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.

9. 1-9: Mother Of All Problems

"Hey, don't touch that, it's Lord Kamek's cabinet."

At the Green Magikoopa's direction, the Yellow Magikoopa slowly took his hand off of the cabinet's knob, sighing before moving onto another cabinet next to it.

"Why are we not allowed to look in there again?"

"He warned us that it's for his 'special cupware'."

"What, he gets fancy cups but not us? What's he gonna do if we take a sip from one?"

"He said he'd make us join them in the cabinet."

Yellow rolled his eyes. He took a mug from the normal cabinet and started pouring a cup of scorching hot, ultra-black coffee. It was made with activated charcoal, so you know it was nasty. But that's all you can really get in the Dark Lands.

They were in the designated break room for Magikoopas, in one of the highest keeps of Castle Bowser, the tower where Kamek both stayed and watched over. This is where he personally trained and watched over his legion of Magikoopas- from broom riding to giving them their extrasensory bifocals- when he wasn't tending to the many issues of King Koopa.

Using his magic wand, Green dazzled a rock into a pastry. He ate it, sighing. Still tasted like rock.

"Where is Lord Kamek anyway?"

"Probably somewhere spoon feeding that half-wit King Bowser," replied Green. "Have you noticed the king has been cooped up in his room for the last few weeks?"

"He's a cooped Koopa in his coop?"

"Yellow, please, not now."

Yellow rolled his eyes and sipped his coffee. "I've noticed though. Lord Kamek keeps saying it's because he's not feeling well, but everyone in the castle knows it's because he's suffering a block from his plans to unite with that princess he's smitten with."

"The one from the Mushroom Kingdom, right?"

"Yeah, her."

Both of them turned towards the counter, both in time for someone to flutter into the doorway and quietly get to his feet, not alerting either the Yellow or Green Magikoopas that he was present.

"I don't know why he tries," mumbled Yellow. "She's obviously not going to go for someone like him. The last time he had a date was five years ago, and if I remember correctly, that woman ended up moving clear to Goomba Lagoon in order to get away from him."

"Man, really?"

"Oh yeah, she said he could get intense. She even said 'I'm a Kremling and even this is too much for me' when she had her exit interview with Minion Corps. I would know, I was interning there."

"Gosh…" Green was flabbergasted. "I knew the king was a giant meathead, but I didn't know he was awful enough to scare people away like that."

"And what do you think now?"

Both Magikoopas tensed. Yellow dropped his mug, making it shatter on the floor. They both turned around to see the much older, very unamused Magikoopa that was their leader: Kamek.

Kamek was the one and only blue-robed Magikoopa in the entire legion, so it wasn't like they could mistake him for someone else. His brow was heavy, and he didn't even really look angry, just with a stern stony face that looked between the two other magicians.

"L-Lord Kamek!"

"When did you…?"

"The king is a meathead, hm?" deadpanned Kamek, patting the jeweled end of his wand in his palm. "You think he's very… intense? That his intensity scares people away?"

"Lord Kamek—!"

"You two imbeciles could only wish to feel the intense throws of passion that King Koopa feels, even for lowlife turtles like you." Said the older magikoopa, sharply.

"Don't tell the king. Please!"

"Yeah, Lord Kamek, we'll do anything!"

"Anything, eh?"

Green and Yellow glanced at one another.

"Yes—?"

Before the green one could really finish his answer, Kamek blasted him with a blast of shapes and sparkles, making him vanish immediately. The yellow one was unable to properly react before Kamek swept his wand around, blasting him next.

After a second, two mugs clattered on the floor, right side up.

Their eyes were shut for a second, but both Green and Yellow opened their eyes to find their body had been magically morphed into standard sized mugs. They were fully conscious, though didn't feel any discomfort from the transformation process.

Kamek hooked his index and middle fingers in the handles of the newly made mugs. Using his wand, he opened the door to his special cabinet, stuffing his new cupware in with various cups and plates that were suspiciously the same colors as the new mugs.

"You'll make it up to me in due time. Enjoy your sabbatical."

He closed the cabinet's door. Kamek circled his wand, undoing the shattered coffee mug and putting it back on the counter with the half-eaten pastry. Maybe a Goomba would be around to finish those up, those things would eat anything.

Walking out of the break room, the old magikoopa slipped his wand into his sleeve for later. His broom used its bristles as legs, walking behind Kamek as he traveled across the Magikeep.

He put his taloned fingers to his beak in thought. Kamek didn't believe what those idiotic magicians said, but they shared a mentality that was currently afflicting the king. Kamek hadn't seen his king in a while, only periodically checking up on him, giving him his space as he navigated this horrid time for himself.

It ached for Kamek to see his king like this. He wanted to do more, but he knew it was not his place to intrude on the emotional business of Bowser; Kamek typically couldn't keep his beak shut when it came to commenting on his kingly ward's choices and emotional state.

But he had to do something. If the king continued to lay dormant, it would be more than just Magikoopas talking blasphemy about him, it would be all of his minions… Even if Bowser was despondent, Kamek couldn't have that for the king.

He sighed. Enough was enough- time to get the king back on his feet.

Wanting to take as much time to possibly spare him getting in a spat with the king, Kamek walked to the lord's bedroom. He instructed his broom to stay outside, and the broom "sat" down on its bent bristles right outside the door obediently.

Kamek used his magic to open the massive doors, ones that were really only meant to be opened by the king. He poked his head in.

"King Bowser? Are you decent?"

"Yes, Kamek…" rumbled the king from inside.

"Good," the old koopa walked in, waving his wand to close the door behind him. "Hello, your ferociousness."

"Mmmh…"

Laying on his stomach, Bowser had his face buried in his blankets on top of his bed. He was clearly stuck in some kind of rut, as he had been for the past few weeks, rendering him bedridden; seeing this, Kamek sighed. He floated over to the bed and sat on the edge of it.

"You're beginning to worry the Troopas, your ruggedness."

"Are they worried, or are they talking smack?"

Kamek grimaced a little- the king knew his minions pretty well.

"Either way, my lord, you're starting to worry me. You've never had difficulties like this before."

Bowser groaned. "I don't know what's wrong with me… Usually I'm good with coming up with plans. I have artist's block, I guess… All I can think about is how pretty Peach is and it's making me nervous."

"Of course it is," sighed Kamek. "My lord, you have nothing to be anxious about. Whatever you come up with pertaining to Princess Toadstool will no doubt sweep her off her feet and capture her heart."

"She deserves something flashy! Something that'll really make her impress her. A gambit of some kind, one I can use to segue into a line. Like, fishing her out of a big fishbowl and saying that she's the best catch I've ever had!"

"…not your best one, my lord."

"I know! That's the issue!" Bowser groaned, picking up his head so he rested his chin on the bed. "Maybe it should be massive. We should organize the Troopas, the Shy Guys, Dry Bones, Bullet Bills- heck, we can even include the Goombas! We'll have a wide-scale invasion of the Mushroom Kingdom!"

"Or," The older koopa said softly, putting his hand on Bowser's shell reassuringly. "Instead of possibly wasting our resources and the current peace we have by invading a major kingdom of the world and starting another war… We could do something small."

"…No Goombas then?"

"Smaller."

"No Bullet Bills."

"Smaller."

"…I dunno, the Shy Guys might be necessary."

"Bowser." Kamek said sternly.

Anyone else in the king's subordinates would've been flambéed for calling the king by his name. But for Kamek, his once caretaker, Bowser sighed in annoyance knowing the magikoopa was right in scolding him for being purposefully obtuse.

"Fine. Fine!" The king barked. "What do you suggest then, Kamek?"

"Just a small extraction team, your rancorousness. A group of, say, seven Koopas."

"Who would be leading this team?"

"I'm currently down two senior magikoopas, but I have a Red Magikoopa that's ready and willing to assist, my lord. I can go assemble this extraction team at a moment's notice."

"…what about my pickup line?"

"I'm sure your… skill, with coming up with those lines will allow you to think of one before she arrives."

"Well… I guess there's no pressure to try and think of one that has to do with the plan." Bowser grumbled. "Alright, we'll give it a shot. If anything it'll help me get through my artist's block."

"Splendid outlook, my lord. I'll go assemble the team now. You get your rest."

"Mmhm."

The king put his face back in the blankets. Figuring Bowser would take a nap, Kamek floated out of the room to retrieve his broom, using his magic to shut the door tightly behind him. After he did, King Bowser sighed wistfully, thinking of the princess who has captured his heart.

---

"I r-really hope the egg didn't fall…"

Luigi ran his gloved hand over the top of the yoshi egg he had. It now had a large, noticeable crack at the top of it, one that the brothers hadn't really noticed until recently. They had become so concerned with locating that trinket box that they didn't even see the crack in the egg until recently.

"It'll be fine, bro. Maybe itsa finally gonna hatch."

Sitting in the basement of Toadstool Castle, the Mario Bros were hanging out with Peach, sharing a lunch with her in front of Duchess, her fierce Chain Chomp. With the ability to make pasta now available, they were able to craft mushroom stuffed shells that they were enjoying for their meal together, indoor picnic style. Though the basement was weirdly dimmer than usual that day… Maybe it was nothing.

The princess flung one of the shells to Duchess using her fork like a catapult, feeding the Chain Chomp. Impaling another shell and feeding herself next, Peach used her free hand to turn through Archivist Toadette's research journal.

"Though they don't have anything about yoshis in here," she said, still reading. "Everything I'm finding about eggs says that extended periods of incubation will most likely encourage eggs to hatch. We have been covering it with blankets ever since Luigi came back from Toadwood."

"I was-a told that the yoshi eggs hatch when they feel loved." Luigi replied, gently petting the egg. "We haven't really been doing many loving things to it…"

Mario swallowed thickly, after shoving five or so shells into his mouth to eat at once. "…Wrapping it up in that-a blanket might be loving enough to help it hatch. Though if you really want it to come out, you can always sit on top of it, bro."

"Be serious, paisano." Luigi replied. "I don't w-want-a this yoshi to hatch prematurely… It'll already be stressful taking care of a freakin' dragon-dinosaur-thing, I don't want to make it come out before itsa ready."

"If the yoshi hatch quicker when they feel loved, then the only way they could be premature is if the egg is broken early! Since it's cracked, I think it wants to come out," the princess said. "Still, I'm sure there are resources around here that'll help if a premature hatching happens!

"Itsa definitely gonna be hard. But the point is, bro, you're not gonna be alone."

The sentiment was appreciated by Luigi, who smiled a bit in reply.

Before anything else could be discussed, the sound of metal scraping suddenly filled the area. Duchess, still in her pen, was acting strange: rocking back and forth, she was rubbing the side of her head against a few of the pipes, her back to the three that were sitting nearby. It was like she was scratching herself.

"What the…?"

"Duchess?" Peach called out to the Chain Chomp. "You okay, girl?"

No response- instead, Duchess just kept rocking against the poles that made up her pen wall.

"What's wrong with her, Peach?"

"I don't… Know…" The princess squinted, trying to see her. "Why is it so dark in here? Do either of you have a light on you?"

"I have one, princess!"

Luigi fished out the flashlight he had in his backpack, a new one he just bought in Mushroom City. He walked over to the side of Duchess, the side she was scratching against the bars, with Mario and Peach on either side of him. He clicked the flashlight on and shined it onto the Chain Chomp.

All across Duchess' side was… something. It was a bunch of small, bristly and black things that were latched onto the Chain Chomp. When the light shined onto them, these creatures opened their eyes and mouths, not making any noise but greeting them with deranged expressions.

Shocked into silence, Luigi's shaking hand followed the strange fuzzy creatures from the Chain Chomp to the bars of the pen, leading all the way up to the ceiling. The reason that the room was dim wasn't because the lights were covered by these creatures; no, instead these creatures were covering the entire ceiling, all of them opening their eyes and mouth once noticed.

Fortunately, this was a situation where Luigi wasn't the only one horrified. He, his brother and the princess all let out a scream of absolute terror at the sight of these strange creatures.

Once regaining herself, Peach yelled again in realization. "Duchess!"

She lunged to the bars, using Super Mushroom strength to bend them wide open. The creatures were the size of beach balls, and when the princess tried to grab them with both of her hands, the razor-sharp bristles of the creature passed right through her gloves and nipped her hands.

"Owww!"

While stumbling backwards, Peach shrunk down to her smaller form from the damage, the quill-like bristles of the creatures still stuck in her gloves. She took them off quickly.

Though the Chain Chomp had terrorized them so long ago, Mario knew that the large metal beast meant a lot to Peach- and to be honest, the plumber really liked the Chain Chomp too, once the pet stopped trying to kill everything she saw.

Grabbing the tray of shells, Mario held it by either handles on the end and flung the shells inside the hole the princess made, sending them across the pen. As they flew by the opened eyes of these fuzzy creatures, they quickly zipped down the Chomp's chain, scooting across the ground and going to the food to feast on it.

Mario went to the hole in the bars, gesturing for Duchess to come with him.

"C'mon, girl, letsa go!"

The Chain Chomp looked at Mario with big eyes, clearly equally freaked out by the creatures that were infesting the basement. She quickly passed through the bars, and Mario grabbed onto one of the chain links attached to her, pulled along.

While his brother helped the Chain Chomp, Luigi had gotten another Super Mushroom out of his backpack (putting the yoshi egg back in there first) and gave it to Peach, helping her grow back to her normal size. As Duchess passed out of the pen, Mario reached out, grabbing Luigi's arm.

Luigi was pulled up by his brother, and Peach was able to hop on by herself. They stood on the chain to slide across the ground as Duchess left the infested basement and headed upstairs.

In the front foyer of the palace, standing on the sun decal, King and Queen Toadstool where with Toadsworth, discussing something private with their adviser. Mushroom had Mips resting on one of his arms, using his free hand to pet the rabbit.

The double doors leading to the basement were closed, with Toad Guards on the outside playing rock-paper-scissors as they stood around doing nothing. They were doing best-nineteen-out-of-twenty, and they were on their third round, ready to decide who was going to win this stressful tourney.

Too bad that day would never come. Both doors to the basement flung open, knocking both of the guards away and across the ground as Duchess came ripping out and into the foyer, with the princess and the plumbers both hanging onto her chain for dear life.

As they sped towards the monarchs, their old adviser stepped in front of them, slamming the end of his cane on the ground to echo out through the room.

"HALT!"

At the loud command from the old Toad, Duchess skidded to a stop, staring down at him.

Toadsworth cleared his throat and nodded to the others. "Her Royal Highness; Masters Mario and Luigi. It is good to see you again."

"Peach?" Chanterelle walked around to look at the three behind the Chain Chomp. "What in blue blazes is going on here? Why is Duchess out of her pen? We talked about taking her on walks at night, did we not?"

"Mother, there's these weird creatures down in the basement!" Peach said as she hopped off of Duchess' chain, joined by Mario and Luigi. "They were messing with Duchess so I had to take her out of her pen! They're strange, with crazy eyes and a big mouth, and they're all covered in black quills!"

"Like those?"

The king pointed behind the three, not petting Mips anymore as the bunny was rudely awoken by Toadsworth's yelling. Everyone followed Mushroom's point, even Duchess, turning to look at the back of her chain.

They neglected to notice that, as they were leaving, a bunch of the fuzzy creatures managed to hop on the back of the Chain Chomp's chain. They looked as deranged as ever, all of them staring back at the people standing in the foyer.

Upon seeing the fuzzy cretins on her chain, Duchess grabbed the links close to her body with her teeth, and twisted slightly to start swinging it around. Mario knew this was what was going to happen, and quickly grabbed Luigi and Peach's arms.

"Duck!"

The yell came just in time. As Mario pulled his brother and the princess down, the king put his free arm over his wife's shoulders and pulled her down to a crouch. Toadsworth flopped down onto his stomach in a prone position.

As soon as they were all down. Duchess spun around in a circle rapidly, swinging her chain as she did so. The centrifugal force was enough to fling these fuzzy creatures from her chain- unfortunately, they were still inside, so these creatures immediately reattached themselves to anything they could attach to. One of the Guard Toads quickly ducked before one of the creatures could hit him in the face.

"GREAT HOOGLY-BOOGLY!" Toadsworth exclaimed.

"Everyone, to the exit!" The queen yelled. "Code sixty-four! Code sixty-four!"

The castle was suddenly thrown into lockdown. Peach got up and pulled the chain (now clean of the creatures) to make it rubberband back and whack into the Chain Chomp, making Duchess start moving. Mario and Luigi helped Toadsworth up before all of them rushed out of the foyer to the front yard.

They watched as the rest of the Toads working in the castle- from guards, to cooks, to gardeners- all piled out of the castle too. Once the last one was out, Chanterelle locked the front doors.

It was a little tense as the Toads were clearly uncomfortable with the Chain Chomp out on the lawn with them, but it was better than the alternative of being stuck in the castle with those… things.

Peach was holding Mips now, petting the rabbit soothingly; Chanterelle was busy with crowd control, and Mushroom was speaking with somebody on a Buddy Phone nearby. Mario and Luigi stood near Peach for support, but also to keep Duchess at bay. Luigi had his backpack at his front, looking worried down at the still cracked yoshi egg.

Soon, the queen came up, reaching out to take Mips. The group of Toad workers from the palace started to disperse, told to leave for the day while the royal family figured out how to fix the infestation.

"Are you alright, my lady?" The rabbit asked her.

"I'm fine, Mipsy. But those creatures…" The queen hummed. "I don't think I've ever seen them before. And you said they were all over the basement, Peach?"

"They were covering the entire ceiling, mother."

"I haven't seen an infestation like that since I was asked to help Pauline renovate her uncle's old house after his passing," Mario remarked. "Cockroaches everywhere. That man-a was a serious hoarder."

