Super Mario World (Series)

by sleepfiction

After fixing a strange pipe deep below their city, plumber brothers Mario and Luigi find themselves sucked into a pipe that warps them to a strange new land: the Mushroom Kingdom! As strangers in a strange new place, Mario and Luigi quickly make themselves useful by helping those around town, also aided by the compassionate Princess Peach and pursued by the dark King Bowser.

8. 1-8: Spaghetti Squashed

The farmers market in Toad Town has opened up, and this week, they had the biggest selection ever. Perhaps it was because the season was just kicking off.

Going through the market and looking at the selection was a great way for the Mario Brothers to keep their minds off the fact that they were, still, far from home with no determined way back.

They couldn't blame Peach though, as she had clearly been trying, but to no success. Both Mario and Luigi wished they could get a taste of home, though.

"Mario, what do you think of this?"

The princess presented a mushroom to the red plumber. It was super tiny, with a blue cap that had white dots on it. Peach held it between her finger and thumb to show Mario, the fungus only slightly smaller than the size of her palm.

Mario blinked in surprise at the little mushroom. "What… Is that?"

"Fungi Minima! The Mini Mushroom." She replied, smiling. "It's another one of those power-ups. It's supposed to make you really, really small. You wanna try it out?"

"I've gotten enough a'flak for my height in my life. Maybe another time."

"Alright, if you're sure."

Peach returned the little mushroom to the stand's produce, walking along with Mario as they continued their trek through the market.

Convincing her parents and the Toad Guards to stay home, Peach was here alone with the Bros, as she enjoyed looking at the produce just as much as they did. Maybe she could convince her parents that she was safer in the hands of the Mario Brothers than she was with Toad Guards…

Now seeking out Luigi, Mario and Peach walked together towards the furthest parts of the market, where less reputable merchants were.

The items got stranger, and it didn't just stop at produce anymore.

They quickly found Luigi at a stand that didn't sell any crops at all. He was looking things over with a furrowed brow.

Mario spoke to get his attention. "Whatcha looking at, bro?"

"Oh! Mario! I w-was looking at these games this guy has. Though he's not a'selling the system with them…"

"Save your money, this guy isn't worth it."

There was a Toadette at the edge of the stand's opening. She showed them what she bought- a gray cartridge clearly meant to be inserted at the top of a game console.

As if summoned by the negative review, the attendant of the stand- a Toad with orange dots on his cap- appeared. He plucked the cartridge from the dissatisfied customer.

"I told you before, miss. If the cartridge doesn't work, you just gotta…" He blew into the bottom of the cartridge. "Blow the dust out!"

"I did that. It still didn't work."

"Well! Must be a mistake. A defective cartridge, nobody's fault really. No refunds."

The Toadette rolled her eyes and turned around, walking away. While they all watched her walk off, Mario saw the attendant put that same cartridge back on the front shelf when he thought nobody could see him.

While they all were set on not buying anything, it would still be interesting to see what kind of games they had.

They all looked really weird. Games that art that either looked too realistic or too abstract- in the latter case the group couldn't decipher what the games were even about.

Some of them were even in different languages. They, weirdly enough, looked the most interesting out of all of them.

Mario picked up a cartridge, looking at the game it was supposed to feature. There was a purple hedgehog on the front, crashing through a brick wall with sunglasses and a grin.

He made a face and tossed it back. What kind of game would have a hedgehog as the main character, anyway? Mario never liked those little rodents.

With nothing interesting at this bootleg booth, the trio walked away to head further down the row of stands.

"You know, I never got to play any of those gaming systems." Peach commented. "Video games look so entertaining, but I always find myself enjoying time spent baking or tending to my plants much more."

"M-Me and Mario played on our old Famicom all the time back home!"

"I've never heard of that one before. Does it play well?"

"Sure does. It still a'holds up better than half of these new generation game consoles." Mario answered the princess, beaming.

"You're just a'saying that because you can't afford the new generations."

The red plumber frowned when his brother exposed him.

"Are the new ones good, Luigi?"

"Oh yeah! Pauline let us play on one she had at her apartment a while ago, it's so fun!"

"Famicon's still better…" Mario grumbled.

Reaching the further areas of the market, Peach was almost in wonder at all the different selections across the different stands. There were some overlaps with produce, but each merchant either had a different deal, a different method of growing or harvesting things… The princess loved going to the market for this specific reason.

The brothers spent their hard earned coins on some produce for them to cook with through the week, bickering with one another in a language Peach did not understand- Italian. She could tell they weren't actually arguing but rather having some playful banter.

As they reached a specific spot, the smell of saltwater was near. They reached a stand that had a front shelf full of ice with raw seafood on it. From the signs, it was raw Cheep Cheep and raw Blooper; Peach already knew what it was, and the brothers could gather what Bloopers were by seeing their tentacles on display.

"Well this looks nice."

"Eh, whaddya say, bro? You wanna make some calamari?"

"Hm…" Mario twirled his mustache in his fingers. "That would be nice. It's been a while since I had it… And I certainly couldn't have a'made it when I was here alone."

"How do you prepare it?" Peach asked.

"It's squid… Or I guess 'Blooper' tentacles, cut into slices then battered and fried."

"Oh! We have that here too! We've only called it 'fried Blooper' though. Calamari certainly rolls off the tongue better."

"It should! It's Italian!"

"Allow me to get it."

"Princess, you don't have to."

"Please, I want to. I'd like to buy something from this market today. Um, sir?"

Peach raised her hand while calling out to the stand attendant, who had his back to the trio. After being called, the man- clearly a Toad from the looks of him- slammed down a cleaver he had onto the fish he was holding on the chopping block.

He turned around. The Toad was old, eyes squinted, a pipe in his bearded mouth. The hand that was holding the fish came around and revealed a shiny golden hook in its place. After tossing the knife away, he used that hand to hold his pipe, puffing it- bubbles rose up from the end of the pipe in place of smoke.

The old Toad walked over.

"What d'ya want, princess?" The usually shrill voice of a Toad was now weathered and hoarse. This guy was old old.

"Get me one-hundred-and-fifty grams of Blooper please. And… Get me a Cheep Cheep too, the whole thing. I'm sure that Duchess would love a change of dinner foods."

"Aye, sure thing, your majesty."

The old Toad started to get the seafood in proper containers. The three were amazed to see how well this man worked with one hand- obviously he'd been missing it for a long, long time.

"I haven't seen you around here, sir." Peach said. "Are you new to Toad Town?"

"Nah, just visitin'. I live with me wife over in Delfino Plaza." The Toad replied, puffing bubbles from his pipe for a second between packing the order. "You can call me Admiral Psathyrella."

"Suh… Thurr…" Mario tried sounding it out.

"Just call me Admiral." The Toad replied. "Now you two… I've heard of you two: Mario and Luigi. The two humans that are livin' over here in Toad Town."

"Y-You have?"

"Word gets around fast."

"Aye." The Admiral continued to pack. "I was wonderin' if I was gonna see ya. I'm sure the missus will be very interested in hearin' about what you look like… Is there anythin' else on the stand that piques your interest?"

With his hook hand, the Admiral referred to his stand in its entirety.

Because there were only two kinds of raw seafood to buy, Mario skipped over looking at them again entirely. His eyes traveled across the stand, looking towards the back, ignoring the very gross looking chopping block and the bucket of chum right below that counter.

He looked at the back of the stand, towards the side, which was obscured slightly. Mario tilted his head, seeing that the Admiral had stored all of his nets over there. Something caught the plumber's eye- his eyebrows furrowed as he saw something under the nets just barely peeking out. He could see something fairly large and yellow, with a question mark scrolling over one surface.

Mario's eyebrows raised. The Admiral had a ? Block, just in the back of his stand.

Standing between the others, Mario used both hands to gently pat Peach and Luigi, then pointed at his object of interest in the back of the stand. The Admiral didn't follow, standing there and still staring at them while blowing bubbles from his pipe.

Peach was immediately intrigued. "Um, Admiral… If you don't mind, would you be willing to tell us about that… Thing back there?"

This time, the Admiral followed as Peach pointed to the ? Block. He grunted.

"What, ye mean the Question Block?"

It was a name so obvious, all three of them didn't know why they didn't think of it.

"Yeah, that's the one." Mario confirmed the question.

"Probably got caught in me net while I was fishin'. I gotta throw it back into the ocean. Sorry, but it's not fer sale."

"No, no, we don't have to buy it." Peach said. "Do you… Know anything about it?"

"I know a lot about it, your highness. What do ye wanna know?"

"Everything. What do you know about it?"

"Well… All I know is that these blocks were made to be special containers for a really ancient power…"

"...the Power Stars?"

The Admiral's eyebrows went up at the princess' clarification. He cleared his throat.

"Aye. Since there used to be so many Power Stars on the planet, they made these containers to try and keep the Power Stars from vanishing from 'em."

"Why would they do that?"

"Well, the Power Stars tend to bounce away from people if left to their own devices. And if they're ever kept in a normal container, that container tends to… Vanish from the magic of the Power Stars."

Peach suddenly felt a twang of fear at that, remembering the Power Star they collected was placed in her boudoir's average trinket box.

"What's a'with the question marks?" Luigi asked.

"Well, that's a little more complicated. Pretty sure it's because these blocks- the Question Blocks specifically- were made to morph the magic of the Power Stars into… uh…"

"Power-ups?"

"Aye, that's the word. Into certain power-ups that reacted to the needs of the people around it."

"Why would they need a'something like that?"

"Ah, now that's where my knowledge ends." The Admiral gestured to Mario with his pipe. "I used them back when I had to fight for the Mushroom Kingdom, say, thirty or forty years ago. But that's all I was told."

