One minute later, it started ringing again. Ignoring it was going to drive her crazy, she knew that, and it could have been one of her friends, after all. After weighing the options, she finally picked it up.
"Hello?" she asked.
"I know you're there, my little coconut cream cuppycake!" Gruber shouted. "I can hear you breathing!"
"Stop calling me!" Toadette shouted. "I don't know how you got my number, but just stop it, okay? And stop following me around!"
"I can't help it! I worship the ground you walk on, my little pomegranate pudding pot pie!"
"And stop calling me by those stupid names, already! What do you want from me?"
"I don't want much, my love. I just want you! I want you to love me! Love me as much as I love you, my darling dew drop!"
"Love you? I don't even like you!"
"You could learn!"
"No! Never! I could never love someone like you! Now leave me alone!"
Toadette slammed the phone down on it's hook. Almost immediately after, it rang again. Toadette growled, and picked it up.
"STOP BOTHERING ME!" she screamed.
"What'd I do?" Toad asked.
"Wait . . . . who is this?" Toadette asked, sounding confused.
"It's me, Toad. You okay, Toadette?"
"Oh, hi, Toad. Sorry about that. I thought it was that stupid lovesick Goomba. He's been calling me on the phone now. I need caller ID."
"And some good Goomba repellent. Anyway, I'm calling to let you know Princess Peach wants us at her castle tomorrow morning at ten. The construction crew's almost done with the boards and she and the Bros. want to go over some final preparations for the party."
"Okay. I'll be there, thanks."
"And don't worry about that Goomba. If he shows up at the castle, Mario will take care of him, and good!"
"Yeah. Bye, Toad."
Toadette hung up the phone, and heaved a sigh. Then she went upstairs to take a nice, relaxing bubble bath, in order to forget her troubles. Unfortunately, her troubles would not allow her to forget them. At one in the morning, she was awakened by her phone ringing. She groaned, reached over, and picked it up.
"Hello?" she asked, groggily.
"Hiya, honey," Gruber said.
"You again?" Toadette moaned. "What do you want now?"
"I just wanted to tell you how beautiful you look when you're sleeping."
"How do you know what I look like when I'm sleeping?"
"I can see you, my sweet, scrumptious strawberry shortcake!"
"You . . . . you can see me?"
"You bet your bippy I can! I see you when you're sleeping, I know when you're awake . . . ."
"You . . . . do?"
"Oh yes, my little bubbly buttercup! Every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take, I'll be watching you."
Toadette let out a whimper, not knowing what to do or say. The thought of the Goomba being able to see everything she did really freaked her out.
"You're so cute when you're scared stiff," Gruber said. Then he kissed the phone. "Good night, my precious potato puff. Sweet dreeeeeaaaaaams . . . . ."
Toadette heard a click, and then the dial tone. Slowly, she hung up her phone, and covered her head with her blanket, hoping every inch of her body was covered with it. Unfortunately, she was unable to get back to sleep after that phone call. Every time she tried, she would think of Gruber watching her every move, and it was enough to wake her up again.
By the time she arrived at Peach's castle, she looked (and felt) like she had been run over by a truck. Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad were shocked when they saw her. She had dark circles under her eyes, her eyelids were drooping, and she was staggering.
"Hi, everybody," she said, stifling a yawn.
"Toadette, you look terrible!" Toad shouted. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, I'm fine," Toadette said, yawning again.
"Are you sure?" Luigi asked.
"Mm hmm," Toadette said, nodding. "I'm . . . . just . . . . fine . . . ."
Toadette sat down in a chair, leaned against the table, and fell asleep. Mario and the others looked at her, and then looked at each other, not knowing what to think. This wasn't like Toadette at all.
"Wow," Toad said. "She must have been up all night answering phone calls from that Goomba."
"What Goomba?" Mario asked.
"She said there's this Goomba that's been writing to her, following her around, calling her on the phone, and calling her dumb nicknames," Toad explained.
"Oh dear," Peach said. "I guess my advice didn't help her at all."
"Toadette?" Mario asked, gently shaking Toadette's shoulder.
"I'm awake! I'm awake!" Toadette shouted, bolting up. "Ready for adventure, Captain Toad!"
"Easy, Toadette, easy," Mario said.
"Oh, sorry," Toadette said. "I guess I nodded off for a minute."
"Toadette, are you sure you're okay?" Peach asked. "Toad just told us about that Goomba that's been bothering you."
"Well . . . ." Toadette said, hesitantly. She wasn't sure she wanted to tell her friends about the phone call she got from Gruber the night before. Then she thought about what he said, and then sighed.
"No, I'm not okay," she said. "He called me last night, and told me I looked beautiful when I was asleep. He said he could see me. He said he knows when I'm sleeping, and he knows when I'm awake, and that he's always watching me."
"He what?!" Mario shouted.
"Eeewwww . . . ." Luigi grimaced.
"He also said he loves me," Toadette went on. "And that he wants me to love him!"
"Gross!" Toad shouted, cringing.
"And . . . . and I don't think he's ever gonna stop!" Toadette shouted, and then suddenly burst into tears. "I'm so scared of what he might do next!"
"Oh my!" Peach shouted. Then she gave Toadette a big hug. "You poor little thing!"
"This Goomba sounds ten times worse than Bowser," Mario said.
"Yeah," Luigi agreed. "I don't even think he'd resort to stalking Princess Peach."
"Don't worry about a thing, Toadette," Mario said, putting his hand on the mushroom girl's shoulder. "Everything is gonna be okay. Come on, Luigi. Let's go!"
"Go where?" Luigi asked.