"What did you do when you needed those things taken out?"

"Called an exterminator."

"Well lucky for us," Mushroom interjected, putting the Buddy Phone away. "That's just who I was on the phone with. I got the top tier exterminator in the Mushroom Kingdom to stop by here while he's leaving Seaside Town."

"How soon until he's here, Mushroom?"

The answer came with the revving of an engine. A big yellow Sports Coupe, one with large tires, pulled up on the brick road that was right beside the front lawn. On the side of the kart, in big bold letters, was the word " X-TOAD-INATOR"

Out hopped a group of Toads, each covered in very heavy protective gear, which was a bright white color that almost reflected the sunlight and blinded the group. After Chanterelle unlocked the door again, they all shuffled into the castle in a single file line.

A few of them came out soon, going to the car and taking out some potted plants. They set them a few feet from the front walls of the palace, then sticking a piece of a massive tarp in the yellow-lipped mouth of the green plant.

All of them kicked the pots at the same time. The plants extended up, like beanstalks, the magic vines growing slowly upwards and hanging the massive white tarp around the palace to quarantine it- though the vines went up high, the center castle turret was still peeking up and over the tarp, the flag with the Toadstool coat of arms on it (a mushroom) still seen.

Passing through the slit in front of the entrance, one covered up Toad with a clipboard came up to the royal family. He took off his protective face guard, revealing that his white cap had mint-colored spots on them.

"Well now!" He said. "I believe the king here is the one I talked to on the phone!"

"That I am! And you are…?"

"I am the X-Toad-Inator, though you all can call me Bolete if you like." The Toad flipped through his clipboard. "Looks like you guys got a fuzzle of Fuzzies!"

Chanterelle's eyebrows furrowed. "A what?"

Peach quickly flipped through the research journal she had, reaching a page that had a drawing of the familiar bristly black creatures on the front.

"Fuzzies!" She read aloud. "An invasive species that cling onto surfaces, including certain living creatures, with super-sharp bristles on the outside of its body that prevents anybody from even touching them. Known for infesting poles and ropes due to their smaller space, allowing them to cling onto it with a smaller chance of others being able to pull them off."

"The princess is right on the money!" Bolete chuckled. "A Fuzzy infestation is rare, but not impossible. It seems you guys had some kind of anti-Fuzzy measures put on your castle when it was first built, but that was centuries ago. Looks like it just wore off recently."

"Where do these things come from?"

"Typically they squeeze into small spaces that form in the foundation and creep in from there- we're gonna set you up and re-insulate your castle, but removing a Fuzzy fuzzle is gonna take a lot."

"We have the coin, just get it done."

"I appreciate your candor, Queen Toadstool, but that's not what I mean. Getting rid of all of these Fuzzies is gonna take a while, especially seeing as we're gonna have to use special instruments to pull them off all the surfaces without harming ourselves."

"So how long is it going to take?"

"At the very least, if we work sunrise to sunset, with all the Fuzzies you got… A week?"

"A week?!" Peach asked, quickly shutting the journal. "What about my plants, my clothes? I just prepped the mousse and ganache for a dark chocolate mousse cake I wanted to make tomorrow! If I wait for those flavors to settle for a week, who knows what could happen to the taste!"

Mario's interest was piqued. "Dark chocolate mousse cake? Buddy, you need to hurry up on-a getting rid of those things quick before I handle it myself."

"I'm awfully sorry, everyone, but that's the way the cookie crumbles."

"Where are we even going to stay?"

"Well…" Chanterelle said, petting Mips. "We do have that castle in Mushroom Gorge, the one used for storage and whatnot."

"Mushroom Gorge? Mother!" The princess was exasperated. "That's hours away from here!"

"You could always travel across borders to Little Fungitown if you get homesick. Mushroom Gorge is right at the Beanbean Border after all."

"They just opened a new game center! I hear the games in there have really good prizes if you score high enough!" Mushroom added.

"The last time I got a prize in Little Fungitown, I was bedridden for days. The prize is always food and my body isn't used to the type of foodstuffs over in Beanbean. And what about the Toads here? You know they freak out when I'm gone for extended periods of time, especially when it's spur of the moment. This right here is spur of the moment!"

"My dear, I know this is a difficult moment, but what alternative is there for us?"

The question hung in the air, as Peach didn't have anything to suggest in place of traveling out of Toad Town. She sighed, one with resignation.

Mario thought to himself, eyebrows still furrowed. Peach being gone for an extended amount of time wasn't ideal- besides the fact that she was his friend, and that she made amazing desserts that she gave Mario to try out new recipes, the Toads were absolutely insane about the princess; the adventure to the Shifting Sand Land was enough proof on that front. The royal family wouldn't have to deal with the fallout of Peach's absence, but the Bros would certainly have to.

He had an idea, but he was hesitant. Mario glanced at his brother. Luigi was just as visibly worried, but clearly had a look that would go along with whatever the red plumber would come up with.

"…You know," Mario said, touching Peach's arm gently to get her attention. "You could always… Stay with-a me and Luigi."

"Really?" The princess asked.

"You'd do that?" The queen added curiously.

"I would. You all know as much as I do how bad it getsa for the Toads when Peach leaves."

"LEAVES?!"

They all turned to see a Toad, the Courier Toad, standing there with wide eyes.

"The princess is leaving?!" He shrieked. "When? Why? Right now?!"

"No no no no no!" Mario shook his hands and his head. "She's not! We were just…"

"Talking about leaves on a peach tree!" The king finished the lie. "Mips here has been eating all the leaves on our saplings and we're discussing the ramifications had involving the Toads in the kingdom!"

"Guilty as charged," rumbled Mips from Chanterelle's arms.

"Oh! Okay! Anyway, mail for ya!"

The purple-capped Toad handed over the mail before happily trotting off of the front lawn to the next place to deliver the mail.

"Okay, your point stands," Chanterelle said to Mario. "But it's for a whole week. Are you sure you can house more than just you and your brother for that time?"

"We've been through more-a people staying with us. Five words: Italian family reunion in Brooklyn."

"Hm… Very well. If it will keep the Toads from descending into pure anarchy… We will stay with the Mario Brothers until the infestation is taken care of."

"Alright! Letsa go— wait," Mario's chipper attitude was quickly squashed. "Did you say we?"

"Yeah! It's awful nice of you all to let us stay with you!" Mushroom nodded. "We'll have to find a spot to put Duchess though… I think we can manage. We should probably scope out the place really quick and see what we can put where."

"Good idea, dear. We will meet you at the home!" The queen said. "My, this is rather quaint! It will be like that bed and breakfast we stayed at!"

"Our second honeymoon! Oh, how the time slips away…"

Arm in arm, the king and queen (still holding Mips) walked off to reach Mario and Luigi's house. The red plumber, still in shock realizing that his offer for Peach was mistakenly outstretched to her parents too, slowly opened and closed his mouth, but couldn't speak.

"Mario?"

The plumber snapped out of it at Peach's voice. "Oh! Yes, Peach?"

"I want to thank you for offering your home to all of us." The princess said. "To be honest, I'd stay in town myself, but I'd always be worried about my mother and father the whole time. I've never met someone as kind enough to offer his home to me and my parents, even after my mother has been… not as kind to you, when you first got here. That's very sweet of you."

Peach hugged Mario gently, taking him by surprise. He gently patted her back.

"I have to go. Besides grabbing some clothes, I should see where I can put Duchess on your lawn," said Peach as she pulled away. "We'll see you both later! I'm sure it'll be a calm week for all of us. Bye Mario, bye Luigi!"

Grabbing the end of Duchess' chain, Peach walked off, letting the Chain Chomp move in front of her as if she was walking a dog. Mario watched blankly, still reeling from his offer unintentionally being given to the king and queen as well.

He felt Luigi pat his back.

"It'll be fine, bro. Like you said, itsa gonna be hard, but you're not gonna do it alone."

"I sure hope not, Weegi…"

"I'll see you at-a home."

Still holding the backpack in front of him to protect the cracked egg peeking out of the top, Luigi walked off of the front lawn, heading into Toad Town to return back to their home.

Mario rubbed his forehead, sighing. "Ugh, Mamma Mia…"

---

They decided to hook Duchess up to one of the clothesline post outside of the house. It worked out the best, as when Toads came up to try and visit any of the royal family, the Chain Chomp forced the denizens to keep their distance from the house.

Inside, the king and queen had taken residence in the dual beds that Mario and Luigi typically slept in. Though both of her parents insisted that Peach take one of the beds, the princess was firm that they slept in the beds, and she would sleep downstairs with the Mario Bros.

Since it was such short notice, Luigi wasn't able to craft some kind of excellent Italian family dinner. Instead they simply received takeout that night, paid for by the royal family; they ate sandwiches of many kinds.

Needing the bathroom to herself for a solid half an hour, Peach eventually left the room soon after her parents had fallen asleep in the loft upstairs. Mario was just finishing the cleaning of the kitchen and dining room, and Luigi was sitting on the floor with crossed legs, rubbing the top of the cracked yoshi egg slowly.

Both brothers had some fresh threads, courtesy of Tailor Toad in town repaying them for their plumbing job, meaning Mario and Luigi could finally wear something other than their red and green shirts and denim overalls. They were now wearing red and green t-shirts, respectively, and matching black sweatpants; they could wear something different, but they never said they didn't want to avoid matching again.

Peach tucked her hair into the bonnet she had on her head, then gently plucked near her mouth to pull off a hair stuck on her glossy lips, sputtering a little after.

"Y-You're-a wearing lip gloss to sleep?"

The princess chuckled at Luigi's question. "It's a lip mask, Luigi. Keeps them healthy."

Mario would've asked the same thing if his brother didn't beat him to it. He had noticed that Peach wasn't wearing makeup… He'd comment about it, but the last time he did that with a woman, Pauline plucked his nose so hard one of his nostrils swelled closed. Regardless, the princess was still very pretty without her face done up in Mario's opinion.

…this was weird to think about. Mario quickly cleared his throat to talk and change his train of thought.

"What were you doing in there the whole time, Peach?"

"My nightly routine." The princess squatted in front of her (one of many) suitcases, opening it to get her sleepover-designated blanket and pillow from inside. "I have a lot of stuff to get through. Creams and whatnot."

"Is that-a why you smell like that?"

"…like what?"

"Lotion. Aloe vera. Kinda like fruits."

"Oh, well yeah, it's probably why I do! Besides the lip mask, which is last in the routine, I have makeup remover, facial cleanser, exfoliant, face serum, moisturizer, then my eye cream."

"Mamma Mia," Mario murmured, sitting down in the recliner that would be his bed for the night. "What're you trying to do, pickle yourself so you'll-a live forever?"

"When I do, I'll be sure to give you all of my creams once you come crawling back to me for it."

"How charitable."

"I am the people's princess." Peach smirked at Mario over her shoulder as she set up the blanket and the pillow on the couch. Mario smiled back, his ears turning red like his shirt.

The living room got set up for sleeping that night: Peach finished up putting her pillow and fluffy blanket (both pink) on the couch, Mario set up a blanket on the recliner to sleep there, and Luigi made sure the floor had a blanket for cushioning himself, then collecting another blanket and a pillow to sleep there. The green brother was insistent on sleeping on the floor that night, to Mario's chagrin.

As he sat cross-legged on the ground, Luigi rubbed the top of the cracked egg, which was nestled between his legs. He frowned as he looked at the crack on the egg, his thumb tracing over it.

"What do you think your parents are gonna do tomorrow, Peach?"

"Hm… Well, they don't do much," The princess replied to Mario, sitting on the couch. "My father will most likely paint. My mother… I'm sure she'll just read. At least I hope so."

"You hope?"

"My mother is someone who is a little low on impulse control, like any Toad. But with her, she's more keen on fixing things up. Cleaning the house, buying new things, makeovers, the works. It helps when your kingdom needs major developments, but on a smaller scale, that's when things get messy."

"You think she's-a gonna change up the house?"

"She might. It just depends on how she's feeling. Mother tends to do that when she's more stressed."

"She's-a getting a paid vacation, so being stressed should be far from her mind."

"Sure hope so!"

Peach slipped a pink eye mask from her pillowcase, undoing the velcro on the strap to put it around her head instead of having to pass her bonnet through it.

"I must sleep." She said, the eye mask on her forehead for the moment. "If I don't, and I wake up at my normal time, I'll be cranky. And nobody wants that."

"Definitely not. Good night, Peach."

"Good night Mario! Good night, Luigi!"

"Night, princess."

The princess put the eye mask on properly, laying down on the couch. She pulled the blanket up and wrapped it around her head, making only her face seen as she cocooned herself on the couch.

Mario pulled the lever on the side of the recliner, putting his legs up. He pulled his red blanket up, looking down at Luigi on the floor. He watched his brother still dote over the cracked egg, seeing Luigi's worried expression.

"The egg is gonna be fine, bro."

"Y-You really think so, Mario?"

"Yeah. You've-a taken good care of that egg so far! No matter what-a happens, I know you're more than capable of taking care of it."

"…thanks bro."

Mario pulled his blanket up some more, nestling into his makeshift bed. "Night night."

"Night night." Luigi replied.

Then it was silent. Luigi was left sitting on the floor as everyone else was asleep or falling asleep in the house. He could hear the soft sputtering of Duchess sleeping outside in their yard as well, meaning everyone on the property was settled down for the night.

Luigi still rubbed the crack on the yoshi egg, frowning. He still felt anxious about the egg being cracked, though his brother's reassurance definitely comforted him.

The yoshis had trusted Luigi with this egg- not Mario, not Peach, but him. It was surreal being picked first for something for once, he always came second fiddle to his brother. It was just like King Boo said before: always the bridesmaid, never the bride. In any other world he would be told to deliver the yoshi egg to his brother instead of being given it.

Being at the forefront of this responsibility was unnerving. It reminded Luigi of when his mother was gearing him up to take over her plumbing business back in Brooklyn; as much as he liked the idea of responsibility, the aspect of failing miserably made the green plumber's blood run cold. He lucked out with Mario dropping out of college back then and deciding to take on the plumbing business together.

That was so long ago… five years? Maybe closer to six, they were bound to turn twenty-five in October. Luigi hoped they would be able to get back to Brooklyn in time to actually celebrate their birthday.

He shuffled, laying down on his side and pulling the yoshi to his chest and wrapping his arms around it. Luigi made sure not to squeeze it too tightly, especially not with a crack still in it.

It felt like everyone was relying on him to take care of this egg. That was daunting, sure, but it was also… endearing, in a way? Luigi felt compelled to actually take care of this egg instead of freaking out to the point of inaction as he typically would when feeling anxious about something.

Luigi wanted to take care of this egg and the yoshi that was inside it. Not just because it was entrusted to him, but because it was a very important creature to the Mushroom Kingdom- to the entire world, even.

Sighing, the plumber put his chin on top of the egg he was holding. He closed his eyes to sleep- even in a spot like the floor, he was able to fall asleep pretty quickly. Luigi's head fell to his pillow, still over the egg, snoring soundly.

After Luigi was sound asleep, the yoshi egg in his arms shook, and the egg cracked a bit more.

---

Mario woke up to the smell of something cooking in the kitchen. It really helped add some pleasantness to his morning after waking up to his back hurting from sleeping in the recliner.

Grabbing the handle, the plumber brought the legs of the recliner down and sat up, groaning softly from his body aching. He blinked sleep from his eyes, rubbing his face slowly. Mario blearily looked around at his surroundings, checking to make sure everything was in the right spot.

Peach was still on the couch, her eyes still covered with her face mask. Luigi was asleep in front of the couch as well, though his back was to Mario, so he couldn't really see if anything was different on the front of his body.

If he was here, and his brother was there, and Peach was there… Who was in the kitchen?

He got up, putting his blanket to the side, letting his sock-covered feet touch the floor. Mario crept over to the kitchen, leaning slightly to look over the counter island and see who was there- all he could really see were a few bowls, plates and other cutlery on the counters.

As he did a step to look into the kitchen past the island, he saw someone pull cinnamon rolls from the oven.

Chanterelle jumped seeing Mario suddenly, nearly dropping her rolls. "Oh! Mario! Good morning!"

"Uh… Your majesty," murmured the plumber, still a bit tired. "What're you doing?"

"Well, since I was up earlier than everyone else," she put the tray of rolls on the counter, then pulling the red and green oven mitts from her hands. "I thought I'd make something for everybody! I haven't baked in a while, and I saw you all had mushroom flour and Chucklehuck cinnamon, so I thought I'd make something fairly simple! Next is the icing."

Grabbing one of the bowls from the other counter, the queen proceeded to pour the icing she made over the cinnamon rolls. Mario watched, his stomach pushing through his weary feeling of someone messing with his kitchen and grumbling.

Noticing, Chanterelle chuckled. "Have you have cinnamon rolls before, Mario?"

"Oh, yeah. I think it's a worldwide staple." Mario replied, rubbing his stomach. "Though I only really had it every once in a while."

"What did you usually have for breakfast in… Brooklyn?"

"Brooklyn," He nodded to confirm. "Usually in my household, Luigi and I would have a coffee and a pastry. Maybe some sweet-a bread or something."

"Pastries? Every morning? I don't think I could live like that, though I know Peach and Mushroom would love to."

"We'd-a switch it up every once in a while, but Mamma typically had pastries stocked in the kitchen."

"Handmade?" Chanterelle smoothed out the icing on top of the rolls.

"Oh goodness no." The plumber chuckled. "Especially not a cornetto."

"And what's that?"

"It's… Like a croissant, but itsa soft instead of crispy- and absolutely delicious."