"Fought… for the Mushroom Kingdom?" Peach asked, confused.

"Yes, princess. How'd you think I got this?" The Admiral flashed his hook hand. "Was the admiral for the old Mushroom Kingdom Navy… But anyway, that's all I know. My darling daughter, she's studying these things over at that Woohoo Hooniversity in Beanbean Kingdom. She's said these things might be just as old as the Power Stars."

Princess Peach's eyebrows furrowed. Another mystery. Every time she made leeway with her parents, there was something else being hidden. One step forwards, two steps back.

She wanted to implore more about why the Admiral had to fight for the Mushroom Kingdom, but knew better than to prod at old wounds from the Toad who was already being so generous to them. Peach bowed her head slightly in gratitude.

She reached into her bag, retrieving coins for both the seafood and the information. "Thank you for your time, Admiral Psathyrella. Please tell your wife and daughter I wish them well; and keep the change."

The Admiral was surprised the princess was able to pronounce his name so easily. He happily took the coins, smiling a bit, some more bubbles creeping from his pipe.

"Aye. It's nice to meet ye, princess. And you two, Mario and Luigi."

"I hope to see you here again."

"And I, you."

Touching the side of his weathered blue cap with his hook, the Admiral gave a small salute to the princess and her friends as the trio moved on from the stand.

Luigi pulled his backpack to the front, stuffing the seafood in there to bring home later- though he planned to give Peach the fish for her pet Chain Chomp.

Mario hummed to himself thinking about the calamari, rubbing his stomach as they continued to walk together.

"Mm… Calamari…" He murmured. "It'll be a good change of pace from sandwiches."

"We finally don't have a limited selection here!" Luigi added in. He leaned forwards to look over Mario and speak to Peach. "Um, I know you have… mushroom a'flour here, but… What oil would we use to fry it, princess?"

"Mushroom oil."

"...Mamma Mia…" Luigi murmured in horror.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. We use coconut oil if we have to fry things. They grow coconuts over at Delfino, they make it there."

"Oh thank goodness." The green plumber sighed with relief.

"They also make lovely smoothies with them. I've vacationed at the Sunshine Isles once or twice, and every time I make sure to stop and get one. A nice, pink smoothie while I relax on the beach… Ugh, I miss my vacations." Peach sighed, her hand touching her cheek.

"Vacation from what?" Mario asked, teasing her.

"From saving you and your brother on a daily basis."

Mario rolled his eyes and scoffed.

"Like you did when we went to that Shifting Sand Land?"

"Hey, I helped! I gave Mips a new home!"

"I still think it's crazy you just a'now have a talking rabbit. And that's the least crazy thing that happened involving it."

"I know. It's surreal to think about… Do you think we should go back?"

"Maybe a'someday. But for now, let's try and focus on finding a route to get me and Weegi home."

"Right."

Luigi cleared his throat. "Princess?"

"Oh! Yes, Luigi?"

"If you've been to those islands, can you tell me if those a'fruits over there were also there?"

Luigi pointed to the stand they were next to. As they walked and talked, the three neglected to realize they were walking right out of the farmers market. When the green plumber called for their attention, they were right in front of the last stand before they entered the residential side of Toad Town.

The stand beside them was a little rickety, makeshift. Either the person was unlucky and got this spot because they were late or they made it themselves- the latter would be more admirable than the former.

On the front shelf were… Fruits. They were clearly fruit, but they looked weird. Upon further inspection, it appeared that these fruits were… the wrong color. A durian painted blue, a bell pepper painted pink. There was even some kind of weird circular thing at the end that was white and dusty looking.

Standing behind the produce was a Toad with an orange cap and white spots, with a hoop earring hanging from one side of their cap. Their vest was white with yellow, purple and black stripes. They rubbed their hands together as they saw not just any customers, but customers that included the princess.

"Hello!" They said. "I'm Toadweiss! Welcome to Toadweiss' Special Oddities? Anything catching your eye here? Toadweiss is here to please, and they're always open to conversation!"

"Okay then- why are you selling fruit you painted other colors?"

Mario's deadpan question didn't faze Toadweiss, who simply gestured their product with both hands.

"These are exotic fruits! But luckily for you, they're only a few coins!"

"Uh huh."

Part of Mario and Luigi appreciated the hustle. Kids back in Brooklyn would do stuff like this all the time, just so they could make a quick buck. The Bros included… That was a fun situation to try and explain to their mother when a street cop got involved.

Luigi still looked over the produce, humming softly to himself as he did. He shuffled to the side to get to the end of the stand's shelf.

He got to that weird white, dusty thing. It was round, and when Luigi looked closer it… appeared to have red specks on it? That was weird.

"Can I a'look this over?"

"Oh, sure! Toadweiss will grant you that much."

The green plumber picked up the fruit. He ran a thumb over the surface, feeling the powdery rough substance that made up the outer layer. Luigi rubbed it between his gloved fingers- it was coarse.

Looking back where he wiped the fruit, he could see nothing but red under it. This fruit wasn't white with red specks, it was a red fruit that was covered in something.

Luigi dusted it off, rubbing the fruit and blowing it until he was left with the fruit underneath: a bright, red and green, ripe tomato. The outer coating must have been salt, probably from ocean water.

"Great radiatore…" He murmured. "M-Mario!"

"Hm? What is it, bro?"

Instead of answering, Luigi held the tomato out to Mario, whose eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Is that…?"

"È un pomodoro!"

"Fino in fondo qui?"

"Non ci posso credere! Sembra maturo e appena toccato!"

"Sai cosa significa questo?"

The brothers stared at each other for a moment. They both turned to Toadweiss.

"We'll take the tomato." They both said in stone-faced unison.

"Ah, yes, that's what that is! The tomato that washed up on the shores of Seaside Town!" The Toad clearly didn't know what it was before they said something. "That will be… Hm… One hundred coins! Yes!"

Peach pushed past the brothers, pulling out her purse and rummaging through it.

"I'll give you fifty coins to give us the fruit and stop trying to rip people off."

"...Okay, deal."

The princess gave Toadweiss the coins. The Toad bowed for her.

"Toadweiss is honored by your patronage! Until we meet again!"

She barely had time to react before Mario and Luigi scurried off. The princess lifted her dress with one hand to run after the Bros- not only was she interested in what that "tomato" was, she still needed that Cheep Cheep in Luigi's backpack.

While they all walked towards the house towards the back of Toad Town, Mario and Luigi continued to speak to one another.

"Peccato che sia solo uno…"

"Penso che sarà più che sufficiente! Guarda quanto è grande, Luigi!"

"Hai ragione su questo. Non vedo l'ora di fare qualcosa con questo! Stai pensando a quello che sto pensando?"

"Se ti conosco, so cosa stai pensando. Salveremo i Calamari per domani!"

Peach knew they were speaking that language, Italian, again. She tried to glean any kind of information from what they were saying, but all she could tell was that they were very excited about that tomato.

They got to their door, still chatting in Italian, unlocking it and barging in. Peach walked in behind them, but found that the door was swung close, knocking into her.

"Ow!"

Both brothers were snapped from their trance by that. Mario and Luigi turned, and both looked embarrassed about forgetting the princess was with them.

"Oh goodness! S-Sorry, princess…"

"It's fine." Peach rubbed the arm that the door swung into. "What's gotten into you two?"

"It's… I dunno if we can explain it."

"I got it, bro." Mario said. "Peach, you remember when I told you about a'spaghetti?"

"That food that you really like? Noodles and sauce and parmesan?"

"Yeah! This," Mario took the tomato and held it out to Peach to show her. "Is one of the ingredients! A tomato! It doesn't a'grow here in the Mushroom Kingdom, right?"

"Not that I know of!"

"The tomato is used to make the sauce! Though it requires a few more tomatoes than this…" Mario hummed with dissatisfaction. "You can use the sauce for all kinds of dishes, though."

"Lasagna, ziti, pair it with gnocchi. You could even a'use it for pizza!" Luigi chimed in.

"Oh, you gotta try pizza, Peach. But this… This will be used a'for spaghetti."

"If you don't mind me asking," Peach spoke softly, curiously. "What's so special about spaghetti?"

"It's a staple of Italian cuisine! So is pizza, but spaghetti is the Italian dish everyone knows."

"Mamma used to make it a lot when we were a'growing up."

"Really?"

"Yeah! Believe it or not, being a plumber isn't the best paying or more luxurious job," Mario chuckled a bit. "So on nights where she had to feed all of us with little money, she'd a'make spaghetti. Serve it with garlic bread, too. That was a lot of nights when we were little."

"I miss those nights."

"I know, bro. I guess you just don't realize how special something was to you until you can't a'have it anymore…"

Peach watched Mario and Luigi as the brothers looked down at the tomato longingly, recalling those nights with their mother, the unmistakable brow of sadness weighing on both plumbers as they thought back.

The feeling of longing was palpable to the princess. She hated seeing these two plumbers- who at this point she considered friends- so stricken with sadness and deep homesickness. They weren't any closer to finding a way back to Brooklyn, and it felt like all developments were diminished by something the second they found something new.

Maybe it would help to give them a little taste of home. Plus, on the bright side, Peach would finally get to try this elusive yet supposedly delicious spaghetti…

"You can still have it. Maybe not with your mother, but you can."

Peach raised an eyebrow. "Peach?"

"Let's make spaghetti!" She said. "The three of us! I'll help you get some supplies, and we can make the spaghetti together! Hopefully we can stretch the sauce into something that everyone can enjoy. If… You're okay with me trying some?"

"Hm… I don't see why not!"

"Yeah, I think you'll like it, princess."

