Chapter 6: Dodge and Burn
After catching up to the boys, we reentered the pipe that would grant us exit from Bowser's body.
"Thank you, old friend, for granting me sanctuary for all these years," Toadsworth solemnly whispered as we traveled.
When we emerged, we noticed that it was indeed nighttime and there was no one to be seen for a few blocks. I didn't think that we'd be this lucky.
"The coast is clear." I whispered to the boys. We quietly got off the pipe's platform and began sneaking around. It was quite unnerving, not knowing when and if someone would chance upon us wandering. With every crossroad, I couldn't help envisioning that there'd be a platoon of angry citizens finding us. I think Kory and Toadsworth were experiencing this too; I looked up at Kory a few times who kept looking around and I looked over to Toadsworth who tried to keep a straight face, but he ended up grimacing a few times.
Thankfully, we finally reached the Forever Forest's border.
"There it is!" Toadsworth quietly cheered.
"But wait, who's that over there?" Kory asked, squinting to see in the dark.
I squinted too and saw what he saw: There were two guards patrolling the entrance to the maze-like forest. I knew that under the circumstances this was a devastating surprise, but I was celebrating on the inside.
"Now what do we do?" Kory asked. As if to answer his question, a feint, yet warm, light hit our backs. We turned around to see Mihn T. peeking out from the door, pssting us to come inside.
"Psst!" she hissed. We finally understood what she was doing and crept to her door trying to not get the guards' attentions.
When we were all inside, she shut the door and began streaming off words.
"Where have you guys been? I was soooo worried about you! You've been all over the news; you're all anyone will talk about! You didn't really kill President Antapi, did you? Oh if you did… why would you?! He was our last chance at maybe freedom from Dark Bowser and Fawful! It was my only chance at getting back to my gardening that I so miss! And you should see what they did to your house, Hope. They ransacked it; they took out everything but the kitchen sink to try and tie you and your friends into the murder case and possible assassination attempt of Dark Bowser! Yes, he started claiming that you tried to kill him too. And they got your mother, Hope! They got her! I'm surprised that they haven't gotten your block friend—what was his name again? Monsieur Broque? Anyway, he's somewhere out there, but they got your mother!"
The only thing I ever got out of that rambling was that they had my mother.
"What do you mean, 'They have my mother'?" I spat in almost disbelief.
"I'm sorry, Hope. I only know what they've been saying on the news. They keep repeating that they have the mother of the 'criminal scum'—that's you—and that they're going to put her under heavy interrogation. I guess they're trying to find out why you killed the ex-president."
"But we didn't! It was all Dark Bowser!" Kory yelled, trying to sound louder than Mihn.
"You… wait, he…? OH THANK THE STARS!—oh fuck." She cursed. In her elated joy that we didn't actually kill someone she let slip a praise to the Stars, something that Dark Bowser and Fawful outlawed long ago to prevent the people from getting either a physical or spiritual power.
"What's wrong?" Toadsworth asked Mihn ignorantly.
"Quick, hide! They'll be here any minute!"
"Who'll be here any minute? I demand to know what is going—AAAAH!" Because Toadsworth was resisting her instructions, Mihn started pushing him into a nearby closet.
"There's no time! Just get in here and stay quiet!" Kory and I followed the two and Mihn shut the door on us.
"Miss Hope, I do implore the meaning of all of this. Why are we in a closet?"
"Shh!" I hissed. I continued in a low whispered voice, "There will be guards here any minute questioning Mihn about her outburst."
"But what is wrong with—"
"Don't say it!" Kory whisper-screamed.
"Dark Bowser and Fawful banned any sort of mentioning of the You-Know-Whats in the sky oh so many years ago and they've put a taboo on the words."
"Why?"
"For one thing, to instill fear in the greater population—"
I was interrupted by a fierce pounding on the front door. It was loud enough that we could hear it from our closet.
"I'm coming!" It didn't stop. "Alright, alright! Jeez, I said I was coming…" The door creaked, and we heard the heavy footfalls from the guards enter.
"Good evening, Miss. I don't know if you are aware that you violated a serious law at or around 10:57 this very evening."
"I… what? No. You must be mistaken, sir."
"There is no mistake." His tone sounded as if they would take Mihn off to the dungeons no matter what. "You illicitly mentioned the Stars in some form or manner."
"But so did you just now—" A loud slap echoed through the house.
"We will not tolerate back talking a soldier of the great Dark Bowser."
"This is brutality, is what it is! All I did was mention a food involving the word 'star'!"
As the disagreement continued, I looked around the closet in a panicked frenzy. I was looking for something that would help Mihn out of the situation we accidentally put her in. Then I saw them.
"Guys," I whispered, "I have an idea."
A few minutes later and we stepped out of the closet to find the guards, with Mihn in either hand, just about to step out of the house.
"Boy, am I glad to see you!" Her loose lips exclaimed.
"And you three are?" One of the guards asked.
"Can't you tell by our outfits?" I asked, motioning to my chef coat, pants, shoes, and silly hat.
Kory continued saying, "We're her assistants. We came over this late at night to see if she still wanted help."
"Aren't you a little tall to be an assisting chef?" The other guard asked.
"Yes, yes I am."
"And since when did you need help?" The first guard asked Mihn, jostling her.
"Uh…since Dark Bowser and Fawful commissioned me to cater their 21st anniversary of ruling these lands…which so happens to be very soon. Duh!" That was a bad idea on her part, to add the 'duh', because the guard smacked her again.