"Have you told Peach about it? She loves croissants, but she always hated how crumbly it could get. That might be a better alternative." Chanterelle put the bowl back on the counter. "She's been trying to make croissants as well. Maybe you could show her how to make a 'cornetto' instead."

"I don't think Imma gonna show her how to bake anything. Itsa not exactly my specialty."

"Not everyone can cook, but everyone can bake. My mother is the one who taught me that… I'm sure Peach can teach that to you."

Using a fork, the queen pulled a roll from the tray and put it on a plate. She left it behind, on the edge of the counter island, turning around to get to the coffee machine she had started a fresh pot in. Chanterelle poured herself a cup of coffee, liking it black, and took a sip.

She turned around and her cinnamon roll was gone.

Though surprised for a second, Chanterelle chuckled, still holding her coffee.

"Mario, if you were that hungry, you could've asked for a cinnamon roll. You didn't have to take mine."

Turning around, the queen saw Mario putting two cinnamon rolls on a plate for himself. He paused when he was spoken to, looking at her with furrowed brows.

"What? I didn't-a take your cinnamon roll."

"Mmmm!"

The high pitched humming noise came behind Chanterelle, making her turn quickly. Standing before her was something shorter than her (which was saying something, as she was only slightly taller than the average Toad), coming up halfway to Mario's shin proportionally.

It had legs and a tail sticking out from under a strange, smooth top half, with jagged edges on the bottom. It was white with green dots across it.

Seeing this strange creature, the queen yelped loudly, dropping her cup of coffee and making it shatter on the kitchen floor. She then yelled out in fear, scurrying backwards and knocking into Mario- the plumber nearly dropped his plate, but managed to save his food, making him sigh in relief.

The screaming woke everyone up- Peach got to her feet quickly, taking off her eye mask. Upstairs, the king audibly got up from Luigi's bed, flying down the steps with his pet rabbit in his arms, still holding Mips after sleeping in bed with him the previous night. The only one not up immediately was Luigi, who was groggy with sleep inertia after being torn from REM sleep; his dreams were really hard to pull away from.

"Mother?!"

"Chanterelle!"

King Mushroom slid into the kitchen, standing between the creature and his wife. He held out Mips, almost like he was a weapon, pointing the groggy rabbit at this strange beast.

"Stay back, you… small creature! I know how to use this!"

"In the name of the crown… Halt right there, you…" Mips mumbled sleepily.

Mario stuffed a cinnamon roll in his mouth, only interrupted feeling Peach gripping his arm, the princess standing next to the plumber for support during this intense situation. Though she was bewildered, after a second, she noticed the breakfast her mother made.

She hummed. "Oooh, cinnamon rolls…"

As Peach got breakfast for herself nonchalantly, and her parents had a standoff with this strange new guest in the house, Luigi finally sat up. He rubbed his head, groaning as he felt himself finally waking up. Those dreams of his were always so inebriating.

Blinking awake, Luigi finally found himself on his makeshift bed, but without the companion he had in the night. The revelation that he was alone on his sleeping spot really woke him up completely, making Luigi's eyes get big.

There were bits of eggshell on the blanket he was sleeping on, making Luigi pass his hands over the blanket hurriedly, as if trying to find the other parts of the egg somewhere in the flat blanket. Luigi looked around in his panic, trying to find where the rest of the egg was.

And he found it- on top of this small creature that was terrorizing the other members of the house.

"W-Wait!"

Luigi stumbled up to his feet, getting to the kitchen and standing between the small creature and the others. He put his hand up to make the king put down his "weapon," and hesitantly, Mushroom returned Mips to laying on his arms to return to sleep.

When the green plumber turned around, Mario and Peach (still holding plates) passed the king and queen to join him in looking at this strange creature, leaning over his shoulders to see what he was looking at.

Crouching down, Luigi gently grabbed the jagged bottom edge of the eggshell. He lifted it upwards like it was a hat to peek inside, and spotted a large pair of blue eyes looking back at him.

"Yoshi!"

The egg has hatched, and standing there was a baby yoshi. Like its parent, the baby yoshi was green (the first layer of small green feathers already grown on its body) with red-orange spines across its back. Being a baby, the creature had a little body and a larger disproportionate head.

Seeing Luigi, the baby yoshi shot its tongue out, slapping the plumber's cheek.

"That egg you got hatched, bro!" Mario stated the obvious. "Thatsa what a yoshi looks like, huh?"

"They're-a usually much bigger."

"Oh my gooooosh!" Peach's voice turned into a squeal on the last word, her eyes widening and a big smile coming across her face. "It's so cuuuuu-uute!"

The king and queen squeezed through on either side of them to look at the yoshi as well, both of them surprised. Mips was sound asleep on King Mushroom's arm again, clearly not ready to face the day yet.

"Good heavens!" Chanterelle exclaimed. "I've never seen a yoshi before."

"So that's one of those space dragons, huh? Weird, I thought it would have wings…"

The queen put a hand on her head, taking a long breath out. "I need some fresh air…"

Taking the long way around the counter island, Chanterelle left the Mario Bros.' current residence. She was joined by Mushroom, the king carrying his rabbit out alongside her.

Before any other further comment could be made, the yoshi jumped at Luigi, forcing the plumber to catch the small dino. The baby yoshi snuggled up against his chest, making a humming noise. Mario and Peach swiftly finished their breakfasts, then put their plates in the sink.

"You think there's anything in that-a journal that can help us, Peach?"

"We can certainly check!"

Bewildered by the appearance and the cuddling of the baby yoshi, Luigi concurred. "Y-Yes please…"

They went back to the den; Mario and Luigi sat on the couch, Peach on the recliner. The princess only sat down after she got Toadette's research journal from her bag, flipping through it as she fell back onto the chair.

There wasn't anything on yoshis, obviously, due to the little information out there on the dinosaurs. Peach had to gather information based on whatever she could find related to these egg-laying creatures. Something with birds, and eggs… Reptiles too, just to be safe.

As she looked, the yoshi cuddled up to Luigi more- the baby dino was very loving and attentive towards the green plumber in particular, as any petting from Mario to get the small creature's attention was ignored.

The princess hummed, squinting her eyes as she read. "Hmm… Interesting… You slept with the egg, didn't you?" She looked up from her book to ask Luigi the question.

"Yes?"

"Interesting, interesting." She slowly nodded. "Okay, I'll be honest… I don't have a full picture here. There's nothing about the yoshis in the journal."

"I thought I had more time before this egg hatched," Luigi commented. "The yoshis, they said that-a the eggs hatch when they feel loved."

"Do you love the egg, paisano?"

"I wanna keep it safe. Or… wanted to keep it safe. I guess that crack it had was-a the yoshi getting ready to hatch."

"I guess your protectful nature towards the egg was processed as love!" Peach conceded. "Either way, you sleeping with the egg last night must've incubated it- at least that's what I assume based on everything I can find on eggs." She closed the journal. "Between the warmth and the love you felt for it, the yoshi must see you as its mama, Luigi!"

"Mama? Mama Luigi?" Mario paused before snorting and starting to laugh, putting a hand on his chest as it heaved with every loud guffaw from his body.

The green plumber's ears and face turned a bright red from his brother laughing at him. Sensing his "mama" was feeling embarrassed and sad, the empathic dinosaur instinctively slapped Luigi with its tongue to give him a kiss.

Luckily that did work. Luigi sighed and smiled a bit at the baby yoshi. Peach slid off her bonnet- letting her blonde hair go free- and tossed it at the face of the still laughing Mario. That immediately interrupted the laughing, nearly making the stout Italian choke as the bonnet got sucked into his mouth.

"We could go see the Toad Brigade and see what they can find for us, Luigi." The princess said as she stood up. "They were interested in finding things about the yoshis anyway. Why don't we give them a visit?"

Petting the yoshi, Luigi nodded. "Th-That sounds-a like a good idea, princess."

"Great! Just let me get ready."

Grabbing one of her totes from the princess' many overnight bags, she left and went to the bathroom. Luigi stood up, putting the baby yoshi on the couch to get ready for the day himself; after Mario got some hair from his mouth, he soon joined.

Semi-expectedly, the newborn dino was very keen on following Luigi around, even when he was getting changed. The baby yoshi sat at the top of the steps on the brothers' loft, waiting for when his respective brother would be done.

Shirts, overalls and boots; they would get their hats from the hat rack at the door in a minute. Mario pulled open the nightstand and retrieved the Super Leaf he kept after their little misadventure catching Mips (and that Klepto that stole his hat) putting it in his overalls pocket just in case. Luigi put on his backpack as well, gripping the straps as he left the loft. The baby yoshi hopped down the steps one at a time to follow him.

It took maybe twice the amount of time it took the brothers to get ready for Peach to get ready. She showered, did her face routine, dried her hair, brushed it and got dressed for the day- including dressing up her face. Her dress was two-tone, and really broke the mold by having the colors be a vibrant pink for the bottom half of the dress… and a pale pink for the top half.

Mario and Luigi were sitting down when the princess came out. They both stood when she came out of the bathroom, Luigi once again holding the baby yoshi.

"Sorry I'm late, boys. I tried expediting the process so it didn't take too long."

"If this is how you look with it being a quick job, I'd-a love to see how good it looks when you take your time."

"Mario." She waved her hand at his statement, but smiled. "Let me get my purse, and we'll go."

Hanging with the brothers' hats on the rack, Peach grabbed her purse and slipped it over her shoulder, her eyes traveling to the window that was just behind it, looking out into the front yard.

She saw her father with Mips and Duchess, trying to place the two pets together in a specific scene he was clearly thinking about. He made his hands into a square window to look through in order to get the scenery correct. Duchess tolerated the king- this was thanks to him feeling the Chain Chomp regularly as well- so she played along with what he was doing. Mips was only mildly anxious being so close to the massive round creature, his ears alert just in case he needed to bolt.

Beyond them, at the edge of the yard where the walkway and the fence ended, Chanterelle stood with her back to the house. The queen was looking with a hand on her cheek to the castle in the distance, gazing at the quarantined palace like she was remembering how it was to live in it not too long ago.

The sight touched something in Peach's heart. For all her faults, Queen Chanterelle was still her mother, and was still someone who wanted to maintain something normal in their lives. It was clear the queen had some sort of deep-rooted issues stemming from… something.

Peach's father told her that their secrecy was rooted in pain. It had to be hard for Chanterelle to deal with everything going on recently, on top of what they were already hiding from the princess, which was something deeply distressing to recall for them.

The queen should support her daughter, of course, but Peach should give support to her mother sometimes as well. Or at least find someone else that could do it.

These thoughts only happened in a moment. The princess turned around, looking at the brothers still in the room with her.

"Mario. Could you do me a favor?"

"Uh… Depends? What did you have in mind?"

"Would you be able to spend some time with my parents to help keep their minds off of what's happening at the castle?"

"Your parents? I thought I was-a gonna come with you guys to see the Toad Brigade."

"You could if you want! I would just like someone to help my parents. This has to be stressful for them… I just want to help ease them from what's happening with the Fuzzies."

"No offense, but why can't-a you do it?"

"I'll probably make it worse! They'll get more upset through me being reminded about how much their lives have changed. That or I'll end up getting a lecture about something."

"What about Weegi?"

"Luigi isn't sociable enough to keep up with my parents. No offense, Luigi."

"None taken! I agree with-a you."

"Besides," Peach continued with Mario. "That baby yoshi loves him the most, Luigi's his 'mama'. We can't bring the yoshi to the Toad Brigade without him."

"I guess you're right… I just dunno about-a spending time with your parents, one-on-one. I'm not exactly the most eloquent guy in Toad Town."

"You'll be fine. At the very least, she's familiar with you. Please, Mario?"

Though he was conflicted on his decision for a moment or two, Mario soon sighed with resignation. "Okay, fine. I'll-a do it."

"Oh, thank you Mario! You don't even have to do anything fancy with her, I promise!"

"Sure hope not."

Peach gave Mario a small hug- the plumber grunted as he was squeezed, his cheeks reddening at the sudden hug but not pulling away until she did.

After Mario and Luigi both put on their hats, they left. With Luigi in the back of the small train, after closing the door he leaned down to put the baby yoshi on the ground, wanting the small dino to have free range of the yard.

You'd think the rabbit or the Chain Chomp would cause an issue to the baby yoshi, but strangely enough it didn't. The soft and sensitive feet of the yoshi didn't enjoy the feeling of the rough stony ground beneath it, and as such, the baby immediately jumped back up onto Luigi after.

The green plumber took notice. "Oh, is the walking path-a too rough for you? How about the grass?" He asked, walking off the path.

Luigi set the baby yoshi down on the grass, only to get the same result. The feeling of the sharp and rough blades of grass under the yoshi's feet made it jump back onto his owner with a frown.

"...okay, guess Imma gonna be carrying you."

"Yoshiii!" The baby dino cheered.

As that was going on, Peach went over to where her father was. Chanterelle strided over too after hearing her daughter leave the house, bringing the three together. Peach leaned down and gave her father a kiss on the cheek before stepping over to hug her mother.

"I'll be back. I'm going with Luigi to ask the Toad Brigade if they know anything about the yoshi."

"I see. Well… Do be careful out there. You never know what kind of crazy people lurk just beyond your point of vision…"

"It's the Toad Brigade, mother, how crazy could they be?"

"That's what they always say, fuzz. And then… They get ya!"

King Mushroom grabbed Mips suddenly, making the rabbit jump and jostle around from it. The king chuckled after that, bringing Mips against him to pet and calm the rabbit again.

"I'll see you later. You two have fun! Love you!"

Peach waved as she left with Luigi, who was still carrying the baby yoshi with him.

After a few moments of silence, Chanterelle and Mushroom slowly turned, seemingly just aware that Mario stayed behind with them. The king and queen shared a glance.

Mushroom cleared his throat. "...are you gonna go with them?"

"No, no. I was uh…" Mario rubbed his neck. "I was thinking maybe… I could help do something-a fun with you guys. Since your castle's-a being fumigated and all that."

"...did Peach put you up to this?" Chanterelle looked at him suspiciously.

"I can neither confirm nor deny."

"Peach…" The queen murmured, but mostly a bit upset her daughter was worrying about her.

"Well, I'm gonna have to skip on whatever you got planned for me, Mario. I'm gonna get my sketchbook out and draw the perfect postcard of Duchess and Mips for the holidays! You two have fun though- just not too much fun."

Mushroom gave his wife a kiss on the cheek, making her smile a bit again. After he put Mips down on the ground, the king returned to the house in order to get his things.

"What about-a you, your highness?"

"Mario, I appreciate you doing this for my daughter, but you don't have to entertain me for an evening; I'm sure I can find something to do. Maybe read a book of yours?"

"The only thing I have in the house is a book on-a plumbing I bought for the coffee table."

"...Maybe I could manage with that."

"Queen Toadstool," Mario said, assertively. "As much as Imma doing this for Peach… I also wanna do this for the help you've given me and my brother ever since I came-a here."

"Really? Not to self-deprecate, but I haven't exactly been the most welcoming queen."

"Thatsa true, but I feel itsa for a good reason: you just wanna protect your daughter, and I get that. But you still let me and my brother stay here until we can get home, you still helped us get a job, and you continue to let-a Peach spend time with us. Thatsa very kind of you. So maybe we don't-a have a lot in common, but I can still help with doing something you'd like to get your mind off of everything crazy going on."

The words made the queen really ponder the request. It was kind of Mario to want to do something with Chanterelle, even if it was because of Peach asking him to do it, and the plumber clearly had his own complex feelings involving the queen.

It would be nice to do something relaxing today, admittedly. Even though her husband considered this a "staycation," she was planning on still doing the quiet tasks she typically did throughout the day, as if she never left her castle.

After a few moments of contemplation, she sighed. "You know, I did have so much fun baking those cinnamon rolls this morning. I would certainly love to bake again today if I could."

"Why not? How about you bake-a something you haven't been able to make for a long time?"

"Something I haven't made for a long time… Hm." Chanterelle touched her chin in thought. "...you know, something that was on my mind recently were the earl grey macarons I made for Peach's eighteenth birthday. That was… goodness, seven years ago. I haven't made them since, but I remember they were lovely."

"Then letsa get stuff to make that! You can even use my kitchen, still!"

"As much as I feel obligated to continue my normal schedule… Baking does sound lovely. Especially if they're those macarons." She nodded. "Okay, Mario. We'll go get those ingredients and make them before Peach gets back- they'll be a lovely surprise for her; she loved those macarons, so did I. Mushroom didn't like them that much though…"

"If I may, my lady," Mips spoke up from near Duchess. "If you two are going to the grocery, I would request if you could come back with some radishes for me. The radish and its greens… I have been wanting it for a meal for a while now."

"Okay, we'll-a get the macaron ingredients, and we'll get the radishes for the rabbit!"

"Excellent. Just allow me to get ready, first."

The queen walked into the house. Anticipating a morning routine as long as Peach's was, Mario huffed a little but shook his head, quickly following Chanterelle back into his temporary home. Unseen to them, in the clouds of the distant sky, a ship-shaped dot was growing larger as it got closer to Toad Town.

---

"Look at the cute little baby!"

"Awww, such chubby cheeks!"

"He's so small but so pudgy!"

"He's so cute I wanna die!"

The base of the Toad Brigade was located on the northern part of Toad Town. Their HQ was a large puffball, carved out on the inside for a big two-story base, and a smaller puffball beside it that acted as a garage for their Mushmellow XXL.

On the inside, the first floor was a massive open area, with furniture and a kitchen on one wall. An open lift all the way to the right of the room pulled members of the Brigade, one at a time, to the second floor with their sleeping quarters- there was a pole similar to a fireman's pole in the direct center of the first floor that the Brigade could slide down from the second floor for a quicker descent.