"Excellent! Plus it's only two ingredients! Well, three if you count your garlic bread."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa now." Mario interrupted the princess' happy streak. "Letsa get one thing clear first."

"Yes?"

"...no mushroom noodles. Please."

"Oh, okay. Sure."

"That means we're gonna have to get some wheat." Luigi chimed in. "Is that around here?"

"There's a wheat field up north at Moo Moo Farms. It's hard for wheat to grow here, so we typically use mushrooms for flour and other things like that. But I know the lady running the farm has wheat there that's used for products like medical and personal care products."

"We won't a'need much."

"Okay then! I'll assemble the Toad Brigade for them to give us a ride over to Moo Moo Farms tomorrow at the earliest! Better put that tomato in the fridge."

"Good idea!"

Luigi took the tomato back, passing through the house. As he did, he passed by his yoshi egg, which was still resting in a bundled nest of blankets to keep it safe.

As he passed, however, the egg wiggled. Whether it was because of Luigi passing by, or for any other reason was unknown, as nobody in the house noticed the wiggling egg while they were distracted by the aspect of making spaghetti.

---

The Toad Brigade were happy to transport the princess and the brothers towards Moo Moo Farms, mainly because they didn't have anything else going on that day.

The Mushmellow XL ripped through the roads in the Mushroom Kingdom, headed up further north. Moo Moo Farms wasn't too far from Toad Town, so they didn't have to use too much of their mushroom fuel to get there.

"So this spaghetti, it's made with wheat noodles. Not mushroom noodles?"

"That's a'right."

The Toad Brigade all murmured to each other with interest. Captain Toad hushed them before continuing his interrogation.

"And the sauce. It's made from this… Tomato."

"Usually more than one, but yeah."

Captain Toad, a finger on his chin, nodded slowly.

"Fascinating… That certainly sounds better than king oyster ramen! Feels like that's all I have nowadays…"

"Me too. I think I've become one percent ramen from eating it so much…" Archivist Toadette grumbled, holding her stomach.

"This spaghetti of yours sounds delectable!" Bank Toad said to the brothers. "And you also served it with… garlic bread?"

"That's what mamma usually served it with." Luigi replied. "Easy to make. Bread with a'garlic. Normally they'd blend garlic and spread it on there with butter, but mamma always a'roasted the garlic to mix with the butter."

"You'll be surprised to know we have that here too!" Note Toad said, taking out a notebook and adjusting his glasses. "Wild garlic grows across the Mushroom Kingdom in abundance, much like onions and turnips! Were you interested in making this bread for your meal?"

"Oh, yeah! Definitely!"

"We can go look for it if you'd like! Bank Toad has a super strong sense of smell!"

The green Toad chuckled as his skill was on display. "They used to hold me up by my feet in a wheelbarrow formation so I could find stuff like that. Before I became treasurer that is."

"You'd really help us out like that?"

"Yeah!" Captain Toad nodded at Mario. "We still kinda owe you for the Shy Guy thing… We might as well! Plus we can eat something that isn't ramen!"

"Your generosity is much appreciated, Captain." Peach said gratefully, smiling. "You're already doing us such a big favor! Thank you all so very much."

"No problem! Anything for some friends! And it'll be a fun scavenger—"

Suddenly, the Mushmellow XL slammed on its brakes, sending the group tumbling through the car. Mario landed on his back, and was immediately piled onto by Nap Toad, who slept through the sudden stop of the vehicle.

The plumber grunted and shoved the sleeping yellow Toad from him.

"What happened?!" Captain Toad asked, shoving Note Toad off of him.

"Sorry!" Mail Toad, the driver, turned in his swivel chair to look back. "I thought I could make it through a gap but found I was wrong! Moo Moo crossing!"

Everybody got up to lean into the front section of the vehicle, looking out into the red-and-white tinted windshield. Just as Mail Toad said, there were cows- sorry, Moo Moos, walking across the dirt road leading up to the farm. One spoke its name, mooing at the car before continuing to walk.

Moo Moo Farms was massive, growing many different fields of crops. Unlike a farm back in the Metro Kingdom, however, the group could only see a small section of wheat at the back of the farm, behind the barn and farmhouse they could spot at the very end of the driveway.

A tractor was parked beside the barn, and from the looks of it through the open doors, they could see there was machinery inside of the barn itself. In front of the barnhouse was a Toad, who was on their hands and knees to work on a small garden of flowers they had beside their front porch.

The Mushmellow soon continued, driving down the dirt road until reaching the small loop that was right in the front yard of the farmhouse. The Toad turned to look before standing and walking up to meet the brigade.

The farmer was a Toadette, one with a brown cap and white dots. Her pigtails were pulled to rest in front of her body, on a Western shirt she had. If she wasn't a Toad, she would fit the image of a cowgirl that Mario and Luigi had in their heads.

She took off her gloves when she got within a yard or two of the Mushmellow. The door opened.

"We'll go look for the garlic," Note Toad said. "You guys can talk to the farmer! I'm sure you can figure something out!"

"Uhhh… If you're sure." Mario replied.

Luigi was out first, holding the straps of his backpack. Mario was out next, and stood by the small set of stairs leading out of the raised carriage of the Mushmellow- he held his hand out, letting Peach use it as support to step from the vehicle next.

Peach pulled out her trusty yellow-and-blue parasol, opening it and resting it on her shoulder to block herself from the sun. After the brothers and princess were out, the stairs flipped back up, and the door closed. They all watched as the Mushmellow XL pulled off to leave the area.

"Well now," The farmer Toadette commented. Her voice was sharp, but she still had a country accent. "Can't say this has ever happened before. How're you, princess? It's an honor to meet you, even at random."

"It's nice to meet you too! You are…?" Peach held out her hand to shake.

"Crimini." The Toadette shook it. She looked over Mario and Luigi. "You two must be those human brothers I've been hearing so much about."

"Man, word does get out fast." Mario mumbled. "It's nice to meet you."

"Mmhm." Crimini replied stoically. "Is there a reason you three are here today? No complaints about the products I'm providing, I'm hopin'."

"Of course not! In fact, we're interested in your product." Peach said, taking the reins. "We're interested in using a bit of your wheat to make flour and make some noodles! We really want to make this recipe that Mario and Luigi—"

Crimini put her hand up. "Say no more, princess."

"...really? You'll give us the wheat, just like that?"

"What? No. I just didn't wanna hear all that anymore. I'm not giving you any of my wheat."

"May I ask why?"

"It's a rarity." The farmer said, arms crossing. "I use it to feed the Moo Moos, to make products to make some of my income- income I need to afford living and to keep having these animals. I sure wanna give you this wheat, but you're gonna have to give me something valuable in return to make up for possible lost income."

Peach paused, before looking through her bag for a moment. However, after her rummaging, her face became a brilliant shade of red.

"I'm afraid I left my checkbook in my other purse…" The princess looked at the brothers. "Any ideas?"

"What're we supposed to give her?" Mario asked her.

The concept quieted the three. They each looked around for something to help them think.

Luigi tapped his nose, looking at the crops around him. He also took a look at the barn, specifically at the wide open doors of the barn. He didn't see any animals in there, but he saw hay strewn out on the floor. He also saw the machinery against the wall.

Though he didn't recognize the machine, he recognized the piles of bottles that were stacked right beside it. Milk. Luigi got an idea, his mustache curling slightly.

"Princess, what kind of cheese do you have in the Mushroom Kingdom?"

"Well, that's a good question. There's this lovely spread cheese made from mushrooms, and this beautiful hard cheese we made by blending mushrooms together…"

"Nothing made from milk?"

"Well… There are some made with milk. But milk is needed more for assisting with the growth of newly sprouted Toadlings. It's necessary to feed them milk to keep them from becoming diminutive, that's where most of it goes. That and we can only make hard cheeses with them, which we could already do with the mushrooms."

"...Miss Crimini," Luigi said to her. "If you do not a'mind… Could I use some milk?"

"...how much are you willin' to give me?"

Luigi pulled his backpack to his front and looked through it. Man, he needed to clean this out- he hadn't really done it since he left Brooklyn… Who knew what things were lingering around and hidden in here?

He yanked out a few coins- coins from Toad Town the brothers were given when they didn't have anything to barter for. He presented them to Crimini.

"F-Five coins?"

"...alright. But just one bottle."

"I… Might also need some more things."

"Hmmm… I dunno."

"I promise Luigi isn't wasting your time." Peach vouched for the plumber. "Let him work. If in the end you're not satisfied, we'll simply leave and the royal family will compensate you for your time. Okay?"

Crimini hummed. "Alright, princess. We'll give it a shot. Tell me what you need, greenie."

Moving into the kitchen of Crimini's farmhouse, Luigi and Mario got to work with assistance from the farming Toadette. The red plumber understood what his brother was up to fairly quickly, and acted as his younger twin's assistant.

Given ingredients and tools from Crimini, Luigi mixed the bottle of milk he bought with citrus juice provided to him by the farmer. Heating it together on the stove, he stirred it together until it split into curds and whey.

Crimini already had cheesecloth on hand for straining purposes, and Luigi put it to good use. He had Mario pour the mixture into the cloth to catch the curds, then tied it together and used his Super Mushroom strength to squeeze anything extra out. Just to be safe, Luigi also bathed the cheese in an ice bath.

Together, the brothers stretched out the mozzarella they made, showing Crimini how elastic the final product was. Luigi took it back after it was kneaded- he put it in a container and pressed down on it with a flat surface to push out more of the moisture from it.

"That's very nice, boys…" The farmer said, watching. "But I'm not exactly sure what I should be thinking here. We can make the same kinda cheese with mushrooms."

Suddenly, the door to the house opened.