"I want to check Toadette's house from top to bottom," Mario said. "I want to see just exactly how this overly amorous Goomba is able to see her every move."
"Thanks, guys," Toadette said, sniffling. "I really appreciate this, and . . . ."
Toadette stopped abruptly and let out a shriek. The others were immediately on their guard.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Mario asked.
"It's him!" Toadette shouted, pointing to the window. "He's here! At the window!"
Mario immediately ran to the window, opened it, and looked around, but there wasn't anyone there. He even leaned out the window, and dug around the bushes.
"There's nothing here," he said, shrugging.
"But he was there!" Toadette shouted. "I swear, I saw him! He was looking in on us! Looking in on me! Really he was!"
"It's okay, Toadette," Mario said. "If he was there, he's gone now."
"There he is again!" Toadette shouted. Mario whirled around, but once again, he didn't see anything. He even dug through the bushes again.
"Nope," he said. "Nothing here."
"Oh great," Toadette groaned. "This Goomba's making me so crazy, I keep seeing him everywhere I go!"
Toadette sniffled, and began crying again. Toad and Peach did their best to comfort her. Mario and Luigi were about to leave, when Luigi suddenly got the feeling the group was being watched. He glanced at the window, and grabbed his brother's shoulder.
"Mario, look!" he shouted. "There is a Goomba at the window!"
"What?" Mario asked.
Indeed, there was Gruber, hiding in the bushes under the window, peeking in at the group. When Toadette saw him the first two times, he managed to hide in the mulch before Mario could catch him. When Luigi caught him, he tried to duck back down, but it was too late. Mario had seen him, too.
"After him!" the red-clad plumber shouted. "Come on, bro!"
Mario opened the window, and dove out of it. Luigi followed, a bit apprehensively.
"I'm outta here!" Gruber shouted, racing out of the bush as fast as he could.
Mario and Luigi gave chase, but Gruber managed to out run them, heading for a group of green warp pipes. Gruber smiled sneakily, waved his eyebrows up and down, and jumped into one of them. By the time Mario and Luigi arrived, he was long gone, and the brothers couldn't figure out which warp pipe he had jumped into.
"Mama mia!" Mario shouted. "He could've gone into any of these pipes!"
"And it'll take too long to search them all," Luigi said. "We'd better head back."
"Right."
Mario and Luigi decided to head directly to Toadette's house after that. They wanted to check it out before Toadette returned home. They searched every bit of it with the proverbial fine tooth comb, and Mario managed to find something in a vase on an end table in the living room. It was a small, black object, no bigger than a marble.
"Hey, Luigi!" he called out. "Check this out."
"What is it?" Luigi asked.
"I don't know for sure. But it was stuck in the vase there. Doesn't look like it belongs in a bunch of flowers to me, that's for sure."
"Think there might be more?"
"Probably. Let's go!"
Immediately, the brothers split up, and began searching Toadette's house from top to bottom, inside and out, practically turning it inside out. They found three more of these little devices. One was planted next to the kitchen window, another was hidden in the ceiling light in the bedroom, and the last one was found next to the back porch light.
"Mario, I think I know what these are," Luigi said. "I think they're miniature spy cameras. I saw something that looked just like these on TV once, during a James Bolete spy movie marathon."
"Yeah, I think you're right," Mario said, dropping the cameras on the floor and stomping on them. "Matter of fact, I'm sure you're right, bro. The Toad City First National Bank uses these same types of cameras for security. We'd better head back to the castle and let Peach know right away!"
"Right, but maybe we should clean up Toadette's house a little bit before we do. We kind of left it a mess, and I don't want Toadette to think that Goomba's been here."
"Good point."
Mario and Luigi immediately cleaned up, putting Toadette's house back the way they found it. He and Luigi then left to return to Peach's castle, but before they did, they found a note taped to Toadette's door. Mario took it, and read it.
"Dear Pipe Pests," he said, "don't think you can keep me away from my little pookie-wookie."
"Oh brother, the names he comes up with," Luigi said, rolling his eyes. "Mama mia!"
"Yeah, tell me about it!" Mario shouted. Then he continued reading the note. "She will be mine, and there's nothing the two of you can do about it. I will come for her in the night, when you least expect it. She is mine, and mine alone."
"Oh no!" Luigi shouted.
"You took the words right outta my mouth, bro," Mario said. "Come on! We've got to to get back to Peach's castle right away!"
Within minutes, the Mario Bros. returned to Peach's castle, and reported on what they found in Toadette's house.
"Hidden cameras?!" Toadette shouted. "Oooohhh . . . . I hope one wasn't in the bathroom!"
"No, they were only in the living room, the kitchen, the bedroom, and the backyard," Mario said. "But I have a feeling the Goomba was there while we were looking for them, because we found this note on the door."
Toadette took the note, read it, and then began shaking.
"He's . . . . he's gonna . . . ." she stammered. "He's gonna . . . . come for me . . . ."
The mere thought of Gruber coming for her in the middle of the night was too much for Toadette to handle, and she keeled over in a dead faint. Toad managed to catch her before she hit the floor.
"Whoa!" he shouted.
"Toadette!" Peach gasped.
The foursome did everything they could to wake Toadette up, but nothing worked. She was out like a light. Immediately, Peach called Dr. Toadley, while the boys took Toadette to one of the castle's guest bedrooms.
"Think she'll be okay?" Luigi asked.
"I hope so," Mario said, laying Toadette on the bed, and tucking her in.
"Boy, if I ever get my hands on that Goomba," Toad growled, "I'll turn him into piranha plant bait!"