As soon as Luigi and Peach came in, the former still holding the baby yoshi in his hands, the Toads immediately began to fawn over him. It was a tad overwhelming, honestly. The captain and princess watched it happen for a moment, though it was clear Luigi was getting uncomfortable.

"Alright people, alright, alright!" Captain Toad waved his cast iron frying pan to fend off his Brigade members from hassling both Luigi and his baby yoshi.

Luigi sighed. "Thank you."

"It's nice to finally see a yoshi in the flesh!" Archivist Toadette said. "That journey we had with following the Super Happy Tree's roots yielded no results!"

"He looks like he's made of wool!" Mail Toad said. He paused. "Is it a he? Or a she? Or… Anything else?"

"All know is that all yoshi can-a lay eggs. The one who gave me my egg was called he, so Imma gonna call this one by he, too."

"Fair enough! Nobody here knows how to tell anyway."

Though the others were still distracted, Bank Toad went up to Peach, his hands on his hips.

"Why's the castle closed up? I went there to get the financial records for the Toad Brigade but I was turned away at the door!"

"It's currently being fumigated."

"Fumigated? Like because of bugs? Yuck!" Bank Toad frowned. "Wait, if it's closed down, where are you staying?"

"Mario and Luigi have been so gracious as to let my family stay with them."

"Wow, really? And you guys said yes?"

Peach chuckled despite Bank Toad's blunt question. "It was that or move to my castle near Little Fungitown."

"What's wrong with Little Fungitown? I'm from Little Fungitown!"

"Oh? So you recommend it, then?"

"Ha! Nah." Bank Toad replied flippantly, shaking his head. "Even though Toads live there, the food is different enough to make someone with a sensitive stomach from the Mushroom Kingdom all kinds of sick! So maybe it's best you stay away from my homestead until you're used to it."

"I'm familiar with the change in cuisine and its effects on someone's stomach, though I do appreciate the warning… Bank Toad." The princess said, pausing as she realized she didn't know the Toad's real name. That would have to change.

"No problem! Anything to help the princess!"

"Maybe you could help her out some more and assist Luigi with the yoshi?" Captain Toad suggested.

"Oh! Right!"

The attention was back on Luigi and the baby yoshi. Archivist Toadette skipped to a bookshelf they had against one wall in the main chamber- one short enough for a Toad to go through easily- and looked through it quickly.

"Doo-doo-doo… Here!"

She pulled out a journal from the bookshelf, one with many stickers on the front. Toadette returned to the group, flipping through it to reach notes on the dinosaur.

"I've been trying to find anything about the yoshis for years!" She said. "They've only been known as urban legends, tales of mysterious dinosaurs that roam the dangerous Toadwood Forest! Allegedly they migrate from their own island to other continents of the world!"

Luigi started petting the baby Yoshi. "Toadshi did-a mention that the yoshis have their own island."

"Do you have anything concrete on the yoshis, Titania?"

"Only one or two things, princess. This is the first time a Toad has been recorded interacting with a yoshi! I have to change a lot of my notes."

"What notes?"

"Well, I was previously under the impression that yoshis were dangerous and evil creatures!" Toadette replied. "The last Toad that studied the yoshi, Professor Toadorf, ventured into the Toadwood Forest to seek them out but never returned!"

The archivist turned her journal around, showing them that her journal was a bunch of notes scrapbook'd into a wide book. From the blue writing on the pages glued in, it was clear that the core notes were from Note Toad- but that's not what she was trying to show them.

Glued on one of the pages was a newspaper clipping of a Toad (Professor Toadorf, obviously) in a suit jacket, standing in front of a forest, clearly ready to go in. Underneath was the headline: KOOKY PROFESSOR HEADS FOR CERTAIN DOOM

Luigi squinted his eyes to look at it a little better. He recognized the Toad- the lidded eyes, the lazy smile, and the demeanor.

"...thatsa Toadshi."

Peach looked surprised. "The same guy you met living with the yoshis?"

"Huh! Guess the case of what happened to the professor is closed!" Toadette added. "I guess that makes sense though. The professor was always out of place in Mushroom City… Everyone always treated him poorly! I would know, I took a few of his college courses."

"Oh! Were you his best student?"

"Oh no, that was…"

"Me!" Captain Toad grinned, pointing to himself with both thumbs. "The class was how Toadette and I met! She was the first person I called when I wanted to get the Toad Brigade started."

"Well, star students," the princess probed. "Is there anything you can give us about the yoshi?"

"Hmmm…" The captain rubbed his chin. "How about this: yoshis have a very strange way of growing, according to ancient records. Stories tell of these dinosaurs growing to maturity after consuming a set amount of food, rather than time passing. The amount of food needed is unknown though."

"Yoshi eggs apparently incubate when feeling loved, so that much doesn't-a surprise me." Luigi commented, still petting the yoshi.

"Speaking of food… Hang on!"

Archivist Toadette quickly scurried out of the main chamber, through a door back to the storage area of the Toad Brigade HQ. Luigi and Peach, with the yoshi, were left with the remaining Toad Brigade members.

His arms tired from holding onto the yoshi, Luigi sighed as he tried to put the dino back on the ground. As soon as the yoshi felt the cold hardshroom floor, though, his foot recoiled and he made a displeased noise.

The green plumber sighed. "C'mon, yoshi…"

All the Toads around him were very interested in this development.

"Doesn't like hardshroom flooring, huh? Maybe he'd do better outside."

"He doesn't-a like outside, either." Luigi said to Captain Toad. "He doesn't-a like any floor, anywhere. Except rugs, I guess."

Note Toad went through his bag to get a pen and notebook. "The yoshi might have sensitive foot pads! So sensitive that they can't stand on any surface barefooted…" He pushed his glasses up before writing down in his notes.

"Pads?"

Luigi turned the dino upside-down, which the yoshi didn't mind, seeing that the dinosaur had circular pads on the center of his feet, which were white in comparison to his otherwise completely green foot.

"Poor baby! The other yoshis must have a very hard adolescence until they get used to the sensitive feet." Mail Toad commented.

"The yoshis seemed-a keen on carrying things on their backs- they even carried me on them. Maybe they carry their babies until they're-a fed enough to become mature."

"Interesting hypothesis, Luigi!" Note Toad concurred, still writing. "If they were willing to carry even humans on their back, they must be used to carrying things of all kinds of different sizes there for extended periods of time!"

"Yeah, but… These noodle-arms aren't-a made to carry something for an extended period of time." Luigi said, holding the baby yoshi with one arm, pulling up his sweatshirt's sleeve to show the Toads (and princess) his scrawny arm. "I dunno if I can-a carry this little guy as long as he needs me to."

"Hmm…" Captain Toad rubbed his chin again. "Here, turn his feet to me."

The captain pulled his comically large backpack from his body, letting it land on the floor in front of him with a loud WHAM that echoed through the large open space- this backpack was really heavy, apparently.

He opened the flap and rummaged through it, before retrieving what he was looking for- a pair of brown boots, though ones clearly made for a Toad. With the yoshi's feet turned to him, the captain slipped the sturdy shoes onto them.

"Put him down."

Luigi was hesitant, not wanting to make the yoshi uncomfortable again, but soon relented. He set the baby yoshi down on the ground. Though the little dino whimpered a bit while standing in the boots, he soon calmed down, slowly marching in place to really get a feel for the shoes; they were very loose on him.

"He'll grow into those boots." The captain commented. "Feels nice and soft, don't they? That's the power of really good insoles, imported from Pi'illo Island itself. I need them for how much I carry in my backpack- I'm sure you're gonna need them if you carry stuff on your back like the rest of the yoshis!"

"That's very sweet of you, captain, but you didn't have to part with a pair of your boots." Peach said to him.

"Eh, it's alright, I got a dozen more; you need to stock up on boots in this profession."

The door to the storage room opened, turning their attention from the baby yoshi and to Toadette standing in the doorway, holding something in both her hands.

"Voila!"

What she was holding was some kind of fruit. It was similar to an apple, as large as a grapefruit, with a red top half and yellow bottom half, the two colors separated by a wavy fringe.

"Oooh, cute booties, cutie!" Toadette commented on the yoshi's footwear first.

"Whatsa that?" Luigi asked about the fruit.

"Oh yeah! This is a Yoshi Fruit! It's one of the only things Professor Toadorf had going for him when it came to the yoshis, the only one in the Mushroom Kingdom. Apparently these grow on the yoshis' island, it's a pome fruit that come in three colors with an edible, nut-like outer shell, and a fleshy inside that tastes like berries, apples, and—"

Before Toadette could finish her explanation, the baby yoshi shot his tongue out, grabbing onto the Yoshi Fruit and snatching it into his mouth. The group was stunned into silence, all of them watching the dino crunch on the fruit happily.

"Yoshi!" Luigi spoke first, astonished.

"Oh gosh!" Peach said, flustered. "Titania, I'm so sorry! I know that fruit was the only one in the Mushroom Kingdom!"

Archivist Toadette stared at the baby yoshi eating the fruit- the only fruit they had from the outside world in a kingdom that barely allowed people to retrieve things beyond their borders. Her eyes were wide, mouth slightly agape, as the yoshi stared at her with happy and innocent eyes, without a care in the world.

"To be fair, you probably shouldn't have held that in the air in front of a creature with a versatile tongue that uses it to catch prey." Bank Toad commented, right next to Toadette.

The Toadette turned her head to and fro sharply, smacking the green Toad in the face with both of her pink braids and knocking him backwards with a "oof!"

Luigi quickly picked the baby yoshi up and held him close, as if to keep him from doing anything else. Sensing Toadette glowering at the dinosaur, Captain Toad quickly cleared his throat.

"It's clear that the yoshi needs healthy foods to grow," he said, hurriedly. "Maybe we should go to the market and find something healthy to feed the little guy so he can reach maturity quicker!"

"The market? With food all out in the open? With a creature that just showed us he's willing to snatch food away at a moment's notice?" Mail Toad asked. "Sounds like fun!"

"Maybe we can put a muzzle on him." Toadette said darkly, still staring at the dino.

Captain Toad clapped once to get attention on him. "O-kay, we should go now!"

The Toad Brigade left with the duo, forming a circle around Luigi and Peach. The plumber looked down at the baby yoshi in his arms, who was back to cuddling against his chest.

---

"Radishes for the rabbit."

Mario tossed the radishes in the cart Chanterelle was pushing, getting the vegetables for Mips first just so neither of them would forget it.

The local store in Toad Town was pretty nice. Mario and Luigi had gone there a few times ever since they started getting a steady source of income. Luckily, the workers there were so dead inside that they didn't even care the brothers weren't Toads at a time where everyone seemed to care about it.

Mario knew what it felt like, totally checking out of a job. That's how it felt when he was working in the Wrecking Crew a while back- especially with that toolbag Spike as his boss.

"I really wish they would stock more teas here," Chanterelle commented, picking up a small bottle of earl grey blend. "It's all black tea. I still remember when we used to have green tea here."

Though the queen's statement pulled Mario from his recollection of working in Brooklyn, the animosity from thinking of Spike was still there, prompting him to nearly point out that it was Chanterelle's own fault they didn't have any other teas available; other teas came from other kingdoms, and from what Peach has told Mario, the Mushroom Kingdom does very little outside trading due to their strictly enforced borders.

Yet he kept himself civil, taking a breath. "Right. Well at least you like the teas that are-a still here, right?"

"…yes, I do suppose that's true."

Chanterelle put the bottle of earl grey in her cart, continuing to push it with Mario following along.

Mario always found these kinds of stores chilly. Even the sleeves of his button-up didn't protect him that much from how cold these places could be. He shoved his hands in his overall pockets, feeling the Super Leaf he had in one of the pockets.

They walked into the sweets aisle. The pair looked at the shelves of sweet foods, looking in the opposite direction of each other.

"You know," the queen said. "I had some of those thin cookies you made the other day. The biscotti?"

"Biscotti, yeah. Did you like them?"

"They were delicious. I don't see why you were so insistent on saying you couldn't bake anything earlier if you made those."

"Well, that was-a baking with Peach. Back home, it was always Luigi or my mamma baking everything."

"You mentioned that. What did your mother usuallyp bake?"

"All kindsa things. Cannolis, cream puffs. I could also say-a tiramisu but you don't have to bake that."

"Interesting. Are all of those desserts?"

"Yeah. My mamma liked-a cooking desserts more than she liked getting up early to make pastries for breakfast. Thatsa why we usually got them elsewhere, like I said."

"Well, my mother was the exact opposite. She would spend the entire day baking, getting all of her work done when things were in the oven. I was always so jealous of how she could do that."

"Did you, uh… bake a lot with your ma?"

"I did. She's the one who taught me how to bake… then everything I learned from her, I taught to Peach in turn." Chanterelle said, thoughtfully. "You know, sometimes I still hear my mother talking to me, saying—"

"Queen Chanterelle!"

The sharp voice of a nearby Toad made the duo stop in their tracks, tensing. The Toad was one with purple stripes on his cap, standing at the end of the aisle with a basket to get groceries in.

Chanterelle cleared her throat. "Yes, hello."

"What's wrong with the castle?"

"Well—"

"Is it under construction?"

"It—"

"Why's that tarp around it?"

"That—"

"Is it a crime scene?"

"No—"

"Did someone get hurt?" The Toad gasped in horror. "Was it the princess?! Did Princess Toadstool get hurt? Was she KILLED?!"

"She—"

"WHY AREN'T YOU ANSWERING ME?!"

"Hey, hey, HEY!" Mario stepped between the Toad and the queen, eyebrows furrowed. "Take a breather, will ya? Maybe if you stopped-a screaming, she could get a word in!"

The Toad recoiled in horror, suddenly aware of the human that was much taller than him (though still proportionately shorter than most humans, but that's neither here nor there).

Seeing this, the plumber sighed. "Look, whatsa your name?"

"Cort…"

"Okay. Cort," Mario said. "Queen Toadstool's got a lotta stuff on her plate right-a now. It has to do with the castle, yes. But she just wants a moment of peace while she does some shopping. Do you think you can-a handle that?"

"…I suppose so. I just wanna know about the castle…"

"It's being fumigated." The queen said, leaning to the side to look at the Toad. "Just some insect control, that's all. And no, the princess is not dead- she's perfectly fine."

"Okay… thank you."

"No problem. Carry on."

Cort picked up his basket and walked away, continuing his shopping like nothing ever happened. Mario sighed, rubbing his head and making his hat tilt up slightly.

The queen pushed her cart along, letting Mario join her once again, the two of them walking in the store like they were a moment ago.

"I appreciate you taking it upon yourself to calm that Toad," she said. "But you didn't have to be so vibrant about it."

"Yeah, I guess I got a little overwhelmed-a by the guy yelling. Happens every once in a while…"

"I can understand that." Chanterelle nodded a bit. "The Toads are very… simple people, I'll say. At their very cores, they're compassionate, with very little room for much else- including patience, unfortunately." She turned into another aisle. "This compassion they feel can be directed towards others, or directed inwards. But being directed inwards means they can come off as very… intense, in the name of self-preservation."

"You can say that again. Then again, thatsa how humans are back in the Metro Kingdom. I can't really judge, I guess."

Chanterelle paused, though her mouth slightly opened like she was just about to say something.

From her demeanor, it was unclear exactly what she could've said; maybe she was going to say that the humans being compassionate is why the Mushroom Kingdom is closed off, or maybe she was almost going to ask what Metro Kingdom is like and stopped herself.

After a moment of silence, she spoke. "The worlds an interesting place full of interesting people. Though it certainly is interesting hearing that humans are comparable to Toads in some aspects."

Mario knew that the queen had more on her mind, but he left it at that. He didn't want to pry, especially when it was supposed to be an afternoon where Mario was supposed to be doing something fun with the queen and keep her mind off of how strange things were nowadays.

They eventually got everything that was needed for the special earl grey macarons. After retrieving the dry ingredients from the grains aisle, they started making their way towards the checkout together.

While walking, Mario let his eyes travel across the shelves. His eyes eventually came across the noodles available in the Mushroom Kingdom: thick oyster mushroom noodles, enoki mushroom "noodles," and even ramen noodles that had pasta made with mushrooms in place of wheat flour.

Ugh. Mushrooms. Mario was getting sick of eating them. Sure, they were the cheapest ingredient in the entire kingdom, but it was starting to wear on him. He could eat pasta all day, sure, but he liked pasta at its core- he was only okay with mushrooms, but definitely not okay enough to eat them night after night.

A shiver went down the Italian's spine. This shiver was noticed by the queen.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, Imma fine. Just hate eating mushrooms all the time."

"Mushrooms… all the time?"

"Yeah. It's all we can-a really eat here. Mushrooms are cheap, and they're the only thing we can really use to replicate-a recipes that remind Luigi and I of home. We don't-a eat much else than the same three recipes as week, unless we get something special at the market."

Mario looked at the mushroom noodles for another moment before looking at the queen, taking note of how silent she was being.

The face Chanterelle was making was very reminiscent of home for Mario; when Mario dropped out of college after being there for a while, and when he eventually came back home after dropping out to face his family, something he foolishly revealed to his mother was that most of the food he was eating at Diamond City University was not Italian. In fact, the only thing he consistently had that was Italian was pizza.

Both Mia back then, and the queen at that very moment, had a face of utter shock and terror when hearing about what Mario had been feeding himself. If Chanterelle was anything like Mamma Mia, then this was about to take a sharp turn very quickly.

"Three recipes?" she asked, voice soft with horror. "Good heavens! Not even my family repeat a recipe in a month unless requested! Are you truly that strictly confined to your culture's recipes?"