"We're back!" Captain Toad said, smiling. "We got that garlic!"

"Perfect timing." Luigi replied. "Miss Crimini, you have bread here, yes?"

"Yeah? What's it to ya?"

"May I get a slice? I'd like to show you just a'what this cheese can do."

Sending his brother out to Peach to retrieve one of the flowers she had in her bag, Luigi absorbed the power of a Fire Flower in the kitchen. After peeling the wild garlic, Luigi clasped his hands over the cloves and roasted them instantly.

Luigi simply spread the softened cloves onto bread, not wanting to see what kind of "butter" they have here if they don't know about mozzarella. Speaking of, the mozzarella that he squeezed the water out of was firm, allowing him to make slices.

He shingled the slices of cheese on the garlicky bread, then used the Fire Flower power to roast the bread, blasting it with green flames.

Putting it on a plate, Luigi presented the makeshift cheesy garlic bread to Crimini. He took off his cap to tip it for the farmer, but discovered when he did, his clothes turned back to normal. The Fire Flower appeared pinned to his overall strap like a lapel, available for later use. Luigi would give that to Peach later- it was good to know there was a less violent way to get rid of the power-ups in use.

The smell of garlic wafted in the air. Crimini tilted her head and looked it over, before poking one of the browned spots on the cheese. Once she was sure it was totally safe, the farmer lifted up the garlic bread and gingerly took a bite.

Luigi was joined by Mario and Peach. They watched Crimini chew slowly, and saw her eyes widen.

"Oh… Oh, golly me." She swallowed. "Wow. That's… You said that's called what?"

"Mozzarella."

"I've had garlic bread with fungi cheese before but this? Great day in the morning!" She took another bite, chewing with a strand of the cheese connecting mouth to the bread. "And it barely took you an hour to do it! All it took was the milk and the citrus?"

"A-Any kind of citrus would a'work! Though I think it changes the flavor a bit…"

"If I start making this mozzarella for the kingdom… I'd make a dang killing!" Crimini shoved the rest of the bread in her mouth. They had to wait a moment for her to finish chewing and swallowing before she continued. "You write down the instructions to make this mozzarella and you can have as much wheat as you want! Well… Not all of it. Still need it for the Moo Moos."

"Deal!"

Using one of Peach's pens and her notepad, Luigi wrote down the instructions. During which, they had the Toad Brigade collect a bag of wheat for them.

After bribing the farmer with another piece of freshly made cheesy garlic bread, Luigi was given the go-ahead to use Crimini's kitchen once again to make the noodles. He cut open the bag, but was beaten to the punch by Peach scooping out the wheat with a cup.

"My turn, Luigi." The princess said, smiling. "Show me how it's done."

With the wheat set out, they rummaged through the cabinets for something to help mill it- they soon came across a hand-crank coffee grinder, which according to the writing on the bottom was made in Beanbean Castle Town.

Peach poured in the wheat while Luigi cranked, milling the wheat into flour. Once they had a lot of the material, they pulled the bowl containing the flour to the side.

The farmer Toadette presented them with eggs they needed for the fresh pasta, which came from "Cluck Clucks" as it were. Unfortunately, due to the lack of olives here, there was one important ingredient Luigi was unable to use.

Crimini gave them a tub of refined coconut oil. Luigi knew it was a suitable replacement for olive oil, but it didn't make it hurt any less.

After heating up and pouring in the not-olive-oil to the mixture, the green plumber dotted his head, chest and shoulders in a cross formation and mumbled softly to himself: "Nonnina, forgive me…"

He mixed it all together, eventually working with his hands to knead the yellowing dough. Peach watched, hands pressed together with her cheek against one of the back of her hands, staring with intrigue and amazement at the classical pasta.

With Luigi's instruction, Peach got a knife as he rolled the pasta out thin. Without a pasta maker, they would have to make the noodles by hand. The princess slowly cut down the thinned out pasta dough, using a steady hand she gained from her many golf practices, making long and thick strips.

Luigi had to roll them together by hand, but soon they were left with a nest-like bundle of pasta. As he showed it off to Mario, Peach and the Toad Brigade, the Toads all made noises of amazement. Peach giggled, clapping her hands with glee, clapping flour from her hands.

Though impressed, Mario walked over to the sack of wheat and grunted as he lifted it up. He looked over at Crimini, who was still enjoying her next piece of garlic bread.

"We can a'keep this, right?"

"Oh yeah, be my guest, big fella!" The farmer said, mouth partially full. "Thank y'all for the cheese! This is spectacular!"

"It's Italian, so it was bound to be."

"I dunno what that means, but okay!"

Crimini, still eating her garlic bread, waved the group off as they all left the farmhouse and walked back to the Mushroom XL. Using some newspaper that the Toad Brigade had, they wrapped up the pasta for safekeeping. Luigi also took half of the cheese he had made, wrapping up the low-moisture mozzarella too.

Climbing into the carriage, Mail Toad started up the mushroom-like vehicle.

"Alright, where to now, princess?"

"Well! Since we now have those noodles, I suppose we could just go back to Toad Town to make this spaghetti."

Mario and Luigi chuckled with one another. Peach looked surprised.

"What's funny?"

"Sorry, you wouldn't know…" Mario said. "Spaghetti really is more than just a'noodles in some sauce. We gotta get some spices to make it really taste authentic!"

"More than salt and pepper?"

"Way more!" Luigi nodded. "In a'particular, we're gonna need some seasonings."

"I think I could help you guys with that!" Captain Toad spoke up. "I know about a spice market that's in Mushroom City, underneath Toad's Turnpike. There's bound to be some of those special seasonings you need down there."

"So, to Mushroom City, then?"

"Not so fast, mustache." The captain continued, squinting his eyes at Luigi. "This is more traveling than we expected to do today. If you're gonna have us chauffeur you to Mushroom City, you and your brother are gonna have to pay…"

"...I think I still have my old Crazy Cap loyalty card…" Luigi replied meekly. "...If you g-guys can even wear hats. I dunno…"

"What? No, no, we're good. We're really after some of that spaghetti."

"The spaghetti?" Mario asked.

"Yeah! Everything you've said about it made it sound so good."

"I mean, just from the garlic bread alone, I gotta try some." Archivist Toadette added.

"The pasta looks so yummy that I really wanna slurp it up!" Bank Toad, too.

"I think it'll taste even better than the mushroom noodles!" Note Toad spoke up.

"I agree!" Mail Toad called back from the front.

"Mmmm… Pasta…" Nap Toad mumbled in his sleep.

The Bros looked at one another.

"That's a lotta mouths…"

"And not a lotta pasta…"

"It's alright! They can just split with me!" Peach said.

"Really? You might not get a lot a'left, Peach."

"That's alright, I wasn't making it for me. I want you two to enjoy it!"

"Well… I guess that's that then." Mario looked at Luigi, who shrugged. "Okay, Toads, you got yourself a deal!"

"Oh yeah!" Captain Toad cheered. "Mail Toad, step on it to Mushroom City!"

"You got it, captain!"

Pressing on the accelerator, Mail Toad drove the Mushmellow down the dirt driveway, headed out to get back on the road.

However, he slammed on the brakes again at another Moo Moo crossing, which flung all the people inside the carriage once more- though luckily did not damage the noodles and cheese they just made.

After it was still, the driver spoke meekly. "...Sorry."

---

"If we're gonna get these leafy seasonings, we're gonna have to go to… the shady part of town."

Captain Toad's words accented their journey into the sprawling metropolis of Mushroom City, welcoming their current objective to locate this mysterious and dark section of this otherwise glimmering city.

Toad's Turnpike was the major road passing through town, acting as an attachment to the interstate connecting the city to other cities in town, including Toad Town or Rose Town. As a massive street with many lanes, it was also held up on the same level as some of the high-level buildings.

The brothers and princess discovered very quickly that Captain Toad was being literal: this area where the seasonings they needed resided in was the shady part of town because it was placed underneath one of the lengthy overpasses for Toad's Turnpike.

Parking the Mushmellow at the border of the overpass' shade, they all stepped out, Peach stepping out last. The princess had adopted a disguise to walk through the shady part of Mushroom City; she didn't necessarily need one, but she loved dressing up. She wore a pastel pink trench coat and a round cap resembling a Toad's cap, with pink dots.

With her collars popped up, Peach kept her face obscured while looking at the many strange figures ruminating in the area.

"I don't think you're gonna need that, Peach."

"You never know what lurks in the dark, Mario. You never know…"

They were approached by a large being with a palm tree sprouting from its head- a Pianta, a native from the Sunshine Isles, migrated to the primary part of the Mushroom Kingdom.

"Wow, what a cool looking vehicle. I wonder how far those tires can go…"

Before the blue-colored Pianta could investigate, Bank Toad quickly bounced onto all fours and hissed loudly like a cat, eyes wide. Freaked out by the green Toad's weirdness, the Pianta ran away before it could possibly do anything to the Mushmellow.

Bank Toad stood back up, dusting himself off. "That's what I thought."

"You're unhinged and I love it." Mail Toad said, patting his back.

"Are you sure you wanna leave the car parked here?" Mario asked Captain Toad.

"It'll be fine! Nap Toad's inside, he'll protect it."

"...okay, then."

With Bank Toad's display of ownership keeping the Mushmellow safe… for now, the group all started walking into the shadows to enter the spice market. Keeping up the back, Mario walked alongside Captain Toad, looking around.

The stalls were decorated with many different things; some had flashing lights, some had electronic signs. Even though it was called the spice market, the stalls here sold much more than just spices.