"Hey, you know she was right when she said whatever it was about brutality. And now she has witnesses to testify against you."
"Whoa, where were you guys when she said all that?"
"The closet. You saw us come out from there, right?"
"Why were you in the closet?"
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Toadsworth sweating. I'm sure he couldn't take anymore of this pretending game. I'm so glad that Mihn answered this time.
"They were in there because they needed to change out of their street clothes. A chef never wants to dirty their uniform before cooking; it's unsanitary cooking with a worn uniform."
I still cannot believe that the guards bought our story. It's because they asked us to cook for them that I can't believe that.
"Eh-what?" Toadsworth squeaked.
"We want whatever it was that you were about to cook. Make it right and we'll forget all about this."
We were dumbfounded. They believed us so well that they expected us to cook for them.
"Puh-Please excuse us for a moment." Mihn managed. Toadsworth, Kory, and I followed her into the other room. Once the door was shut, we were able to talk without a filter.
"I didn't think they'd want us to cook! What'll we do now?" I said.
"The first thing we need to do is calm down…" Mihn reassured.
"Easy for you to say, you're not the convicted felon!"
"I will be if you don't listen and do exactly what I say during the cooking." That shut Kory up.
"Right, so the first thing we need to do is figure out a dish that involves the word 'star'. Any ideas?" Mihn asked.
"Sorry, but the princess only cooked cakes. If only they had a sweet tooth like a certain Shy Guy I once knew…" Toadsworth mused.
"I gotta say sorry, too. Whenever I cook I just make everything burnt."
"It's true," I confirmed. "He once burned my shake."
We were all at a loss. Until…
"Wait! I remember reading some recipe somewhere!"
~*-Beyond-*~
"Mmmmph! Thiff iv sho—mmmph—good!" The first guard smiled, his mouth full of our food.
"Ahhhhh! That was great! Better than the slop they feed us in the barracks. What is this?" The second guard asked after he swallowed.
"This is a Meteor Meal and you can make it from any Shooting Star consumable item. We were hoping to have a sample of it for Dark Bowser and Fawful to approve it for the festivities under the pun that it'd be a smash hit."
The first guard, who was then sipping a glass of water, did a spit-take when she made the pun. I tried to hold in my laughter as he spit on his friend.
"That was funny!" The guard exclaimed, forgetting all about his duties. The second one, however, stayed resolute.
"Well, funny or not, we should get back to the castle. Sorry for inconveniencing you, and have a good rest of the night." Shaking his head to rid himself of any leftover water, he stood up and motioned for his partner to follow. When they exited, we all sighed heavily.
"Let's never speak of this again." I suggested. Everyone concurred.
As we stripped our costumes, we resumed our conversation from before.
"Like I said before—"
"Don't say it again!" Kory yelled.
"Yeah, because she would say it again." I stuck out my tongue at Kory.
"I wanna finish what I was saying! I'm just glad that it really wasn't you that killed President Antapi."
"In all seriousness, what made you think that we did?" Toadsworth questioned.
"Well, I don't know who or what to trust nowadays! I was simply going off what the news was broadcasting."
"It's okay, Mihn." I said.
"And did you say that Monsieur Broque is safe?" Kory asked.
"No. I think he's out and about in the big world. I dunno for sure—no one has seen him since he checked out of the grocery store. That's all anyone knows of him."
"I'm sure wherever he is that he is safe and sound." Toadsworth added to make me feel better. "He must mean a lot to you two."
"Especially me…" I mumbled to myself.
"By the way, what are you three doing wandering around at night when you're most vulnerable? Aren't you afraid you'll get caught?"
"We were on our way to the Forever Forest." Kory answered before he bent down to lace up his sneakers.
"I believe an old acquaintance of mine ran into the complex maze in search of some powerful allies. We were on our way to check my suspicions—will you help me with my vest, Hope?—until we noticed the guards around its entrance—thank you—which is when you started hissing for us to come into your household."
"Oooo! A recon mission! It's something I've only seen in movies! Well I hope you guys are successful and rid this town of the putrid leaders and acid that killed off my flowers."
"I'm sorry, what was that about flowers?" Toadsworth suddenly blurted out.
"What does it matter?" Kory asked.
"Oh, I suppose you don't know… any of you, actually. Before Dark Bowser came into power, I used to be a gardener. I had a magnificent garden right outside the castle gates. It even attracted a few Bulb-Ulbers when they were having a problem in Flower Fields. Sadly, because of the heavy smog, there wasn't enough sunlight to sustain my plants, and so they died.
"I used to think that I wouldn't be able to do anything else in the world, but then Tayce found me in my darkest hour and decided to take me in. I think she saw a little of herself in me, maybe when her husband passed oh so many years ago, the way she took care of me. She kept me and my dream to garden once again alive. I was truly heartbroken when it was her time to go."
"I thought I knew you. Mihn T. The gardener who assisted Mario in saving the," I could tell he wanted to avoid whichever words he wanted to use next, for he corrected himself with, "well, the You-Know-Whos."
Mihn's face lit up when Toadsworth said this. "You… you remember my garden?"
"It was truly a blessing to have in this fair town, Madam." He gave a smile that said he truly meant what he said. She was suddenly hugging him in the moment I blinked. I looked over to Kory, who only shrugged.
"Well, we want to thank you again," I started, "and we definitely owe you for saving our butts."
"Oh, please. Your repayment will be in trouncing Dark Bowser and Fawful."