"I mean, we're not-a really confined to it," Mario shrugged. "Itsa just what we know. We know how to make it, and we know it'll probably be good."

The queen clicked her tongue, slowly shaking her head. "No no no no no, that won't do."

"Scusi?"

"You can't survive on the same couple of recipes! That's… utterly preposterous. No, we're going to find you ingredients to make food that you can eat outside of that range."

"Your majesty, I really appreciate it," Mario replied. "But itsa fine. Luigi and I like our Italian food, we're perfectly fine living off pasta for a little while, just like we did back at home."

"Pasta shmasta, let's get you some real food."

Mario stumbled and clutched his chest, staring at the queen with wide eyes at her statement. The shock went unnoticed as Chanterelle kept moving, swiftly walking back to the produce section to find something. After recollecting himself, the plumber hustled to follow.

Although Chanterelle was determined to reach the produce and find things for Mario (or rather, Luigi) to cook for his dinners, the queen was stopped in her tracks by something nearby catching her eye. She left the cart behind for a moment.

Still quite a few steps behind, Mario soon reached the cart, taking a breather once he was there. That Super Mushroom he ate a while back gave him some good stamina, but even then he could be worn out fairly easily if he tried running too hard.

He rested his hands on his knees next to the cart to catch his breath. When he looked up from the floor, he saw the queen right in front of him, holding a few little cards of different colors.

"Pick one."

"...yellow. Why?"

"Hm…" Chanterelle looked at the yellow color he picked from the swatches. "Not my personal choice. I would've gone for a cool color, since you have so many warm color things in your home."

"In my home? Wait, are those-a for paint?"

"That'll be later. We'll go over it again… What about the furniture here?"

The store had a very limited supply of furniture, which Chanterelle gestured to with a slow swing of her arm. Mario stood up straight now, eyebrows furrowed. He gave the queen a side eye before looking back at the furniture on display.

"Uh… Well, I'd-a like a new recliner. So Luigi and I can have two."

"To each their own. Personally, I would've scrapped all the furniture and installed a conversation pit, since it keeps the room open… I may do that. I can special order one from Mushroom City. You would probably benefit from letting me choose what you have for your house anyway, I have an eye for this."

"Uh…"

"I'll make it feel very homely. Let's take a look at their catalog, maybe they'll have something we can order that can really make your house feel more like a home."

Mario was very hesitant. This was a lot, even for someone that's withstood developments about warping pipes, talking turtles and magic stars with little issue. That was probably because he sought out scenarios where those concepts popped up- he never signed up for his temporary house to be completely flipped.

Well, that was a lie. He kinda did, seeing as he agreed to do this with Peach. But he didn't specifically sign up for something like this, he thought he was just doing something nice to cheer the queen up!

He recalled what Peach had said to him about her mother… She was very stressed right now, and just wanted to feel like she was in control. That was the entire reason he was helping her bake something.

Maybe he could have her hold off on getting anything major for the house at the moment- or at least he could make her think that he'll order it himself at a later date. If he just plays along until Peach and Luigi get back, then eventually things will go right back to normal. Probably.

He sighed with resignation. "...okay, letsa go."

---

The Toads in the market luckily didn't react with fear when they saw the yoshi.

With new kicks, the baby yoshi trotted alongside Luigi, his shoes flopping along as they shuffled around the feet that were far too small to fit them. He looked up and around at all the Toads- some of them looked back at him.

Murmurs overcame the crowd whenever the yoshi came by- any really inquisitive Toad was kept from hassling the yoshi by Peach, who would even use her day parasol as a form of barrier to keep some of the more curious ones away. The baby dino either didn't notice or didn't care, as he was just content just walking near Luigi.

"What about this one, little guy?"

Captain Toad presented a nice green pepper to the yoshi. After sniffing it, he shook his head quickly to deny the offer.

"C'mon, yoshi, you gotta eat something." Luigi said. "If you don't-a munch on some veggies, you're never gonna grow up!"

The baby yoshi thought to himself for a moment before shrugging and going "eh."

"You little stinker!" Mail Toad said. He offered a durian to the little creature. "How about a durian? Freshly imported from Bianco Hills, one of my favorites!"

Seeing the spiky fruit, the baby yoshi was curious. Mail Toad opened up the fruit, letting the little dinosaur get a whiff of the inside- this was a bad idea. Smelling the standard rotten stench that came from opened durians, the yoshi wretched hard enough his eyes bulged out.

"Nuh huh!"

"It tastes better than it smells, I promise. Try some!"

The yoshi reached one of his arms away- not to grab a piece of durian, but to swat it clear out of the purple Toad's hand, making it bounce across the ground. Mail Toad let out a noise of shock.

"Hey! Not cool!"

As Mail Toad walked away, Archivist Toadette was next. She stared intently at the baby yoshi, walking up with a cold aura, holding something in both of her hands. Toadette presented something to the baby dinosaur- what appeared to be a Super Mushroom.

"Here. Have this. It'll relax you." She said huskily.

The baby yoshi made a noise of interest. However, Peach quickly noticed something was off, and snatched the mushroom from Toadette's hands before the yoshi's tongue could snag it for lunch.

"Wait a second!" The princess said. She held the mushroom in her hands and wiped off the top, smearing red onto her gloves.

Underneath the red paint was nothing but purple- the mushroom had a blueish stem and a purple cap, a cap that had two large black dots that were almost like eyes. Peach had recognized the mushroom from the unique end of the cap, which had the appearance of jagged square-ish bits hanging from the edge. From afar, you'd think the cap was a purple skull.

"Fungi venenum! A Poison Mushroom!" She identified it. "This thing can really make someone sick if they eat it."

Luigi was floored. "Why would they sell it in the market?"

"It's used for a lot of homemade tonics to cure sickness. Very reliable when properly prepared."

"Toadette!" Captain Toad turned to his archivist. "You were gonna feed that to the yoshi?!"

"Maybe then he'll learn to keep that tongue to himself and not eat everything he sees! Like the only Yoshi Fruit in the Mushroom Kingdom!"

She glared at the yoshi, making a hand gesture with two fingers that said "I'm watching you". The dino, unfazed, looked at the Toadette with a big smile and the same big eyes, with not a single brain cell behind them.

"You tried to poison a baby dinosaur? That's insane, even for me." Bank Toad commented.

With another swing of her head, she whacked him in the face with her braids in response to his statement. The green Toad fell backwards from the hit once again.

The situation was forgotten as Note Toad came up with a fruit of his own- he had left the group to locate something unique for the yoshi to try, and finally his search yielded fruit… literally.

The fruit in Note Toad's hands was big, green in color, covered with white-ish colored net-like pattern on the surface. He seemed very pleased with himself at his finding, holding it up triumphantly as he approached his Brigade and their allies.

"Note Toad! What's that?"

"It's a melon!" The bespectacled Toad said cheerfully. "Here from Gwarhar Lagoon! It's a rare find, I'm lucky I even found one of this size!"

"You think yoshi will like it?" Luigi asked.

"Only one way to find out!"

Walking up to the yoshi, Note Toad crouched down and held the melon out with both hands. The yoshi was curious, tilting his head, and smelled the green fruit curiously. Suddenly, his eyes widened, and the baby yoshi snagged the fruit in his tongue.

He ate the fruit whole, crunching onto it and smiling widely. "Mmmmm!"

"Yes! I knew it!" Note Toad said with a big smile. "Those notes that Toadette had said that yoshis love melons! It's one of their favorite fruits! Ironic seeing as they have a whole different fruit named after them."

"Excellent work, Notesy! I was starting to think we'd never get something that would work for this little guy."

"We could've always waited to see what Nap Toad got."

"Nap Toad's not here, Luigi." Captain Toad replied. "He's back at HQ; he slept in today."

"...oh. My bad, I lose track of stuff easily. Wouldn't he want to see the baby yoshi, though?"

"He'll get to see the little guy later. You do not want to interrupt that Toad when he sleeps for more than ten hours, trust me."

With melon juice dribbling down the baby yoshi's mouth, Peach crouched down and gently wiped his mouth with a pink handkerchief she had in her purse, wanting him to still look tidy.

"Princess?"

Hearing someone familiar call out to her, Peach stood back up and turned, seeing her family's advisor nearby.

"Toadsworth! What are you doing here?"

"Well, since the castle's still being fumigated, I thought I would take my unexpected week off to have a nice couple of nights to myself." He replied, tapping the end of his cane on the ground. "So I came to the market to find something to prepare myself tonight; but I must ask, what is that with you?"

"A yoshi! Haven't mother and father been keeping you in the loop?"

"I'd rather stay out of it for my own sanity. When I was younger, I would run myself ragged keeping you safe. You were one impish baby," The old Toad chuckled. "But I see you never grew out of it! A yoshi, yes? Good gravy, I thought they were merely a myth!"

"They're very real, Toadsworth. But don't let what I'm doing get in the way of a fun mini-vacation! You have fun, I can handle this on my own."

"Thank you, princess. I think I may switch things up a little as well…"

His cane clacking against the brick walkway, Toadsworth walked to one of the nearby stands, one that had many different articles of clothing on it. He picked up a beanie, a green one with a white pattern on the top.

The old Toad slid it on over his cap, and turned back to the princess with raised eyebrows.

Peach chuckled. "Looking good, Toadsworth."

"Thank you, princess! I think I'll take it. Pip pip!"

After paying, Toadsworth turned around to continue walking through the stalls of the market, letting everyone see his covered cap from behind.

Though not paying attention during the conversation, the baby yoshi was suddenly intrigued when Toadsworth turned around. He looked up and saw the cap that was covered in the green, white patterned toboggan… and all the baby dino saw was a massive melon walking away.

The baby yoshi's mouth watered, making a cooing noise of interest. Luigi heard the sound and noticed what the little creature was looking at.

"Y-Yoshi, no!"

It was too late for warnings. The baby yoshi shot out its tongue, sticking onto the back of Toadsworth's cap- Peach and the Toad Brigade gasped.

The closest to the tongue was Toadette, who was right beside the outstretched tongue, within reach to grab it or do something to interrupt the dinosaur's attempt to eat the old Toad's head. However, once she realized this, she squinted her eyes and took a big step to the side, spitefully letting the yoshi fly by to get itself into trouble.

With an outstretched mouth, the baby yoshi latched onto Toadsworth's head, making the old Toad stumble forwards. He reached up and felt the yoshi latching onto his head- since it was still a baby, the little guy didn't have any teeth, or if he did none of them were sharp.

However, feeling the strange creature they knew nothing about attaching itself to his head as if to eat it didn't exactly make Toadsworth feel giddy and happy, weirdly enough. Instead, feeling this dinosaur creature was trying to eat his head made the old Toad react the only way he could: he screamed and ran.

Toadsworth took off, heading through the market. Hearing and seeing the old Toad terrified from the yoshi on his head, the many other Toads making up the market quickly got stirred into a massive frenzy.

"Oh no, Toadsworth!" Peach exclaimed.

"Toad Brigade, after that runaway mustachioed man!" Captain Toad added.

"Letsa go!"

Luigi's urging got all of them moving. Both he and Peach (who closed her parasol and tucked it under her arm) led the group, as the Toad Brigade were slower due to both shorter legs and carrying heavy supplies. Even Toadette joined them- though she was being dragged along by the hand by Captain Toad, and visibly looked like she'd rather be anywhere else than helping that baby yoshi.

The screaming old Toad caused everyone within a few yards from him to turn and immediately start panicking, creating a variety of obstacles along the way for all of them. While the Toad Brigade could shove their fellow Toads out of the way, Luigi and Peach remained mindful of how tall they were.

Toadsworth, still screaming, zipped down the market so fast he didn't see what others were doing. He passed by a pair of Toads that were trying to carry a massive pane of glass across the marketplace, causing them to pause in the middle of the walkway.

Peach and Luigi were running too fast to move out of the way of the movers ahead of them. Not wanting to stop and risk losing track of Toadsworth, the plumber reacted by grabbing onto the princess- putting an arm around her midsection- and jumping into the air.

With the help of the scuttling he learned from the yoshis before, Luigi got high enough to clear the glass with Peach. As they descended, she grabbed onto one of his overall straps; pink and gold sparkles glimmered from her legs as she floated them down to hit the ground running.

Before the glass pane movers could react to the pair running by, the glass was hit by the stampeding Toad Brigade, who were equally unable to stop but also unable to jump like the duo did before.

The Brigade didn't shatter the glass, instead knocking it clean out of the movers' hands and causing the glass pane to flip up into the air. By the time Luigi, Peach and the Toad Brigade were out of sight, the pane landed right back in the hands of the movers, completely intact. Both of them sighed with relief.

Up ahead, Toadsworth passed a presentation of a mustard yellow block with two, eye-like black marks on the front of them.

"Presenting the Rotating Block!" The presenter, a Beanish in a blue shirt, said while gesturing to the large block before him. The crowd of Toads all went "oooh" in awe of the item.

"What does it do?"

"I'm glad you asked! These recently created blocks from the Beanbean Kingdom have a very special purpose- when they're hit…" He jumped up and punched the block from below, showing them how it instantly folded into a flat square and flipped around. "They go flat, allowing anyone to pass through it from the bottom with correct timing! With this, the world can change how they're able to scale areas like caves or mountains, with very few other supplies needed!"

"Can't we just use Brick Blocks like we have been? I like punching them and finding a few coins that were left inside of them."

"You could, but this is much easier and quicker. Besides, when you punch a Brick Block, it breaks apart instantly! This is much more effective, and… Is that Princess Peach?"

The Beanish and the crowd all turned their attention to the princess and her plumber friend sprinting past them, not even looking over to see what was going on.

"...huh. Nifty," the presenter murmured. "Anyway, where was I? Oh yes! There's also a super-wide version of the Rotating Block that'll be coming out soon!"

Stepping on a nearby P Switch with his foot, a wide Rotating Block appeared above him in a puff of smoke. He jumped up again and punched it… only for the wide Rotating Block to be knocked from the air and tumble forwards. The crowd parted as the Rotating Block tumbled across the brick walkway, watching the wide block come to a stop before all eyes were back on the Beanish.

"...it's still a work in progress." He said sheepishly.

Before any further presentation could be made, the Toad Brigade came by, all five of them crashing into the wide Rotating Block.

It appeared that the prototype block needed just a little extra force to activate, as it flattened as soon as the Toads all stumbled into it, unable to jump due to their heavy supplies. As the flattened block flipped across the bricks, the Toad Brigade all found themselves on top of it, their feet in time to step on the edges of the spinning Rotating Block.

Unable to stop, the Toad Brigade ran backwards on the flipping block like they would a log, unintentionally creating a rapidly pivoting flat surface akin to the blades of a push mower. Because of this, the Toads in the area only became more panicked.

Going faster from the flipping block, the Toad Brigade quickly caught up with Luigi and Peach, who both immediately noticed. The two of them let out equal noises of fear from the sight of the rapidly spinning flat block behind them.

They passed out of the market, into town, where there were few people- but Toadsworth was still running ahead of them. Some oblivious Toads nearby were enjoying some fruit, fresh from Isle Delfino.

One of the Toads watched Toadsworth rush by. Thoughtlessly, he threw the peel of the banana he was eating over his shoulder, which landed right in front of Luigi.

Distracted from the imminent doom of the spinning block behind him, the green plumber didn't see the banana peel in front of him at all, and stepped right on it. The unlucky Italian let out a "WAH" as he flipped from his sliding, his swinging arms hitting Peach and knocking both of them back.

They were sucked into the rapidly spinning block, pulled upwards and knocking into the Toads on the block, creating a massive rolling mass of green, pink and white. The giant ball of people rolled off course, only stopping as it slammed into the tailed tree towards the center of Toad Town; Toadsworth kept going, though.

The crashing halt was enough to shake the tree, causing some leaves to start falling. Luigi, Peach and- interestingly enough- Captain Toad all shrunk to their little forms, the latter shrinking to a form where his cap was red with white dots instead of the other way around. The wide Rotating Block flipped around to the grass, before returning to its 3D block shape.

"Mamma Mia…" Luigi rumbled, adjusting his hat so it wasn't in his face.

"We have to keep going! Toadsworth's getting away! Though… Probably not in these bodies."

"No fear, princess! I have Super Mushrooms in my bag just in case! Enough for all three of us!"

Captain Toad pulled on one of his backpack straps to try and pull it to his front, but was barely making any leeway due to his weaker body. He huffed and simply stood up, turning around to rummage through his bag.

"It's in here somewhere…"

Amongst the groaning, hurt Toads, Luigi sighed from the situation. He took off his hat, letting it rest upside down in his lap as he rubbed the spot on the back of his head that hit the trunk of the tailed tree.

As the Super Leaves were fluttering down, one of them landed right in Luigi's hat. Letting the pain subside and refocusing on the situation at hand, he grabbed onto the stem of the Super Leaf in his hat and picked it up.

He recalled when Mario used the leaf to become that Tanooki form… how fast he was. Even if Luigi was meek, kinda wimpy and regularly unlucky, he knew deep in his chest that he couldn't let this baby yoshi get hurt; not just because of the other yoshis giving him the responsibility, but because he did genuinely care for the little creature.

Luigi crushed the leaf in his gloved hand. When nothing happened, he opened the hand, watching the crushed pieces of the dry leaf fall from his palm.

He huffed, annoyed. "Of course."

Another Super Leaf, from above, twirled down and landed on top of his head, just as it did with his brother not too long ago. When it did that, a puff of smoke came off of Luigi, obscuring the group.

The smoke cleared as Luigi rose into the air, the tail from his form fluttering like a helicopter rotor, returned to his normal taller body. He wasn't a Tanooki like Mario was- his fur was golden brown, with pointed ears and a tail that wasn't striped.