He felt eyes on him, though was surprised to find that the attendants for the stalls weren't all Toads- most of them were people from other places. He saw Hoohooligans, Nokis, more Piantas, and even what appeared to be big anthropomorphic Raccoons. Yet Mario still felt like the odd one out.

"Uh, Captain Toad…" Mario said as they walked, looking down at the Toad. "How, exactly, did you find this place?"

"Well, Mushroom City is my hometown. I used to come here all the time as a sprout."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Me and uh… Me and my spore sibling, Little Toadie…"

Captain Toad trailed off, clearly thinking back to his sibling. He looked over, peering at a piece of graffiti that was up on one of the pillars for the overpass between two stands. It was like a half-circle of black paint, with two devil horns of white spray painted from the top. It was the symbol for the local criminals in Mushroom City: the Truffle Gang.

Pausing for a second, Captain Toad stared at the graffiti, looking longingly and solemnly. After a second of recollection, he sighed, and quickly caught up with the group again to carry on.

They headed in further. Peach held her collar up tighter, spying at the people behind the stands. Now any person who knew Princess Peach, which was anyone in the Mushroom Kingdom and beyond, knew that she loved the color pink. So seeing a woman with blonde hair (even coming out of a mushroom cap) with a totally pink outfit made anyone immediately know who the disguised person was.

But the people in the spice market didn't care; again, she didn't really need a disguise. Even the deepest and darkest of people in the kingdom loved the princess. Or, at the very least, they respected her for her obvious compassion.

Luigi hummed to himself as he looked over the selections at the stands.

As he walked further in, he saw under a set of lights that there were some select dairy products available. What caught Luigi's eye was what seemed to be a wedge of parmesan that was front and center. The green plumber stopped, his brother bumping into his back.

Before Mario could ask his brother what he was doing, Luigi pointed out the wedge of cheese. Both of them immediately rushed to the front of the stand.

"What kinda cheese is this one?" Mario asked.

The attendant was a Toadette, one with a black cap and purple stripes. She was clearly an alternative kind of Toadette; she had on black clothing, dark makeup, with a lip piercing and "earrings" that were daggers pointed downwards.

"Hard cheese aged a year." She deadpanned.

"Is it granular?"

"Like grainy? Yeah."

Mario and Luigi glanced at each other- this cheese sounded just like parmesan. The red one dug into his pockets quickly.

"How much?"

"Seven coins."

Paying without objection, Mario picked up the wedge of parmesan.

"Thank you!" Luigi said.

"You're welcome." The goth Toadette replied blandly, counting her coins. "Enjoy your Goomba's milk cheese."

Both brothers tensed at the revelation of what the parmesan was made from. They both looked at the cheese, then each other. After a second, both of them silently settled on just not talking about the source of the cheese, but rather the authenticity. Mario stuffed it in Luigi's backpack and carried on with him.

Left behind, they caught back up with the group. They were gathered around one of the other stands up ahead, and Peach looked back to watch the brothers approach.

"Mario, Luigi," She greeted them. "Are these the kinds of seasonings you're after?"

Passing through the Toad Brigade, the brothers stood on either side of the princess to look at this stand's selection. There were many glass bottles of powders, clearly spices to give the market its proper namesake.

Mario stroked his mustache. He could identify most of them- like the coarse powders of pepper and salt, but the brothers already had that at home. Other powders, like a blue and purple one, were those that he was much more wary about.

"What kinda spices do you have?" He asked.

The stand attendant was a Beanish, the native people of the Beanbean Kingdom. They were just as short as Toads, with green heads that had a little leaf sprout on the very top. This Beanish was wearing an outfit that had a red shirt.

"Ah, are you interested in my pulverized flavor beans?" The Beanish Merchant asked. "We have many of a selection, some of which are not even beans! Please look at them all."

Knowing they couldn't get a taste of all the spices as it was not socially acceptable, they all settled on testing it the only other way: through smell.

The blue one smelled sweet and the purple had a bit of an umami kick to it. Other spices included a really woodsy tasting one and one that was very mellow, almost like cilantro. Due to their strange colors (orange and brown) the Bros decided against them.

Note Toad picked up one that had red powder in it. He opened it and smelled it, but slowly his face turned just as red as the powder. One of his friends noticed.

"Note Toad…" Archivist Toadette said softly. "You okay?"

"So… Hot…"

The words attracted the brothers. Luigi took the spice from the overheating Toad, opening it and smelling it himself. His eyebrows raised and cheeks flushed.

"Bro, this smells just like a'chili flakes!"

Mario smelled it as well when offered. "Oh wow, yeah, that smells just like it!" He looked at the Beanish Merchant. "What's this one made of?"

"Red peppers found within the Beanbean Kingdom!"

"Well a'that explains it."

"Is this spaghetti… Spicy?" Note Toad croaked out, now being fanned by the archivist and treasurer.

"Not really, but we could always add a little for some authenticity." Luigi replied. "It won't a'be too bad, I promise. It's certainly never made me overheat, and I can barely handle spice."

"Okay…"

"I got this." Peach said, pulling her purse around. "How much?"

"Ten coins, princess!"

"Shhh!"

"Oh, sorry! Ten coins, woman I do not know the identity of!"

The princess pulled out the coins and handed it over to the Beanish Merchant. Mario stuffed the bottle of red powder into Luigi's backpack as well.

"Is that everything we need?" Captain Toad asked.

"I mean, it's fine, but… We were really looking forward to some a'true Italian seasonings." Mario replied. "Oregano, thyme… The leafy stuff. That's what we came here for, really."

"Is it really that important?"

"It'll make it taste authentic!" Luigi said defensively to the archivist. "Just like it used to be back a'home."

"Looking for something to help it taste like it used to?"

The Beanish Merchant caught the group's interest.

"What are you offering?" Mario asked.

"Well, you did not hear this from me…" The Beanish leaned on his counter to talk to them. "But all the way in the back, the furthest back in the spice market, past the hanging dark moss, there is a merchant who sells a special ingredient that makes food taste just like their mothers used to make."

"Really?"

"Among other things… But that's the main selling point."

"Hm…" Mario stroked his mustache, and talked to Luigi. "What a'do you think, paisano? Should we go for that?"

"I dunno, it could be too risky to use a mystery ingredient. W-We don't even know what itsa made of, or if it would taste that good. The whole meal will be ruined, if awful."

The Beanish Merchant tensed. "I-If what?!"

"...If… Awful?"

"Oh." The merchant sighed with relief. "Sorry, I thought… You said something else."

"I think we should go for it." Peach continued. "What do we have to lose?"

"...fair point. The only thing at this a'point we'd have to lose is the tomato."

"There's still authentic meals we could a'make with the noodles, without the sauce."

"True… Alright, let's give it a shot."

Peach dug into her purse and gave an extra coin to the merchant. "Thank you for your help."

"You're welcome, not-the-princess!"

Following the merchant's directions, the group journeyed further and further into the spice market, deeper and deeper into the dark. The stands started selling either junk or very, very weird things. It was just like the edge of the farmer's market back at Toad Town.

Reaching the back border, they discovered the hanging moss that the Beanish Merchant mentioned. If they didn't know it was supposed to be there, they would have assumed it was the back wall of the market.

They were hesitant. The Toads gently shoved Mario forwards to go first. The plumber sighed, slightly annoyed, before pressing through the hanging vegetation.

Beyond the border was the very edge of the overpass, the "ceiling" of their area slanted as they were where the overpass tilted down to join ground level again. The area was spacious, but only had a single large stand up against the slanted part of the bridge's underside. There was an old sign above the stand's counter, with letters that were supposed to be nailed on. A few were hanging incorrectly, and one of the letters was obviously missing entirely.

COSTLY K_NG

There wasn't anyone behind the counter. Slowly, the brothers and princess carried on, backed up by the Toad Brigade just in case.

"...hello?" Mario called out.

"Hello."

The deep voice echoed back to Mario. Suddenly, the merchant swung in from the shadows to stand behind the counter. He certainly wasn't a Toad, but he clearly wasn't any other local either- possibly not even a human. He had long arms, short legs. His face was mostly obscured by the hood of the massive black hoodie sweater it had on.

He smiled, showing his teeth.

"Haven't had a guest in a while." The merchant, Costly, said. "Pardon my dust."

One of the letters on his sign fell off again, the K, which stuck itself into the ground.

"...No problem. You should a'see my room back home." Mario replied, trying to stay nonchalant. "We're here because we heard you have some kind of seasoning that can make food taste like mamma used to make?"

"Ahh, you mean the Bayjavu."

Reaching under the counter, the merchant put a small glass container on the counter, filled with what could be confused for something like parsley, but… glowing. It was green but glimmered purple and yellow.

Hesitantly, Mario took the container to look it over.

"Coming from the deepest recesses of the Wooded Kingdom," Costly said, starting his sales pitch. "This mystic seasoning is allegedly able to replicate the desired taste of the person who uses it. Meaning if you used it on a home cooked meal, it'll taste just like it did when you were a little kid."

"H-How does it a'do that?" Luigi called out.

"Magical augmentation, my friend. It brings memories to life. Literally."

Mario opened the container and smelled the seasoning. Suddenly, the smell of his mother's classic seasoning blend filled his nose. Oregano, parsley, thyme, bay leaves. It only made his homesickness worse.

He needed a moment, staring at the container in amazement.

"Works well, don't it?" The merchant smiled again, showing all his teeth.

"Luigi… Smell this."

The younger brother did, giving it a whiff. He was surprised at the scent as well, but shivered after a second.

"Smells like mamma's lasagna… With a side of remembering King Boo."

"That's the reason it's not widely used." Costly said. "It has a side effect. There's a chance it'll invoke negative memories of the user instead of the happy ones."

"What a'percent of a chance?"

"Sixty."

"S-Sixty percent?!" Luigi looked at Mario. "Bro, I dunno…"

Mario thought to himself, looking over the container again. This thing was magical in nature… He was just coming to terms that magical things existed, have existed, and according to what Peach told him that her father said, has been around since the dawn of man. It was volatile and very dangerous to use it.

Then again, he'd give anything to taste his mamma's cooking again.

He sighed. "We gotta try."

"Good." The merchant said. "If you're interested… That'll be fifty coins."

Peach stepped up, digging through her purse again. As she did, Luigi nudged Mario and whispered to him.

"Looks like you don't have to be a plumber anymore since you're her sugar baby…"

"Luigi, not a'now." Mario growled back.

After getting the coins, the princess held them out to put in Costly's hand. The merchant reached out- now that he wasn't moving quickly, the group could properly see what his hand looked like.

It was much bigger than a human's, with longer fingers. Poking out from the end of the sleeve was thick brown… hair? Or maybe fur. This guy was either really hairy or wasn't human.

Mario's eyebrows raised. Was this guy an ape or something?

Costly took the coins and smiled again. "Pleasure doing business with ya."

"Thank you, Peach."

"It's nothing, Mario. Now let's get out of here before someone steals the Mushmellow with Nap Toad still in it."

With the Toad Brigade still accompanying them, the trio led the group out, pushing past the vine-like hanging moss to return to the spice market.

"Be careful with the Bayjavu!" Costly called after them. "Too much spice will spoil the meal!"

---

"Nice of the princess to invite us over for the meal, eh Luigi?"

"I hope she made losta spaghetti…"

The Bros were walking up the path to the front door of the Castle Toadstool, passing over the bridge of the moat as they chatted to one another. It was the day after they had gathered everything, and Peach decided to make a small shindig of the entire "spaghetti" thing. It was going to be a very special luncheon.

As they approached the front doors, both were opened by a set of Guard Toads for them. They were greeted in the front entrance hall by Toadsworth, who seemed to be waiting for them specifically.

"Master Mario, Master Luigi."

"Heya, Toadsworth."

"Hi." Luigi waved a little.

"I was told you would be arriving around noon. Princess Toadstool has instructed me to show you to the dining hall for the impending luncheon."

"Lead the way, then."

"Yes yes, tally-ho!"

His cane clicking against the tiled floor, Toadsworth led the brothers back into the palace.

Headed through a door beside the entrance hall's steps, Toadsworth led Mario and Luigi down a long hallway that didn't seem to exactly fit within the parameters of the castle's floor. It seemed like it was far too large to be placed where it was… A spatial paradox that Mario decided not to think too hard about.

They passed by different doors, and large paintings that were placed on the wall between said doors. Luigi took a glance at them as he passed each one, quickly discovering that these were paintings of the last monarchs of the Mushroom Kingdom.

It was hard for him to figure that out because all of the previous kings and queens looked exactly like the current King and Queen, with very minor differences. Different cap colors, different eyes, etc., but otherwise they looked identical to the current king and queen.

There was an indistinct chatter that grew louder as Mario and Luigi reached a door at the end of the corridor. Using his cane, Toadsworth opened the door for the brothers once he reached it, gesturing for them to go on inside.

The old Toad stayed behind, closing the door back as Mario and Luigi walked into the dining hall. The chatter from before was from the Toad Brigade- they were all seated at the large table and talking amongst one another.

Gliding around the table, Peach served bread to the group for them to eat first. She was truly encapsulating an authentic Italian eating experience.

She smiled wider when she saw the brothers. "Mario, Luigi!"

"Hi princess."

"Hey, Peach."

The princess walked over, leaving the Toads to all chat to each other.

"I'm happy you're here. I don't know how much bread I can feed to the Toad Brigade before they start chanting for spaghetti."

"We're a'here to cook!" Mario replied cheerily. "Or, at least Luigi is."

"So many people, so little tomato… Mamma Mia…"

"It'll be fine, Luigi." Peach reassured him. "We can make it work! The Toads probably just want to get a taste of the spaghetti, so do I. You two will get a real taste!"

"I sure hope so…"

Behind the brothers, the door opened again, pushed open by Toadsworth's cane. In strode the queen, who nodded to the old Toad as she walked in.

"Thank you, Toadsworth."

She was in her standard day attire, and laying on her arm, resting against her body, was Mips. The rabbit was loafed out, ears laid back across his body as the queen used her free hand to pet him, the bunny without a care in the world.

"Hello, mother."

"Good evening, Peach." Chanterelle nodded. She looked at the brothers. "Mario. Luigi."

"Your highness."

"A pleasure to see you, Queen Toadsworth."

"Mmhm." The queen turned her attention back to her daughter. "I heard you're making a regional dish? One from where Mario and Luigi come from."

"Yeah, spaghetti! Noodles in sauce using tomato."

"Tomato…" Chanterelle hummed. "I think I've had that before, at a summit meeting."

"I've eaten one in my day, my lady." Mips spoke, though relaxed. "They're very hearty. Very delicious. I'm sure this 'spaghetti' is phenomenal."

"I'll have to see for myself. If… I'm allowed to have some?" The queen raised her eyebrow.

"You can have some of mine, mother. I'm already splitting it a bunch of ways, why not another?"

"I'll only take a bite. I don't want much, just in case I don't like it. That's always a possibility."

"Not like spaghetti? You'd have to have dead a'taste buds for that."

"We'll see about that, Mario. I'll be back within the hour- I need to take Mips back to my bedroom so he can take a nap. He's so sleepy…"

Chanterelle continued to pet Mips, watching the tired rabbit's eyes close. She nodded once more at her daughter, before turning to walk out to give her pet a bed.

"...I swear, my parents have taken a liking to Mips more than I have. And I'm the one who brought him here." Peach commented once her mother was gone.

"Another mouth to feed…"

"You're fine, paisano. Don't sweat it." Mario pat Luigi's back. "Letsa get to that kitchen."

"Right! Follow me, you two."

The kitchen was right next to the dining hall, connected with a set of swinging doors on the side wall. It was massive, taking up twice as much room as the dining hall. A few Toads were present in the kitchen, though they were only prepping ingredients for that night's dinner to be made with little obstacle.

On one of the main tables was the tomato, the bundles of pasta, some mozzarella and, of course, the bottle of Bayjavu amongst other spices and seasonings.

"Pans are here, pots are here…"

The princess continued to glide across the room to get the cooking appliances out, and even started up the stove for the brothers as Luigi got himself ready for cooking.

"You really know your way around a'this place, Peach."

"I've spent many days here, baking. I'm quite the pâtissière."

Luigi put a pair of pots on the stove, filling one with water and putting refined coconut oil in the other. With Mario's help chopping ingredients, Luigi slid in diced onion, green pepper and garlic. Peach assisted as well, instructed on how to make the noodles properly by the Bros.

They chopped up the tomato and put it in, mushing it a little in order to properly make a sauce, adding in some more water. Luigi added in the seasonings- save for the Bayjavu- in order to reach a flavor that reminded him of home. It didn't match exactly, naturally, but he was still fairly satisfied with the end result.

Peach, with Mario on the assist, created another set of garlic bread. Once the noodles were done, the princess drained them before bringing it over to the pot with the sauce. They combined everything together, with Mario and Peach watching on either side of Luigi as the green plumber stirred it all to combine.

The small pot was only filled up halfway. The sauce was stretched across two bundles of pasta- enough for three plates if they were lucky. Luigi frowned as he looked at the small batch they created.

"All a'this pasta for so little people…"

"It'll work, bro. Like I said, don't sweat it."

"Oh! Don't forget that special herb!"

Peach handed over the bottle of Bayjavu. Luigi took it, visually conflicted with using it- either they were using a magical seasoning that could do something bad… Or they were scammed and this was ground up bay leaf.

He gently sprinkled some of the seasoning into the pasta dish, and stirred it around. The leaves still glimmered in the light, much like they did in the bottle. He used a fork to eat some of the spaghetti.

Suddenly, he was overtaken with the smell and taste of the same spaghetti he would have when he was a kid. It tasted just like the kind of pasta his mother would make, even if half of those ingredients weren't here in the Mushroom Kingdom. The salesman was right: this herb did bring those old flavors back.

Luigi's eyes widened. He took another forkful and turned to Mario.

"Bro, try it!"

Cautiously, Mario took the fork and ate some. His eyebrows raised up as well, amazed by the taste of the pasta much like Luigi was.

"Mamma Mia…"

"Uh, guys?"

Peach's voice made the brothers turn- they looked back at the pot in time to see it suddenly lurch upwards and still. It seemed that whatever just happened, more pasta was added back into the dish than before.

"...did the pasta just a'grow?" Luigi asked.

"I think it did, bro."

"That might be one of the effects of that magic augmentation that the merchant mentioned." Peach said. "It's multiplying the pasta after it's stirred in."

"Which means… We could a'have more pasta for everyone."

Luigi's statement made Mario and Peach glance at one another.

"Bro… Are you sure you'd wanna do that?" The red plumber inquired. "There's still that a'side effect."

"What negative emotions could it leech from? When Mamma made it bad? Mamma's worst spaghetti still tastes better than any restaurant in Brooklyn. Besides, with a'this, everyone can have a full plate!"

"Hm… I guess. Plus it would be nice if we had enough to save…" Mario tapped his nose. "...alright. Letsa give it a shot!"

"This'll be interesting." Peach commented.

Luigi nodded. He started sprinkling more Bayjavu into the spaghetti, only up to three tablespoons. He didn't want to go too crazy after all. Too much would spoil the pot, as that merchant told them.