Peach watched in awe, mumbling. "Kitsune…"

A blast of air came over the area as Kitsune Luigi flew off to chase after Toadsworth. Another leaf fluttered down from above, resting on the princess' shoulder. She took it off and looked it over.

"Aha! Here you go, princess!"

Captain Toad presented a Super Mushroom to Peach. After a slight pause, she opened her purse and put the Super Leaf in there to keep it for later.

"Another time," the princess commented. Right after, she took the mushroom and took a massive bite out of it to start chowing down.

Zipping through the air, Luigi flew through the crowd in residential Toad Town, propelled by the suit's spinning tail. He had to really fly quickly in order to catch up with Toadsworth- that old Toad was far quicker than he looked; no wonder he was always missing when things went sideways around the castle, he was booking it as far away as he could!

The kitsune tail fluttered faster, trying to push Luigi faster to catch up with Toadsworth. He probably would be able to fly faster if he had two tails instead of one… nah. A fox with two tails? That would be just plain weird.

Rolling through the air to dodge a group of Toads on the brick byway, Luigi's arms swung and legs kicked as he steadied himself to keep flying after Toadsworth.

He was getting ever so closer, flying at a speed that was just fast enough to pass Toadsworth steadily. The baby yoshi was still latched to the back of the old Toad's head- whether it still believed Toadsworth's head was a melon or if he was too scared to let go at this point was unknown to the plumber.

Grunting, Luigi reached forwards. It took longer than expected to reach the yoshi, but when he did, the plumber grabbed onto the baby dino's leg. He started to slow down and let the different speeds pry the yoshi off of Toadsworth.

As Luigi pulled his yoshi off of Toadsworth, he saw how the baby had stayed attached for so long- the baby dino didn't really have any teeth that could pierce people (he didn't really have any teeth at all being so young) but was stuck to the old Toad's head by his hyper-adhesive tongue.

When the yoshi was pulled back from Toadsworth, the end of his tongue was still attached to the mushroom cap, stretching his tongue out between Luigi and the old Toad to keep them connected. The baby dinosaur, through panic and inexperience, didn't know how to undo the adhesiveness of his tongue.

Luigi's feet kicked as he swung upright, reaching his other hand out and grabbing the baby yoshi's other leg. Stopping his tail's spinning momentarily, Luigi used it to spin his body instead, yanking the end of the tongue from Toadsworth's cap.

Now detached from Toadsworth, Luigi came down to the ground, his feet hitting it first and bouncing him back in the air. His spinning abruptly stopped, the baby yoshi's tongue snapped back into his mouth, staring up at his owner with wide eyes of terror while the two of them flew through the open air.

Luigi held the baby yoshi to his chest, curling around his dino, somersaulting forwards and landing right on his back- the landing was hard enough to power him down from his Kitsune form, the Super Leaf fluttering into the air behind them and soon fading away. The two rolled across the brick in a ball of green before Luigi stopped, ending up on his back with the baby yoshi on his chest.

From the harsh landing, the plumber groaned and slowly sat up, rubbing his head over his hat. He was soon slapped in the face by the baby yoshi's tongue, snapping him back to reality.

The baby yoshi was happy again, smiling big. Luigi couldn't help but smile back, petting the dino's head after seeing he was okay.

"Are you okay, yoshi?"

"Yoshi!"

"…I'll-a take that as a yes."

"Luigi!"

Riding up on a kart, Peach and the Toad Brigade hopped off as it pulled up next to the plumber and his pet. The kart was a soft yellow, almost like a pickup truck, as the back half of the kart was flat- though it had wing details on the very back corner of the kart bed.

The princess patted the side of the kart's carriage. "Thank you!"

"No problem, princess!" The blue Toadette in the kart replied cheerfully. She drove her light tripper off down the byway.

The Toad Brigade helped Luigi up- the plumber held his yoshi in his arms, continuing to carry him.

"Are you alright?" Peach asked, approaching him.

"Imma fine, princess. We're-a fine." He replied with a smile, petting the yoshi. He was suddenly alerted to the sounds of many Toads approaching them. "Uh… that might change soon though."

Luigi, his yoshi, Peach and the Toad Brigade were suddenly surrounded by a mob of Toads. They saw some familiar figures- like Toadsworth (without his hat now) standing towards the front amongst them. None of them looked happy.

The multiple voices of the complaining Toads was enough to even make Peach wince and cover her ears. Luigi cringed as well, holding the baby Yoshi tightly.

Naturally empathic, the baby yoshi tilted his head curiously at the feeling of so many people being freaked out by him.

"People, people, please!" The princess called out. "This is just a little misunderstanding!"

"That yoshi is causing a lot of trouble, princess!" Toadsworth said. "I liked that hat!"

"The little guy attacked the town elder!"

"He interrupted my presentation!" The Beanish presenter said, frowning.

"You were choking up there anyway." Mail Toad replied, nonplussed.

"It nearly destroyed our glass!" The mover Toads said, still carrying the large window pane.

"…why are you two still carrying that thing?" Archivist Toadette asked, perplexed. "Weren't you delivering it somewhere?"

"That yoshi poisoned our water supply, burned our crops, and delivered a plague unto our houses!"

"He DID?" The entire mob, including the group they were hassling, asked in confusion.

"No… but are we gonna wait around until he does?!"

"Oh shut up, Toadeus!" Bank Toad rolled his eyes. "Theater Toads, I swear- save it for the Sparkle Theater, pal!"

The mob continued to yell loudly at the intrepid heroes. The group pressed closer together, trying to keep away from the bustling crowd's anger.

"Great Farfalle…" Luigi mumbled.

"How can we calm them down?"

"I dunno princess, they have a point. Maybe we should give them the yoshi and let them do whatever they want."

"Toadette!" Captain Toad reprimanded her. "We are not throwing that little guy to the beasts! So he ate your special fruit- he's a baby and doesn't know better! Get over it!"

She frowned. Toadette looked at the yoshi, who was looking at her with big eyes and a big smile still. She stuck out her tongue at him.

The ground started rumbling beneath them, making them all scatter and inadvertently join the mob, leaving a big empty circle in the center of the crowd.

A lump appeared below the bricks, with dirt pressing through the cracks and spaces, until the bricks broke apart. Something furry and brown leapt out from the ground, something that kind of looked like a mole.

The entire crowd of Toads gasped in horror.

"A Monty Mole!" Peach exclaimed.

"Great oogity boogity!" Toadsworth remarked.

"You give your moles first names?" Luigi asked.

"Oh no!"

"Not a Monty Mole!"

"Is it gonna bring the rest of its family?"

The crowd all chattering with fear made the plumber more confused. "…why are they afraid of a little-a mole?"

"Monty Moles are an invasive animal! They burrow under buildings and towns and completely take it over!" Captain Toad asked. "The last time we had Monty Moles here was years ago, and their kind nearly destroyed Toad Town during a widespread invasion!"

"…those things?" Luigi pointed at the still Monty Mole, who was clearly scanning its surroundings with poor eyesight common in other moles.

The yoshi in Luigi's arm followed the plumber's hand as it pointed at the Monty Mole. He understood that this mole thing was bad… it had to be gotten rid of.

"That must be the scout they send to find residential areas! If we don't get rid of it, then we might have a whole new invasion! We have to get the Ex-Toad-Inator quickly—"

Before Peach could finish her statement, the baby yoshi shot its tongue out and snared the Monty Mole. Lightning fast, the baby yoshi pulled the mole back into his mouth and swallowed it whole.

"Mmmm!"

After the yoshi hummed with glee from eating the Monty Mole, everyone was silent. The entire mob was staring at the yoshi now, completely floored- even Luigi and his friends.

Once the awe subsided, however, the mob turned from angry to happy. They started talking pleasantly, praising the baby yoshi. A few came up and even started petting the little dino.

Luigi was a little flustered at being surrounded by so many Toads, but was helped with Peach staying close, putting a hand on his shoulder.

The only person not pleased in the crowd was Toadette. When her eyes met the yoshi's again, she pointed two fingers at herself and at the baby dino, once again telling the little creature that she was watching him.

Captain Toad nudged her to stop what she was doing. "…Man, these people were ready to kill that little guy a moment ago."

"The acceptance of the unorthodox is heavily dependent on how it can benefit individuals, rather than it being accepted for just being alive." Note Toad added. "That's what I've read, anyway."

Everyone in the crowd continued to praise and pet the yoshi, grateful for him stopping another infestation in town before it could happen.

Suddenly, a massive gust of wind came across the area, making everyone stop what they were doing and look at the source of the gusts up above them.

A shadow came across the crowd as a small airship slowed to a stop overhead, completely blocking out the sun.

---

Mario didn't know how he ended up getting his inseam measured, but he was seriously regretting taking up Peach's request that morning.

The Tailor Toad, named Toadatorio, was recollecting measurements of Mario on request of Queen Toadstool. Though he already had measurements of Mario, the queen wanted new ones just in case anything changed since last time.

After leaving the store, Chanterelle had the items they bought whisked away by a few Toads to be delivered to Mario's home. Luckily he managed to convince the queen not to buy paint or furniture, but it came with the agreement that she could take Mario off to the tailor's for a makeover.

He sighed as the Toad stopped measuring him. "Why am I doing this again?"

"You need to look presentable and nice! You've worn those overalls every day since you got here. Do you not want to seem well groomed and dressed up when you go out on the town?"

"The town knows I'm a plumber, thatsa not exactly known as a clean and tidy profession."

"You don't do plumbing all the time. You should have the chance to look nice!" The queen looked at the tailor. "Tailor Toad, do you have any ideas?"

"Hard to say," Toadatorio was at a tablet that was propped up to Toad height, positioned right next to the circular platform Mario was standing on. The tailor was tapping onto it. "From what Mario told me the first time we met, he's a very simple man. I do appreciate a man who doesn't dress to gauche if he knows he can't do it well. Perhaps he could keep wearing something simple?"

"Imma standing right here." The plumber deadpanned.

"Yes hello, Mario, we see you." Chanterelle said to him, as if appeasing a needy child. She returned her attention to the tailor. "Something simple, you say? Perhaps a minor change to his looks?"

"I was thinking that as well, your excellency. My contraption, the Wardrobizer 7000, can craft excellent outfits for anyone it needs in an instant! Hopefully, at least. We only just got this fixed after it being in commission for so long."

"You all don't-a have mechanics here or something?" Mario asked.

"Not for something like this. The Wardrobizer 7000 was made decades ago, before I even sprouted! The guy who made it was apparently a human like you, too! My mentor said he was very eccentric- but had a knack for paranormal research, apparently." Toadatorio shrugged. "Makes sense why it took so long to repair it, it was bound to be a crazy contraption if he seemed a bit kooky."

"Yes yes, very peculiar figures." Chanterelle waved it off. "Could you give him a new outfit or not?"

"That I certainly can do. Let's see… stand still please, Mario."

"Okie dokie…"

Pressing a few buttons on the stationary pad he had, Toadatorio soon pulled back a lever that was attached to the side. A curtain came down around Mario, obscuring him.

The curtain spun around as things worked inside of the hidden space. Mario made a plethora of noises, ones that were aggravated and uncomfortable, and a few sharp grunts of minor pain.

Soon, the curtain stopped. It raised again, revealing Mario underneath. His outfit was different, but slightly. His overalls were red, and his shirt was blue.

A mechanical claw tried to take Mario's hat, but he quickly grabbed it and snatched it away.

"How's it look?"

At the tailor's question, Mario's platform turned him around, nearly knocking him down as he was busy putting his hat back on. From the triple mirrors around one side of the platform, the plumber got a good look at himself.

"Inverted colors?" He asked.

"A classic concept. That outfit is made with a vintage fabric we have on hand- it's very retro."

"Eh… I don't-a think so. Itsa not me."

"Alright, fair enough. Too weird. Hold still."

Toadatorio tapped on his tablet again. Before pulling the lever, putting Mario through the makeover process again.

"Instead of something strange, how about the opposite? Maybe something… traditional?"

When the curtains lifted, Mario saw himself in the mirrors- he was wearing robes of black, white and red. Across the black top robe were monograms with the letter 'M' on them. His hat was still on, and Mario shooed another claw reaching for it.

"Oooh, a hakama!" Chanterelle commented. "Very classy. Mushroom wore one for our wedding ceremony."

"I can see why. Itsa comfy…" Mario rubbed his arms, specifically the new sleeves. "But… Imma not getting married yet. This seems a lot for someone like-a me."

"Keep it in mind though. I'd love to design your wedding outfit." The tailor commented, tapping away. "Hmmm… Maybe a throwback for you specifically? What did you do before you became a plumber?"

"Well… College, but that was… Not a fun time. Between dropping out and-a becoming a plumber, Luigi and I worked a construction job to make ends meet- the Wrecking Crew they were called."

"Interesting! Let's see here… stand still please."

After a few more taps and pulling the lever, the curtain dropped and spun.

When they lifted, Mario was back in overalls again. The overalls were red, but the shirt he had on was an orangish yellow.

Knowing better, the metal claw slowly lowered a similarly yellow construction hat to Mario. The plumber eyed the claw silently until it retreated, letting Mario keep his hat.

"There we are! What a brilliant outfit to show the world what a maker you are!"

"It certainly seems hi-vis enough to be on a construction site… but I'd-a rather wear something that doesn't look… like this."

"I agree." The queen nodded. "No offense."

"Very well. How about I do something original to my shop? Let's see… stand still please."

The outfit process started over again, and after the curtain dropped and twirled, Mario was left standing on the platform in… well, it was certainly an outfit.

He was wearing a yellow and blue plaid shirt, a suit jacket with red and white stripes, and blue shorts with darker blue polka dots on it.

"Mamma Mia…" Mario grumbled as he saw the outfit.

"There, my highly chic and fashionable outfit." Toadatorio said, gesturing it. "I was told it was 'clashing' and I 'really shouldn't make designs after staying up for seventy-two hours'. And to that I say: it's not clashing, they're clashing!"

"Well…" The queen clearly didn't feel that warmly about the outfit, like the wearer. "Mario, how do you feel?"

"Great," the plumber replied. "I love-a looking like a clown."

Hearing that, the tailor quickly tapped on his tablet and pulled the lever. Mario was quickly given an absolute makeover, making him yelp in surprise. Spraying was heard as something was painted onto him.

The curtains lifted. Mario was dressed like a clown; complete with a painted face, a rainbow afro wig, and a big(ger) red nose. The wig was placed haphazardly on top of his hat.

Mario slowly turned to the tailor, his eyes wide with anger. "Why did you dress me up-a like this?"

"You said you love looking like a clown!"

"Not…" he took a deep breath. "Change me back to how I normally look. Now."

Feeling the raw Italian fury emanating from the plumber, Toadatorio quickly pressed the massive "RESET" button on his tablet.

The curtains dropped and spun. When they lifted, a metal claw wiped the last of the greasepaint from Mario's face. He was back in his standard overalls and red shirt.

"Ma dio cane…" Mario mumbled, dusting himself off and readjusting his hat.

"I don't get it. Do none of my outfits work?"

"I'm sure something will work, Tailor Toad." Chanterelle reassured him. "Hm… You know what might help? If we changed the hat."

"If you… What?" Mario asked incredulously, pausing what he was doing.

"The hat! I mean, it's fine, but it doesn't work with any of the other outfits. We should swap it out with something else."

"Swap it…? No! Absolutely not!"

"I beg your pardon?" The queen replied. "Mario, it's simply a hat. You can get another just like it. Or at least get one that looks better."

"Imma not getting rid of this hat. You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead-a hands!"

Chanterelle was exasperated, scoffing. "Mario, seriously! Why do you care so much about a hat? Is it because it has your initial on it? We can get another hat with an M on it, if you—"

"Because my mamma gave it to me!" The red plumber snapped back. "…she gave this hat to me when I was a baby, just like with Luigi. You can change everything about me and my house, but you won't-a take the most important thing I have from my mamma away from me."

The queen fell silent at that. She didn't just go quiet- she looked absolutely horrified. Where others would probably look shocked or embarrassed, she was instead absolutely terrified at this response. It was almost like she was horrified at what she was doing, rather than being scared of Mario.

She blinked a few times and collected herself a little, but her eyes were still slightly widened.

After a second of thought, she retrieved a few coins from her purse and gave it to the tailor before shooing him away quietly. Toadatorio left quickly without another word.

"…Mario," she finally spoke. "I didn't… I didn't know—"

A loud shriek from outside interrupted what Chanterelle was trying to say. The queen turned quickly, having been standing her back to the door.

Toads were running past the window, clearly trying to get away from something nearby.

The queen lifted her dress and quickly scurried away. Mario hopped off the viewing platform and followed along.

In the nearby residential area, they saw it- an airship. Literally what seemed to be some kind of pirate ship that was flying in air from rotors. It reminded Mario of that airtub the Shy Guys were flying, but… bigger.

The mob around Luigi and company mostly dispersed, Mario and the queen were able to get to them easily. It had only been a minute or two since the Monty Mole was eaten.

"Mario!"

"Bro!"

"What the heck is-a going on here?!" Mario asked, immediately moving to stand with Luigi and Peach.

Chanterelle's run turned to a walk. She looked up, standing amongst the Toad Brigade and Toadsworth. Her hand was on her chin as she focused on a flag flying on the back deck.

The roaring red-colored head on the black flag was different, but familiar. It wasn't the same Drakoopa she was used to, but it was one of them. A different one.

"No…" She murmured in horror. "The Dark Lands… They're here."