It was right that the worst emotions that the Bros could have of the spaghetti was when it wasn't made to peak perfection. The sixty percent chance was a very large gamble to go against, but even if the spaghetti wasn't the absolute best, it would still taste like home.

But there was one issue that the three hadn't considered in their quest for nostalgic cooking: it wasn't confined to replicating memories of cooking, it used memories of all kinds. Which meant it could include memories of pure horror, especially from someone easily frightened.

And they let Luigi sprinkle it in.

The pasta lurched up to the edge of the pot, multiplying to fill it completely after the plumber sprinkled in all the Bayjavu he needed. It all seemed to shine, then rumble for a moment, before going completely still.

Luigi slowly put the bottle down. "I think itsa ready."

"It certainly smells divine!" The princess smiled. "This'll be great! Come on Mario, help me get all the other things out."

The princess and plumber carried out the garlic bread, the spices (including a pile of the red powder) and a full log of fresh mozzarella. Luigi carried the pot of spaghetti behind them, smiling a bit as familiar smells filled his nose.

After Peach and Mario put the other foodstuffs on the table, Luigi came up to the end and put down the pasta, soon joined by his brother and the princess at his sides. The Toad Brigade immediately quieted down, all interested in the food. Even Nap Toad was awake, taking a long sip of his drink to keep himself awake.

"Well," Peach spoke up. "Firstly, I'd like to thank all of you for your help! We managed to make enough for everyone to get a full plate, so we hope you all enjoy! I present to all of you…"

Luigi smiled and tilted the pot slightly.

"Spaghetti! Bon…"

The pot suddenly rumbled again, rattling against the table hard enough to shake it slightly, making Luigi drop it back on the table. The three looked into the spaghetti pot, and suddenly saw the noodles start to slither around, as if they were alive.

Luigi spoke small. "...appetit?"

With a powerful blast of spaghetti sauce, the pasta multiplied tenfold and launched out from the pot, as if the dish was a bottomless pit full of spaghetti. Mario, Luigi and Peach all stepped back, covering their faces from the splattering sauce. All of the Toad Brigade watched the moving spaghetti in horror from their seats.

Influenced by years of irrational fears, nightmares and the terrifying misadventures that's been going on for the last few months, the spaghetti expanded further into a massive sentient pile of food possessed by Luigi's worst thoughts. Two pieces of fresh mozzarella made eyes at the very top of the pile, looking down at the group.

With a mouth full of fluttering noodles, it roared (somehow without lungs) at the entire room, clearly hostile. It raised a tentacle of pasta and whipped downwards, immediately slicing the entire table in half.

The Toad Brigade all ran, though discovered one half of the table was thrown against the exit door- the same for the brothers and princess, as the kitchen doors were sealed off with a massive pile of spaghetti thrown against it.

All three of them dove behind the other half of the table for cover.

While they were shielded, the Toad Brigade all screamed in terror as they continued to dodge the whipping noodle arms of the spaghetti monster. Peach watched them for a second by peeking over the top of the table.

She looked at the brothers. "We have to help them!"

"I don't wanna be slapped with noodles!" Luigi replied defensively. "How can a'something so gorgeous be so deadly? I thought I only sought that out in dating…"

"Mario! Do you have any power-ups on you?"

"I'm a'fresh out, Peach." Mario pulled out his pockets to show her. "I left them all at home!"

"I just a'wanted to experience home again…"

"I know, bro, I know."

Mario hugged the distraught Luigi. Peach looked back at the scattering Toad Brigade, thinking to herself. The monster flung a heaping spaghetti pile at Note Toad, who just barely ducked in time to evade being hit with a massive amount of sauce.

The princess saw the sauce slide down the wall, and saw the bits of onion and bell pepper in it. Her eyebrows raised as she got an idea.

"Wait. We just used noodles, sauce and seasoning right?"

"Yes! Why's a'that important, Peach?"

"Shouldn't it still be edible?"

Their hug ended, Mario and Luigi looked at one another as it seemed they got the same idea that the princess had.

Suddenly, the cover they were using was hit by saucy noodles, which wrapped around the table half and started to lift it up. The mozzarella eyes of the beast were on their level, clearly seeking the hiding trio out to attack them next.

Mario grabbed Luigi's arm and hustled away in a retreat. Peach got up to her feet, grabbing one of the chairs from the table and swinging it into the face of the spaghetti monster. It took out some noodles and sauce, but the beast was otherwise fine.

The princess threw the chair into the eyes of the monster to daze it and tried to run, but found herself at the end of the room. As the monster reformed itself again, Peach looked for anything that could help her.

Near her foot on the floor was the bowl she had set out with that spicy red powder in it, with only a little still in it after being tossed to the ground. As she reached down and grabbed it, she suddenly found her body constricted by the monster's tentacles, lifting her up.

"Peach!"

Mario's yell was background to the massive beast lifting up the defiant princess. As she was turned around, Peach tore her arm through the noodles wrapped around her- with her eyes shut tightly, she blew the rest of the red powder from the bowl into the face of the spaghetti monster.

The heat of the powder was enough for even the monster to feel it. The beast roared again, letting go of Peach, allowing her to float to the ground safely with a sparkling skirt.

Bewildered, the beast started moving backwards, as if trying to move away from the powder. Behind it was Mario and Luigi, who were still together after escaping.

Luigi took a step back but nudged something with his foot- the fresh mozzarella, still intact but now on the floor. Though the cheese was probably ruined from falling to the ground, it still had a chance of being useful during this dinner.

"Bro!"

Picking up the warmed mozzarella, Luigi stretched it out and whipped it to his brother, who grabbed it on instinct. Mario and Luigi stepped backwards, stretching the milky white cheese as far as it could go.

The stretched cheese acted as a tripwire that caught on the bottom half of the spaghetti monster, tripping it backwards before the cheese broke entirely.

Narrowly missing the escaping members of the Toad Brigade, the monster fell onto its back, stunned and down for the count. Peach stepped up on one half of the broken table, which was now tilted to become a ramp for her to stand tall.

"Toad Brigade!" She yelled. "Let's eat!"

Throwing the cheese off his gloves, Mario ran to the monster with Luigi. "Bon appetit!"

The Toad Brigade quickly caught on to what was requested. The monster snapped out of its daze far too late, as the inhabitants of the room descended onto its edible body like wild animals.

They shoveled handfuls of the spaghetti into their mouths, tearing apart the creature's form bit by bit, chomping down on its limbs one by one. They used forks to trap the monster's noodles like a spool, they poured parmesan on its body to slow it down, they constricted its limbs between two pieces of garlic bread and chomped down.

The creature let out one more roar before the Toad Brigade tore apart its face and ate it like rabid beasts themselves. Once they were done, the room was practically painted red, as were the outfits of everyone present.

Mario picked up one of the chairs from the table and collapsed back into it. He took off his hat and rubbed his forehead, leaving a red streak across it like he was some kind of lion prince.

"Well! That…" Captain Toad stopped to catch his breath. "That was something."

Archivist Toadette patted his back. "That was delicious. Delicious spaghetti. So much spaghetti…"

"I ate a monster alive… Is this… What predators in the wild feel like?" Bank Toad stared at his hands with wide eyes, opening and closing his fists.

"You're still insane. Still…" Mail Toad groaned a bit, hunched over beside him. "Still love it."

"Where's Nap Toad?"

"Here, cap."

Note Toad showed the captain that his yellow companion was asleep, wearing the pot that held the spaghetti over his face as he snoozed.

"Is he alright?"

"This is a category five food coma, cap'n." The bespectacled blue Toad replied. "He's gonna be asleep for at least a full thirty-six hours."

"Hot diggity…"

Luigi picked up another chair for Peach, sitting it next to Mario for her to sit in. While the pair were seated, the green plumber flopped down onto his back in front of them, letting out a slow groan from everything that just happened.

"What a nice luncheon." The princess commented.

"That was a'something alright."

"Is Luigi okay?"

"He's totally fine. Same thing as a'Nap Toad. Food coma."

"Oh, good. Good…"

Peach relaxed again beside Mario, sighing.

There was a slamming nearby. It hit twice again before the source was found- Queen Chanterelle barged her way in, knocking the table against the door out of the way to enter the wrecked dining hall.

"My goodness. What in the heavens is… going on…?"

What just happened was hard to explain. Not impossible, just hard. Peach was sure that if she told her mother about the magically altering seasoning that they added into the spaghetti, she would totally understand why the dining room was now absolutely destroyed with sauce.

But all Chanterelle saw was the walls, her daughter and others covered in a thick red liquid, with two unresponsive people on the floor. She made a face of horror.

After a second, the queen fell backwards, passing out from shock.

---

The Toads were still cleaning the dining hall when Mario returned the next day.

He walked through awkwardly. The plumber returned to the castle after that accident in order to get back Luigi's backpack, which had been left behind after the green plumber took it off in the kitchen to make spaghetti.

In the haze that was returning back home and sleeping off the ten or so servings of spaghetti they ate, both the brothers neglected to check for the backpack. Peach called up the Bros early that morning to tell them about it, inviting them (or at the very least Mario) over to retrieve it from the first floor kitchen.

"Master Mario!" Toadsworth, who was directing the cleaners, greeted him. "I've been expecting you. You're here to retrieve your brother's item."

"His backpack, yeah."

"It's right in the kitchen. Off you go, pip pip."

Mario walked through the tarp-covered floor, watching the Toad Cleaners use brushes to scrub the walls clean of spaghetti sauce. The kitchen doors were now uncovered, allowing the red plumber to leave the red room.

At the long metal table the Bros were at yesterday was Peach. She was checking over the backpack, dusting it off to make it look presentable.

"Peach?"