Overhearing her mother, Peach quickly gripped Mario and Luigi's shoulders. "The Dark Lands…"

A dark form appeared on the side of the ship's deck, dropping off of the flying ship. It quickly came down, threatening to crush the group.

"Your majesty, look out!" Captain Toad yelled.

The remaining members of the group had to all move back to get out of the way. The person that dropped down was massive, another Koopa- but one wearing football gear.

Clutching onto his back, a troop of minions dropped from his back; four goombas, two koopas with green shells, and three paratroopas with winged red shells that flew into the air.

A purple burst of magic revealed one more member- a koopa with glasses, flying on a broom with a red robe.

"Quake in fear, weaklings!" The Red Magikoopa yelled. "You face the raw force of the Dark Land's royal majesty, King Koopa!"

As he swung his arm, the magikoopa's glasses slipped off his face. He fumbled with them for a moment.

Mario's hand found Peach's forearm, as she was still holding his shoulder, squeezing her gently. The troop were certainly there because of the two of them.

"Toadsworth," the princess said. "Get my mother out of here."

"Princess…"

"Go, Toadsworth."

Though hesitant, the old Toad gently guided Chanterelle back and away from the groups. Before they could leave, however, the queen grabbed Peach's skirt to stop.

"Peach."

The princess looked down at her mother.

"Just… be careful." Chanterelle said. "Especially of that Chargin' Chuck."

"…I will, mom."

"Tally ho!"

Toadsworth led the queen away, who gave one last glance back at her daughter before hurrying away. Chanterelle knew her daughter could help take care of this.

The goombas had formed a line, one that was backed by the two green koopas. The goomba line was slowly advancing on the group- however, it was offset by the Toad Brigade forming a line to defend the princess.

After adjusting his glasses, the Red Magikoopa pointed at Peach. "Her! Seize the princess and obliterate the plumbers for King Bowser at once! Onwards, Chuck!"

The massive football-geared koopa turned his attention to Peach. The Chuck started to stomp over to the princess, not even paying attention to the plumbers to focus on retrieving her. After her mother left, however, Peach went to dig in her purse- and neglected to notice the Chargin' Chuck was after her specifically.

"Peach, look out!"

Mario rushed to intercept the big koopa- however, before he could get close, the Red Magikoopa swung his wand and unleashed a blast of shapes into him.

The red plumber instantly shrunk down, flying backwards and tumbling across the bricks.

"M-Mario! WAH!"

Luigi reached for his brother, but was interrupted by a pair of goombas appearing before him to block his way, making the green plumber clutch the baby yoshi tightly.

Another pair of goombas hopped onto the first two, creating a double stack of two goombas, side by side, making a type of wall. They all rushed towards Luigi- they seemed more vicious, maybe that was because they were Bowser's minions instead of wild goombas- and in response the plumber started to run.

With her friends scattered, Peach quickly continued to look for something in her purse as the Chargin' Chuck got closer.

A metal canteen, full of water for extra weight, hit the Chuck on the back of the head. The sportsy koopa stopped, his head tilting forwards even from the water bottle hitting the back of his helmet. He turned around to look at the rowdy Toads behind him.

"Hey ugly! Why don't you pick on someone your own speed?" Captain Toad yelled, his Brigade huddled behind him. "Stay away from the princess, you big idiot, or I'll take you down myself!"

The Chuck stared at the Toad Brigade. After a second, the big koopa stomped on the ground, before jumping and clapping over his head.

"Oh boy." Bank Toad mumbled.

"Uh, what do we do, cap?" Archivist Toadette asked.

"CHEESE IT!"

Captain Toad turned and held his arms out, shuffling his Brigade away so they could be ahead of him as they all ran away. The angered footballer sprinted with a shoulder out, intending on stamping these Toads out like a bull.

While the charging koopa was going after the Toad Brigade, it nearly took out the Koopa Troopas, both flying and standing, who all yelled angrily at the Chargin' Chuck for interrupting them.

With those Troopas distracted, Luigi scampered away from the double goomba stack after him, still holding his yoshi to his chest.

The baby yoshi, jostled slightly from Luigi's sloppy running, watched his owner's face as he was fleeing. Luigi, his "mama," was… scared. Scared of those four things chasing after them.

Peeking under Luigi's arm, the baby yoshi looked at the four goombas clambering behind them. As he did, one of the stacks leaned backwards and flung a top goomba at Luigi.

It flew past the plumber, face planting into the brick- it still made Luigi yelp out in shock though. The plumber circled back, heading towards his brother and Peach.

A brick knocked loose from the Chargin' Chuck dropping from the still present airship caught on Luigi's foot, sending him down onto the ground, unintentionally tossing the yoshi forwards- though that was good, so he wouldn't be crushed under the plumber.

Luigi groaned, turning around to sit up, but gasped as he saw the goombas approach.

The baby yoshi picked himself up as well, turning and seeing the goombas. The remaining stack leaned back and flung itself at Luigi.

Though he had only been present for a day, the baby yoshi knew two things: melons were yummy, and he loved his mama. Luigi was wimpy to others, maybe, but the little yoshi did genuinely love the guy for everything he did; including putting himself on the line to help the dino.

For as silly as the yoshi could be, he knew when his owner was in mortal danger, and he didn't want that to go on for any longer.

The yoshi ran forwards, jumping up and bouncing off the top of Luigi's head, leaping towards the goomba to intercept with an open mouth.

"Yoshi!" Luigi yelled.

The goomba made a face of surprise and shock as it finally noticed the little dino, but it was too late. The two crashed in midair and fell to the ground below.

There was a moment of struggle, and suddenly the little yoshi stood up on his feet, his head raised as he held the goomba in his mouth by the top of the goomba's head.

Like some kind of snake, the yoshi's mouth opened wider, allowing him to swallow the goomba whole, licking his chops after.

The baby yoshi suddenly started to vibrate, his body extending out and growing rapidly. He hit his food threshold, and it was much sooner than expected.

"Yoshi!"

His voice was only fairly deeper, but Luigi's baby yoshi grew up, standing on two feet at full size.

"A yoshi?!" The Red Magikoopa tilted his glasses down to look at the grown dino.

Luigi was ecstatic, smiling widely. "Al-right, Yoshi!"

Licking his chops again, the yoshi realized just how much he enjoyed eating those goombas. He turned to look at the remaining three, who were all horrified. The goombas quickly turned and ran, all pursued by the yoshi.

As he tried getting up, Luigi was helped by both Peach and the smaller Mario.

"He's even cute fully grown!" Peach said with glee.

Nearby, the Red Magikoopa whipped his head around to look at the Koopa Troopas frozen in awe of the yoshi. "What're you idiots doing?! Get the princess and kill the plumbers!"

Snapped out of it by the order, the Koopa Troopas all put their attention on the trio, starting to charge towards them.

"I was trying to get this in my purse."

The princess presented a pink silk handkerchief, opening it to reveal two flowers inside: a fire flower and an ice flower.

"Pick your poison!"

"Thanks Peach, but Imma good."

Mario reached into his overalls pocket, presenting the Super Leaf he put there earlier. Putting it on top of his head, Mario transformed in a puff of smoke, full sized and turned into a Tanooki- or at least a guy wearing a Tanooki outfit.

"Luigi?" Peach offered.

"Oooh… How about… This?"

Taking the ice flower, Luigi crushed it in his hand- snow suddenly puffed from his body as his colors inverted, leaving him in green overalls with a blue shirt and hat.

"And this one for me!"

The princess crushed the fire flower in her hand, her dress turning white and red as it had before, flames tying her hair in a ponytail.

The two green Koopas leapt forwards, disappearing into their shells and sliding across the ground in them towards Ice Luigi and Fire Peach.

Peach got out of the way. Luigi needed an extra minute, the ice making his feet have less traction than usual, but he managed to dodge the shells as well.

Sliding on icy feet, Luigi spun and tossed a few ice balls, which bounced across the ground… and missed the Koopas entirely.

It was clear the green plumber was having trouble with the ice powers- he probably just needed to get used to it. He continued to slide across the bricks on his feet, his arms swinging while he tried catching his balance.

When one of the Koopas rebounded and came back at her, Peach jumped over it. The Koopa Troopa pushed out from his shell again to jump back to his feet.

The princess saw Luigi struggling, and gripped her parasol, an idea coming to her.

"Luigi! Over here!"

Hearing her yelling, Luigi looked at her, seeing her signal him to throw an ice ball at her. Though cautious, Luigi swung his arm and flung one at the princess.

Peach opened her parasol in time to bounce the ice ball on its canopy, rebounding it directly into the Koopa Troopa in front of her- it froze the turtle into a big block of ice instantly.

Spinning around to glide towards the Koopa, Peach stopped when she was close enough to hip bump into the frozen Koopa Troopa, the force of the hit enough to send the ice block sliding across the byway.

The ice block collided into the other shelled Koopa, forcing them to return out of the shell. As the tripped up Koopa fell to his stomach, the ice block continued to slide until it hit a tree, crashing into it- the once frozen Koopa Troopa was knocked out from the collision.

Before the Koopa Troopa that was tripped up could get up from their stomach, Tanooki Mario came down from above and slammed both feet into the back of the shell.

The force of the hit was enough to launch the Troopa from their shell, left in a tank top and boxers as he's now without his shell. The shelless Koopa Troopa got up, but immediately ran as he saw the yoshi was coming, joining the (now only two) goombas in fleeing and leaving his shell behind.

The Paratroopas flew in, the backup to the ground Koopas. Seeing them above, Peach twirled her parasol around again, whistling sharply to Luigi.

Though the green plumber was getting his footing, it was still difficult. However, he tossed a bunch of ice balls towards Peach. The princess bounced the projectiles from her parasol again, directly towards the Paratroopas, hitting all three. Whether it was the magic of the power-up or anything else, the Paratroopas were frozen in blocks in midair.

Soaring through the sky, Mario grabbed one of the blocks and spun around, throwing it directly at another block. While the attacked Paratroopa was send into the ground, the one that was thrown managed to correct themselves as they broke through the ice.

Mario zipped to the last remaining frozen Koopa, spinning around rapidly to knock his tail into the ice block. The block was sent flying into the nearby preoccupied Red Magikoopa. Though the Magikoopa managed to stay on his broom, the Paratroopa flung into him was flung past the Magikoopa, landing on a nearby building's roof and getting knocked out.

The Paratroopa on the ground slowly tried to pick himself up- up above, Mario used his Tanooki powers to transform into a statue of himself with a red bandana, which came crashing down right on top of the grounded Koopa.

From the force of the statue falling, the Paratroopa was thrown from his shell, positioned just right to fly into the other de-shelled Koopa and causing both of them to crash into the ground.

The yoshi ignored the Koopas, his tongue shooting out and grabbing the last goomba, swallowing it whole.

As he licked his chops, the yoshi looked around for more food, his stomach endless- and he saw a glimmering red shell nearby.

"Ooooh!"

Trotting over, the yoshi grabbed the shell with his tongue and snatched it into his mouth. He made a noise of discomfort as he tried to swallow it- this thing was NOT food.

The magic from the red shell suddenly swirled in Yoshi's mouth, ignited from the latent magic that the dinos had in the first place. The yoshi's eyes bulged out as he felt heat rise in his throat.

"BLAGH!"

Spitting out the shell, instead the yoshi spat out a fireball in its place, the transformation happening in his mouth.

Completely by chance, the yoshi spat the fireball out towards the last flying Paratroopa. They collided, knocking them out of the sky and directly into the foliage of a tree.

Upset with that development, the yoshi trotted away, but became enamored by a nearby empty green Koopa shell. Because it wasn't red, that meant it wouldn't be spicy… right?

"PRINCESS!"

The Toad Brigade was still running away from the Chargin' Chuck, coming back from a chase all around the residential area.

Unfortunately, the big Koopa was pretty much fully caught up with them. By the time the Brigade got close to the fight again, the Chuck swung his arm, knocking into all of the Toads and sending them flying forwards.

The Toad Brigade tumbled across the bricks, landing near Peach. She rushed to them, specifically the now powered down Captain Toad, rummaging through her purse for health supplies.

Nearby, the yoshi gave into temptation and snared the green shell to try and swallow it… to no avail. His eye twitched as he tried swallowing that Koopa shell, but it just didn't work out.

"BLECH!"

Unable to swallow it, the yoshi spat the shell back out, directly towards the sportsy koopa. The shell hit his chest, hitting hard enough to make the big koopa slide back, away from his path directly towards the princess.

Luigi finally got a handle on the ice skating (though his form could use a little work) sliding in the path of the green shell. He kicked the shell back, sending it flying into the Chuck once again- the kick froze the shell, making it extra solid when it smashed back against the massive footballer.

With the shell rebounding the other direction, Mario dropped down from flying and landed in its path, kicking it back into the Chargin' Chuck.

The pattern repeated, with Luigi and Mario kicking the shell again and again like a soccer ball, bouncing it off of the massive koopa to pass it to one another. Eventually, the hits from the shell were enough to make the Chargin' Chuck lose balance, stumbling backwards. When that happened, Luigi kicked the shell as hard as he could, hard enough to send it off the ground and into the Chuck's helmet, causing it to fly off and revealing the big koopa's tufts of blue hair.

The shell bounced off the helmet and through the air; Mario used his Tanooki tail to spin around rapidly, rotating into the air so he could send a sideways kick into the shell. The kick was powerful enough to rocket that shell right back into the Chargin' Chuck, speeding with a force so strong it sent him flying onto his back, down for the count.

Mario gently kicked his feet, arms out at his sides, to float down to the ground again. Luigi slid over, having to grab onto his brother to stop him completely.

Like other Magikoopas that weren't Kamek, the Red Magikoopa leading the charge was fitted out with mystic eyeglasses that allowed them to perceive the best course of action during their expeditions; at the risk of most Magikoopas looking identical to Kamek.

However, it was hard to perceive everything happening at once through the mystic lens. The brothers and the princess were a strange, otherworldly anomaly- never in a million years did anyone in the Dark Lands ever think a set of human plumbers could outdo Bowser' Minions. That and they had a freaking yoshi, the dinosauric space dragon of myth.

When he adjusted his glasses, the Red Magikoopa noticed all his troops were down. His body shook with anger, and the realization that he would have to deal with Kamek.

"Foolish cretins!" he shrieked. "You shall not escape the wrath of his majesty!"

Raising his wand, the Red Magikoopa unleashed another blast of purple shapes down towards the brothers. Before it could hit them, Peach floated in, pointing her parasol upwards at the Magikoopa and opening it, rebounding one more projectile: the magic blast.

The blast hit its caster, powerful enough to knock the Magikoopa clear off of his broom and send his glasses off his face.

From around the princess and the brothers, the Toad Brigade (with a fully resized Captain Toad, thanks to a reserve Super Mushroom from Peach) rushed through the trio towards the Red Magikoopa, all clutching heavy things from their supplies. The five Toads all surrounded the downed magician and started hitting him wildly, both with their objects and kicking him.

As the Red Magikoopa screamed in pain and terror at being jumped, the heroes watched in awe. Suddenly, Luigi's yoshi pushed his head down between his owner's legs from the back, tossing the green plumber backwards to sit on the red saddle-like soft spine on his back. Though he yelped in fear at first, Luigi soon smiled when he saw what was done.

Mario and Peach both pet the yoshi, now fully grown, feeling how soft the small green feathers were on his body. They continued to watch the Toad Brigade beat the everliving magic out of that Red Magikoopa.

"Retreat! RETREAT!"

One of the Paratroopas was under the airship, holding a rope that was dropped from the side for them to climb up. The Koopa Troopas- two of them still without shells- scrambled up the rope first, followed by the Chargin' Chuck.

As the Magikoopa got up to scramble away on his hands and feet, he got a swift kick to the behind by Captain Toad to help him get moving.

"Yeah, you better run, buster!" The captain yelled, shaking the frying pan he had.

His broom sweeping down, the Red Magikoopa got his cracked glasses and flew into the air, circling the airship while emitting more of his magic. When the circle around the ship was completed, it made a bubble that sucked into itself, sending all of Bowser's Minions back home.

In the stillness after the airship disappeared, the heroes all let out a sigh of relief. The silence was soon broken when the Toad Brigade turned their attention to the yoshi, immediately running over to surround both the dino and his owner on top.

"Such a big boy!"

"They grow up so fast!"

"This fella can take a pet like no problem!"

"He gobbled those goombas up so fast!"

The only one not happy was Archivist Toadette, who walked over to stand next to Peach with a frown, clearly still bitter about the fruit. She crossed her arms tightly.

Though Luigi was flustered at his pet being the center of attention, his yoshi was clearly happy to be pet and loved on by the Toads. Luigi slowly slid off of the dino, standing next to Mario. His brother clapped Luigi's back.

"You did-a good keeping him safe, Luigi. Real good."

Luigi paused, but grinned at Mario. "That's mama Luigi to you."

Mario scoffed but chuckled, shaking his head and shoving his brother a bit playfully.

"Such a good yoshi! Aren't you? Aren't you, mister… uh…" Mail Toad paused, turning to look at Luigi. "Did you ever name this guy?"

"Oh my gosh we never named him!" Peach said, surprised. "What should it be? Maybe Duke? Or Baron? I'll even take Noble."

"You really like royal-based names, don't you?" Mario asked her.

"Guilty as charged. Makes them really feel like family."

"But he's not your family!" Bank Toad replied. "He's Luigi's! What're you gonna name him then, Luigi?"

On the spot, Luigi paused, but only thought for a moment. "Well… Honestly, if it's all the same to you, I think he should just be… Yoshi." He put his hand on his pet dino's side.

With his new name affirmed, Yoshi beamed and said his name approvingly: "Yoshi!"