"Oh! Mario!" She turned her attention to him. "It's good to see you're doing well. After yesterday, and everything."

"Right… Luigi and I had to scrub our overalls all night to get the red out. Red overalls a'were our Mamma's thing." Mario walked over to join her at the backpack. "Thank you for a'saving this for us."

"It's no big deal. I'm happy to help. Especially because I let the spaghetti lunch get so out of control…"

"Hey, it's not all on a'you, Peach. It was mostly that seasoning… Where's that Bayjavu, anyway?"

"In a very safe and secured part of the undercroft. In a safe and everything- we bought one just for this."

"Oh, good."

Mario pulled the backpack to himself.

"Just gonna… Check through this first." Mario unzipped the bag. "No offense to you. I just don't a'know what kinda Toads may have been snooping through this thing…"

"No offense taken. Better safe than sorry."

With the princess still present, Mario looked through the backpack, counting the many different tools kept there for plumbing jobs, as well as some miscellaneous items that Luigi kept just in case- like a pencil case, for instance.

"Man, when's the last time Luigi's cleaned this thing…?"

"I don't blame him. It looks like the inside of my purse."

"Please, I've seen the inside of your a'bag. It's more organized than my papa's medicine cabinet."

"Well, maybe to you."

Mario chuckled a little, shaking his head. His eyebrows furrowed as he noticed something once he took out the last tool from the backpack- something white and square.

"Whatsa this?"

He pulled the little note card out from the bottom of the backpack, stuck to the lining by one corner with something sticky on it. Mario flipped it over, letting Peach see the familiar cursive writing on the front in blue ink.

Peach blinked, squinting her eyes. "Uh… Is that writing or drawing?"

"Itsa writing," Mario was slightly amazed. "This is Mamma's recipe for biscotti! She was looking for this before we left!"

"How'd it end up in Luigi's backpack? And what's biscotti?"

"Hm… Mamma had Luigi carry her recipe book over for a family dinner at Nonna's house. It must've slipped out a'then." He continued to look it over. "Biscotti… Was one of my Mamma's favorite desserts. They're like cookies."

"Cookies? I love cookies!"

"These aren't like normal cookies. They look different… Taste different."

Peach watched as Mario got that same solemn look on his face from before: homesickness. He stared longingly at the recipe, his thumb rubbing over the title of the recipe written in his mother's blue handwriting.

The princess felt a fire in her. She didn't like seeing him like this… Time for take two, but this time, no more magical herbs.

"Let's make it."

"...scusi?"

"Let's make the biscotti." Peach said again. "The spaghetti stuff… didn't go according to plan. Even if it tasted like your mother's cooking, you were still put in danger, and you didn't really get to savor it. Let's make this. You know I'm good at baking!"

"But I'm… Not." The plumber scratched under his cap, face red as red as that hat. "Last time I made biscotti, it was charcoal. I ended up ruining dinner."

"You won't be alone. I'll show you how it's done." Peach took the recipe from Mario. "Besides, I need someone to translate. Let's just give it a shot, okay?"

Mario stared at Peach, his face still aflame from embarrassment and… something else. Something he couldn't exactly pinpoint; Peach, a princess, was ready and willing to help Mario with this issue, twice over. Maybe it was flattery he was feeling?

He adjusted his hat on his head again, clearing his throat.

"...alright. Letsa go then."

"Yes!"

Though they didn't have everything from the recipe, it was easy to fill in the gaps.

Peach let Mario lead, only assisting every now and then. Having taken off the cap, those gloves and pulling up his sleeves, Mario gathered ingredients and started putting them all together.

Though they didn't have anise, Peach surprised Mario with licorice extract the kitchen had on hand. She also surprised him by presenting him with chocolate chips; apparently cacao was easily harvested on the Sunshine Isles as well.

Mixing everything in a bowl, Mario started cranking a wooden spoon in to try and mix all the flavors together. Peach came up behind him, watching over his shoulder.

"Get in with your hands. Better control."

After a pause, Mario followed the instruction. He put the spoon to the side and moved his bare hands into the bowl, being sure to keep those hairy forearms of his far from the mixture. Mario made a face as he awkwardly folded the mixture together.

Peach laughed lightly in his ear, making Mario's face get redder.

"You're not folding paper, Mario. Here."

Still behind him, the plumber was taken by surprise by the princess reaching over, placing her delicate hands over Mario's. She gently guided his hands to knead the dough together properly, palm over the back of his hand and fingers over fingers.

Mario watched himself knead, his body calming. He slowly turned his head, looking over his shoulder up at Peach behind him.

Noticing immediately, Peach's eyes flicked over to meet Mario's, blue meeting blue. Peach's cheeks were pink, and she smiled at the plumber as they looked at one another. Mario's mustache turned upwards as he smiled too, but returned to the mixture.

As per the instructions, they created logs with the dough that they baked shortly. Once that was done, they sliced the loaves into equal pieces and baked those slices. Mario pulled out the final result- chocolate chip biscotti.

Having rung up Luigi in the meantime, they took a tray of the cookies up to Peach's boudoir, meeting the green plumber there. He was seated next to his Yoshi egg, which he brought along as he felt it was getting lonely.

The green plumber was served coffee and biscotti. Mario and Peach watched as Luigi took a sip of coffee and then a bite of a cookie. He chewed thoughtfully, his eyebrows raising.

"Mario… This tastes like Mamma made it!"

That was enough to make Mario happier than Peach had ever seen him, squeezing his cap to his chest with a big smile. He looked over at the princess, still absolutely elated.

"...Thank you." He said softly.

Peach smiled, reaching over and rubbing his back in reply.

With that settled, the two of them sat with Luigi, all of them enjoying some biscotti and coffee for lunch. When trying the cookies, Mario concurred with Luigi's sentiment about it tasting like home, and Peach found the biscotti absolutely delicious.

They were finally relaxing and enjoying a meal that reminded them of home.

"Man… This really helped." Mario commented. "I didn't know baking was a'so therapeutic."

"Why do you think I do it all the time? If I didn't, I'd probably go crazy."

"With these Toads, Peach, I believe it."

They both chuckled. Luigi swallowed the food in his mouth to talk.

"I'm sure you'd bake a'circles around Mamma! In the sweets department, at least."

"Well, we'll just have to see. I don't want to encroach on her territory."

"She'll adore you, princess. Right, Mario?"

Mario looked at Luigi, who wiggled his eyebrows at his brother to tease him. Knowing everything his brother was implying, Mario rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, Luigi." He deadpanned.

"She sounds interesting. It's just that…" Peach sighed. "I guess I wanted to make something for you to remind you of home because… I haven't found anything out about how to get you back home. I'm no closer than I was weeks ago."

"It's alright, Peach."

"I mean, for the moment. But you guys should get back home! It's hard having to work around my parents' desire to keep these borders closed to everyone and anyone. And unless you two want to go back into that Warp Pipe…"

"N-No!"

"Absolutely not, Peach."

"Then we're back to square one." The princess finished her thought. She sighed again, and started to stir her coffee with one of the biscotti cookies.

Mario felt something similar that Peach felt earlier. He didn't like seeing the princess so down in the dumps like this… It was sad. His mustache tilted as he thought about what to say next, tapping a biscotti in his hand.

"...Well… I'm sure whatever we find…" He said. "We'll find it in due time. There has to be a solution somewhere here… Right now, letsa just focus on the moment. One day at a time."

Peach looked back up at Mario. Slowly, she nodded.

"...I suppose I can do that. But I'll get you both back home. I promise."

"I know, Peach. I know."

There was a poignant pause. Luigi coughed on a piece of biscotti.

"...What about that Power Star thing you got a'from the Shifting Sand Lands?"

Mario's question pulled Peach back. "Oh! Yes! I'm keeping it in my trinket box."

"Do you think it could hold a way for us to get back home?"

"Hm… It could. It did take us out of the Shifting Sand Lands." Peach put her things down. "Let me get it and we'll look."

The princess got up, going back to the flower that held the trinket box.

In the chaos that she experienced involving the spaghetti, she had neglected to remember the thing she learned from Admiral Psathyrella in the very beginning of this nonsense- the stuff about the Question Blocks.

They were made to house the magic of the Power Stars inside of them. The little hardshroom trinket box that Peach had… Was not.

The Admiral's words echoed in Peach's head from the back of her mind when she peeled back those petals and saw the trinket box- and the Power Star- were both now gone without a trace. Her eyes widened, and in horror, she screamed.

Mario and Luigi scrambled up to their feet.

"Peach! Whatsa wrong?!"

"The trinket box is gone!"

"Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-What?!" Luigi stuttered out.

"It's gone! Oh no…" Peach turned back to the brothers. "It's like the Admiral said! The Power Star teleported the trinket box elsewhere because it wasn't made to hold the Power Star!"

"So there's just a super powerful magical artifact just a'loose in the Mushroom Kingdom?"

"Or the world?!"

Peach was tense, but nodded with a grimace on her face. Mario and Luigi glanced at one another, both still in shock and horror.

"Mamma Mia…"

"We gotta find it! Maybe it didn't go far?"

"I'm sure there's someone out in Toad Town that's seen a random pink jewelry box somewhere."

"Then let's go ask before it gets a'too dark out there!"

"Right! Come on!"

Peach grabbed her purse before rushing out, Mario and Luigi following, the latter closing the door behind him. They ran off, away from the boudoir.

Left behind, the Yoshi egg continued to wiggle from the vibration of the running and the door slamming. Ironically brought along to not feel lonely, the green-dotted egg was now completely alone, and after a minute came to a stop on the couch again.

Suddenly, the Yoshi egg shook once, and a crack appeared on the eggshell from a baby dinosaur ready to hatch.