"You're-a naming him Yoshi?" asked Mario incredulously. "Thatsa like naming you 'Hugh Mann' or something. Or giving one a'the Toads the name 'Toad'."

Before Luigi could reply, Captain Toad sputtered, suddenly angered. "Toad is a very traditional and valuable name here in the Mushroom Kingdom, I'll have you know! You better not let any of them hear you insult their name like that or they'll be very upset!"

"Alright, alright! Calm down, frate." The red plumber replied, more confused than anything. He sighed, turning his attention back to Luigi. "Well, he's-a your yoshi, so you can name him anything you want."

"Yoshi it is!"

"It is a cute name, I must admit." Peach concurred. "Cute name for such a cute guy."

She pet Yoshi's snout, barely missing the dino's tongue as he licked his chops again. Yoshi's stomach grumbled, even after the large meal he had across the entire day.

"A very hungry guy." The princess added, chuckling.

Captain Toad was back to being happy. "He ate both Monty Moles, goombas…"

"And people's prized possessions." Toadette grumbled bitterly.

"He even withstood that red koopa shell turning into fire like it was nothing! This big fella must be able to eat absolutely anything with no problem!"

Though Luigi was about to agree, he stopped himself. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at Yoshi, then Peach, then back at Yoshi.

"...anything eh?" he asked, mostly to himself, stroking his mustache.

---

With a point, Yoshi was directed to fire out his tongue and snag the Fuzzies on the castle basement wall.

As it turns out, the powerful tongue and stomach of the yoshis were strong enough not only to withstand the spines of the creatures, but consume them. Yoshi's bottomless pit of a stomach allowed him to get his fill for lunch.

It was the day after Yoshi hatched, and subsequently grew to maturity. After some convincing to the King and Queen, they managed to get into the castle for Yoshi to start taking care of the Fuzzy infestation as soon as possible. Soon, they were able to get it down enough to that the royal family could properly move back into their castle, ending their small vacation.

Though the Ex-Toad-Inator's job was ended early, he was still paid for his time.

Mario was watching his brother, riding on Yoshi, point to each bundle of Fuzzies to direct the dino to eat them. The red plumber was knuckling his mustache, watching almost in awe of the yoshi's nearly infinite stomach.

Once they were back in the castle, Peach immediately headed to the kitchen to finish her day-late cake, and then went up to her boudoir to water and feed all of her plants. King Mushroom, inspired by his day out, went out for a walk with Mips and Duchess. The queen… Mario didn't know.

It was awkward between Mario and Chanterelle after they stopped the invading Minions from the Dark Lands. The queen had established to Peach what they already knew, that those guys were from the Dark Lands, but that's about it. She didn't say a lot through the night, even at dinner… and she certainly didn't talk that much to Mario.

Mario felt bad. That wasn't just the queen of the Mushroom Kingdom, his temporary place of residence, but she was Peach's mother. The outburst he had at the tailor shop was enough to quiet the typically outspoken queen- on a day that was all about Mario trying to help her get her mind off of stressors.

He just hoped that his Brooklyn Charm didn't offend Queen Toadstool too badly.

"Mario."

Speak of the devil.

Pausing the fiddling of his mustache, Mario turned to see Chanterelle striding up, her hands folding over her legs.

"Oh, uh… Hi."

"Hello," the queen nodded. "I trust your brother is doing well getting rid of the Fuzzies?"

"Yeah, absolutely. He's-a wiping those things out like nobody's business."

"Very true. I'm very happy that my family could return to our castle sooner than later. No offense."

"None taken. It was getting kinda cramped in my house with all of you anyway, even after two nights. No offense."

"None taken."

It was quiet for a moment, only broken by the queen sighing.

"Mario, I want to apologize for how I behaved yesterday. I pushed you into situations you weren't comfortable with and nearly got rid of something very dear to you. It was wrong of me to do any of that. I am very, deeply sorry."

"Yeah, well…" Mario shrugged a little. "Itsa fine. It happens, really."

"It happens? You cannot be serious."

"Oh I am. When I left my Mamma and Pop's place… when I went to college, everything was-a so different. I just got out of a relationship, I was hours away from Luigi and my family. Between-a that and the stress of college, I started to act out myself."

"Oh my. What… Happened?"

"Well… After a year at DCU, I dropped out and moved back home. I guess I couldn't-a handle all that change. But then I get-a sucked up by some Warp Pipe and flung here with my brother. So… I guess I couldn't avoid-a change after all."

"That's for sure. Between you and your brother coming here, the Warp Pipes being active, Duchess, Mips, and now the Dark Lands… It's become a sink or swim situation. I suppose yesterday I saw a little bit of control and took it. But I shouldn't have, and again, I'm sorry."

"You're forgiven. Just don't-a do that to Luigi, and we're good."

"Would you be angry if it was him?"

"No, you'd be overwhelmed by him crying from the stress."

Though Mario chuckled a bit from what he said, Chanterelle was a bit surprised at it. She recomposed herself however, returning her face to neutrality.

"...what you said yesterday, though," she continued. "It… Really made me think."

"Wow, a plumber made you stop and think, eh?"

"Don't push it." The queen replied, though wasn't upset. "What you said about your mother making that hat for you."

Mario subconsciously rubbed the rim of his hat with his finger and thumb. "Yeah. Mamma made this hat and the one Luigi wears. She said it was-a based on the hats her and my Zizi Zia used to wear back in the day… Family business staple and all that."

"Hats as heirlooms is something I know a little something about. That tiara that Peach wears once was worn by me when I was younger. The crown I wear… was once my own mother's." She unfolded her hands to touch one to her cheek. "She used to make me things too, when I was younger- clothes and the like. She actually taught me how to bake, and in return I taught Peach everything she taught me."

"Sounds like a good mother."

"She was," Chanterelle sounded reminiscent. "Every now and then I think about her. What she would think of everything happening in the Mushroom Kingdom; what she would think of how I'm handling it all."

Mario watched her. "...Is your mother, uh…?"

"I'm not sure."

"What?"

The queen sighed. "When the monarchs of the Mushroom Kingdom reach a certain age, they leave the kingdom forever in order to allow their children to take their place. Many generations of Toadstools have left the kingdom to go… Heaven knows where."

"Wow."

"I know. The previous rulers… They left before they could even meet Peach. They left once peace had come across the entire continent, before Mushroom and I decided to have an heir of our own." Chanterelle was staring at the floor, hand still on her cheek. "You know, I wonder sometimes… About Peach, and her future. One of the reservations I had about having a child was that they could end up like Mushroom and I did: having children of their own without us ever meeting them."

The statement was heavy, and Mario felt it. His bushy eyebrows were furrowed, looking down at Chanterelle beside him as she stared solemnly downwards.

"...look, your highness," he said. "Peach has defied a lot of your rules, right?"

"Hm? Oh, yes. Much more than I could count."

"If she's so keen on breaking the rules, I know the one thing she'd-a go against is you and her dad having to leave the Mushroom Kingdom forever. Sure, you and her disagree, but thatsa what family does. If I know Peach, even after knowing her for only a few months, she'd make sure you and the king are a part of her life in the future, even when she becomes queen."

Much like the outburst the previous day, the statement from Mario made the queen go silent- not from shock, but to ponder. Chanterelle was clearly very touched that this man, this plumber who she believed would cause so much trouble, would comfort her about something she feared so deeply.

She smiled softly.

"...thank you, Mario. I really appreciate it."

"Madam."

Both of them turned to see Toadsworth, standing there with a white cardboard box in his hand, the other holding his cane. The old Toad's vacation clearly had been cut short.

"Oh, thank you, Toadsworth." She took the box and handed it to Mario. "Here."

"Whatsa this?"

The earl grey macarons I was going to make. I finally made them," Chanterelle said as Mario took the box. "It was nice to bake again… I think I want to try and fit it into my schedule again. These were meant to be a gift to apologize for my actions, but…" the queen folded her hands on her legs again. "They're a thank you gift, too. Not just for understanding, but for all you've done, including keeping my daughter safe. Share them with your brother- and even that yoshi of his, too."

With a nod, the queen turned to walk out with Toadsworth, who lifted his cane up to say goodbye to Mario before joining her.

Watching them leave, Mario soon opened the box, seeing the dozen macarons inside- they were gray and speckled, with a lighter gray creme in the middle. He picked one of them up and took a bite.

"Mmm. Oh wow, these are delicious."

Up above, the queen and her advisor went up the steps of the main foyer to the second level of the castle, walking across the inside balcony.

"Madame," Toadsworth said to her. "I know you've just returned, but I must ask… What of the Dark Lands? They invaded Toad Town and attacked her people."

"Yes, I know." Chanterelle replied softly.

"This violates the agreement, does it not? The one the previous king and queen made with the other kingdoms of the world. The Dark Lands were to be blocked off, and no kingdom would ever invade the Dark Lands with no reason- and vice versa."

"The agreement that was made was a verbal agreement if anything. There is no documented treaty amongst the kingdoms of the world… Even then, it's been nearly three and a half decades. Those who remember the agreement are no longer in power in the other kingdoms of the world, I'm certain."

"Then what are we to do, madame?"

The queen faltered in her words and footing, stopping in her tracks to think. "...this may be a simple isolated incident. We have done well to prevent invasion or outside migration to the Mushroom Kingdom thus far- but not good enough. We will provide new measures to keep anything else from passing over the borders."

"My lady, you cannot be serious! What if the Dark Lands are after the other kingdoms?"

"King and Queen Koopa are dead. Whoever is ruling now… I'm not even sure who they are, but it cannot be someone that has a grand-scale plan for invasion like they would. If they're after us, they're after something specific, I'm sure."

"But to simply pretend like it did not happen?"

"Toadsworth, we cannot afford to participate in another war," the queen said, turning sharply towards him. "Physically and financially, we cannot. And to do so would put my daughter in harm's way… I will not allow it. We will keep these Koopa menaces out of our kingdom, one way or another, and keep war at bay."

"...yes, your majesty."

After another slight pause, Chanterelle turned and continued walking, followed by Toadsworth as the two of them went to the master bedroom to unpack everything.

However, the door they had stopped in front of- the door to Peach's boudoir- was slightly opened, done by someone on the other side. Slowly, the princess closed her door again to ruminate on what she just overheard.

---

"So… you all failed."

Kamek tapped his metal desk with a claw, his other hand resting his cheek in the palm. He stared through his eyeglasses with unamused eyes at the troops that had failed the task provided to them: to kill the plumbers and take Princess Peach.

Two of the Koopa Troopas were still without shells, forced to grab a pair of spare shells that were pretty uncomfortable on them. The Chargin' Chuck was holding an ice pack to his head, all bandaged up. The goombas were there too- like all of Bowser's Minions, they were enchanted to return to Bowser's castle if they were nearly killed in battle.

At the very end of the line was the Red Magikoopa, who was resting the side of his head on his fist, looking exhausted and upset.

"Lord Kamek…" The Magikoopa said. "We tried our best. The plumbers used power-ups, even the princess used one to protect herself!"

"Power-ups. The crop formed from one 'Super Happy Tree'." Kamek hummed, still not moved by what was said. "Are you not a magician?"

"I am, but…"

"Did I not provide you with a Chargin' Chuck, which would allow you overpower any Super Mushroom enhancement?"

"They were using flowers of fire and ice! The one that was close to the princess used a Super Leaf! I don't even know how he could get one of those things!" One of the Troopas said.

"Interesting."

The office went silent, except for the powerful Magikoopa's talon tapping on the metal surface of his desk. Kamek's glasses obscured his eyes from letting the troops see who he was looking at- if he was even looking at them at all.

Suddenly, Kamek stopped tapping.

"Your insolence will result in me having to inform your king that you were incapable of stopping two simple plumbers. Do you realize how bad that is for me?"

"Lord Kamek, we're so sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it."

The old Magikoopa reached under his desk and retrieved his wand, slamming it down on his desk and letting it speak for himself. The troops all tensed up in horror from the sight of the magic wand.

"So," Kamek continued. "I'm going to go down the line, and you're each going to tell me one new thing you learned on your failed mission. If you tell me something I didn't know already, you'll get a special surprise. If you tell me something I know, or something not useful…"

He lifted his wand, the jeweled end sparkling with purple glitter. Kamek pointed it at the goomba at the end opposite the Red Magikoopa.

"You. Go."

The goomba looked to the others, then back at the old Magikoopa.

A little known fact is that goombas, little creatures native to the Mushroom Kingdom that migrated to the Dark Lands during wartime, have the capability of speech. It takes a while for them to learn how to talk, and most wild goombas never learn, but they can speak regardless.

"Plumbers are bad." The goomba said.

Though they can speak, however, that didn't mean they could speak intelligently. Especially not goombas enlisted as Bowser's Minions.

With a zap from Kamek's wand, the goomba was transformed into a copper brown fork. The old Magikoopa turned the wand to the next goomba.

"You."

"Uh… I need to run more?"

Zap. The goomba became a spoon.

"You."

"Koopa shells are easy to be ejected from!"

Zap. The comment from the goomba wasn't enough to keep him from being turned into a knife.

"You."

"Uhhh… I dunno."

Zap. The last goomba was turned into a fork- a smaller fork, meant to be a salad fork.

Just the six koopas left. The Chargin' Chuck was first.

"Goombas…" Kamek grumbled. He pointed his wand to the large Koopa. "You."

"My gear doesn't block from shells being kicked into you."

Zap. The large footballer was turned into a large charger plate, the ice pack splattering on the stone floor.

"Do any of you have anything useful? You all did not glean a single thing about those plumbers or the princess?"

It was quiet. The five Koopa Troopas all looked at each other worriedly.

"Lord Kamek… We tried our best. How are we supposed to compete with power-ups?"

"Excuses. Very well, I suppose I cannot blame you for this transgression."

With a sweeping motion of his wand, Kamek blasted the five Troopas. In its place on the chairs was a dinner plate, a salad plate, a soup bowl, a saucer and a tea cup, all the colors of the respective koopas.

The wand was pointed at the Red Magikoopa at the end, who tensed up with shock.

"It's you to blame. I entrust you with leading a mission and you fail? Not only do you fail, but I hear you were beaten badly by Toads. Toads!" Kamek spat. "Little mushroom people! I ought to turn you inside out and feed you to the Blarggs! What do you have to say for yourself?"

From the threat, the Red Magikoopa was shocked into silence, his hands shaking at the aspect of being killed at the hands of his once mentor. He looked around, as if looking through his mind for something.

"Clock's ticking." Kamek deadpanned. He clicked his tongue high and low to simulate a clock.

"Th-The yoshi!" The younger magician said. "They have a yoshi! The brothers have a yoshi in their possession, just like the ones you told me about!"

Kamek was genuinely surprised, lowering his wand slightly. "A yoshi… T. Yoshisaur Munchakoopas." He said the scientific name, an ironic one seeing how the dinos couldn't consume koopa shells. "The ones from the ancient texts- the one kind of creature on this planet the old king and queen could never find… and those plumbers have one."

Seeing his mentor was more surprised at what was said, instead of angry at him, the Red Magikoopa eased up a little.

"This is very interesting… Now this is vital information. Thank you, pupil."

The Red Magikoopa slowly smiled with pride. He did what Kamek wanted, and now he would be getting a special surprise as a gift for it.

Kamek pointed his wand at the Red Magikoopa and blasted him, turning the younger magician into a stemmed cordial glass. Doing that was certainly very surprising.

With a wave of his wand, the dishes that were once Minions lifted up and stacked on top of each other, as if ready to be set on a table for dinner. There weren't enough Minions in the room to complete a full dinner set, sadly- maybe someday.

Carrying the dishes, Kamek walked from his personal quarters towards the break room in the high keep of the castle. Koopa Troopas and other Minions quickly parted for the king's most respected member of his faculty.

"A yoshi. How fascinating." The old koopa said softly to himself. "Ancient reptilian beings that have been around as long as the Power Stars… space dragons, dinosaurs, whatever you'd like to call them. Dedicated protectors to the Super Happy Tree. Oh how I've longed to find one of those… and if there's a yoshi on the Mushroom Kingdom, that must mean there's a tree somewhere nearby."

He walked into the break room. The goombas in there quickly scurried out to let Kamek to have the room to himself without a single word- the old magikoopa didn't even acknowledge them.

"Yoshis themselves are very magical at their core. Adhesive saliva, nearly elastic jaws, high metabolism. Their connection to the Power Stars even allows them to hover, among other things… At the cost of them not being able to use those… Power-ups. What interesting anatomy. I yearn to know more."

Kamek opened his personal cabinet. He put the new kitchenware he had in there, holding the door to the cabinet and looking at everything he had in there.

"Perhaps I was wrong, what I said to King Bowser…" He murmured. "Maybe an invasion could benefit us. He gets his little princess, and I can get myself a yoshi to dissect… Or maybe just take the one those brothers have for myself."

The aspect made Kamek chuckle darkly, slowly closing the creaking cabinet door, eventually turning the inside dim. With the cabinet door closed, everything inside could only hear the muffled sounds of Kamek's chuckles turning into laughter as the old magikoopa left the break room entirely.

After a second, the kitchenware rattled, the smushed faces of the Minions appearing on the respective objects, still conscious but pressed into new forms.

"Hey."

The Red Magikoopa, still a cordial glass, managed to shake himself to look behind him. He saw a set of mugs, yellow and green, two magikoopas that were turned into those mugs not too long before.

"We're playing hold 'em." The yellow one said, letting them see the playing cards they had on top of a food tray, one that was once a Thwomp. "If you wanna play with us, just know that aces are wild."

The entire cabinet was full of kitchenware transformed from Bowser's Minions. The Red Magikoopa took it in for a second before sighing.

"...alright, deal me in."