Toadette's Story: Book 1

Chapter 10 - Entering the Tunnels

If Club 64 was a place I was interested in visiting, you could call Toad Town Tunnels the complete opposite. Nothing but bad memories associated with that dump. Just looking at the rusted pipe ejected from the ground made my stomach churn.

The princess stretched her legs. “Don’t tell me you’re already scared.”

“The place itself is no big deal. It’s what’s in there.”

It had been years since I’d last walked through the tunnels. For all I knew, the pests of the past probably expanded. Buzzy Beetles dropping from the ceiling, Spinies poking holes in your legs, Dark Koopas keeping you in a permanent loop of dizziness. The danger levels were off the charts.

“Too bad you don’t got tough skin. I was raised fearlessly.”

I rolled my eyes as the princess jumped on the pipe, legs spread on the edges.

“AAH!”

And to the ground, she fell. She didn’t maintain her balance for even a second. I waited for her to get back up and go in the smart way, but she sat rubbing her legs. Almost like she was shaking in a way.

“Oh, yeah.” This little tidbit must have slipped my mind. “It’s pretty cold down there.”

I wasn’t talking about a bit of a wind draft either. Temperatures down there could rival those of Shiver City.

Suddenly, the princess started dragging me away from the pipe. “Maybe we’ll come back tomorrow.”

Tomorrow? I yanked my hand back, shaking my head. “We’ve still got a full day, and we’re already here.”

My fingers brushed along the pipe’s frigid edges. “See? It’s not that bad.”

“I hear ya and all. But, I mean, we’ve already done a lot today with that singer alone. You can’t tell me you don’t wanna lie in your bed for the rest of the day, right?”

This lady had some nerve telling me to grow tough skin. Scared of a little breeze? Now that’s pathetic. I folded my arms.

“What’s wrong, Princess? Don’t tell me you’re scared.”

She scoffed. “Don’t get smart with me, Toad. I just told you, I grew up learning to be scared of nothing.”

“Seems like that little draft from the pipe’s got you scared stiff.”

The princess just stared at me. Then, out of nowhere, her cocky grin came back in full force.

“Pssh. I could walk through your silly little underground barefoot if I really wanted. In fact…”

No. She wasn’t this stupid. Nobody in their right mind would even joke about walking on that nasty concrete without socks.

My eye twitched. She WAS this stupid. Proud and loud, Princess Daisy held one shoe out towards me. My hands rushed to protect my nose from the funk cloud and sock lint pouring out the shoe.

“How ‘bout the two of us play a little game?”

If she thought I was walking down there without protection on my feet, this woman had another thing coming. Nobody would get me to do something as sick as that, not even a royal.

Her proposal continued. “I’m gonna go all around this place completely barefoot, and if I come out the same ol’ bright and cheery Daisy, you’re gonna have to grand responsibility of licking the grime off my feet. Mmm, nice and salty. And after that, I’m still gonna make you scrub ‘em hard while this sexy body gets a bath.”

Hmmm… No doubt that the outcome was sickening if I were to lose this bet. But, the odds were stacked in my favour if she couldn’t even handle the pipe. And, well, you can’t have a bet without both sides being able to earn something. So I had a chance to really end my day with a blast. What would I request, though?

I could’ve found a way to make her suffer like what she put me through minutes ago. Maybe I could even humiliate her in front of Her Highness somehow. Or…

“And if you lose, Princess, you’re going to give me a great foot massage.”

“Ah, someone’s out here making big girl demands. You’re on.”

This was going to be a piece of cake. I dipped my legs into the mouth of the pipe.

“I just wanna see a royal like you so low that you’re taking orders from me. A spore head.”

The princess lifted one of her feet up, already dusty from the sand below us. “We’ll see if you’ve still got that attitude while you’re sucking on my feet.”

The suction carried me deep below the city. First, the pipe went straight, then it made a curve. Finally, it spat me out onto the wet, concrete floor. All my confidence quickly switched to disgust. You wouldn’t believe this place was inhabited by anybody, even the grossest of all the monsters.

Droplets of water hit my head. Three years since I’d last been here, and they didn’t patch up those ceilings yet. Wonderful.

And wow, the temperature from the pipe undersold just how damn cold this place was. A Mr Blizzard could live down here without melting into a puddle of water. But, even though it was unpleasant, my body didn’t mind it too much. I wiggled my fingers stretched my legs, and the cold failed to change how effective I could move.

Too bad I couldn’t say the same for Princess Daisy. She emerged out the pipe shivering and hugging herself as tight as possible.

“Huh, I’m impressed you lasted even a few seconds down here without shoes.”

Fighting through her breaths of air, the princess put her hands on her hips. “Please. If you think a little temperature drop’s gonna put Daisy outta commission, you’re loco.”

She rubbed her foot on the bottom half of my leg. “My toes are dying to dirty up your mouth.”

Like that was going to happen. Before taking off, I had to think about how we’d tackle this. That note mentioned the west and south of Toad Town, but these underground places were a twisty network of pipes and rivers. Combing the whole area could take a full day, maybe two. As much as it sucked, it looked like I was about to rely on my gut instinct only.

“We should go to the lowest level.”

“Hold up! That far!?”

I grabbed the princess’s arm, walking her to the western door of the room. “It’s rare for anyone to be that low down. Maybe these guys betted on nobody finding them there.”

And so began our long trek through the tunnels. Two minutes in, and I already lost track of the exact number of doors and pipes we’d used. Brown and grey filled up every room from top to bottom. By the ten-minute mark, my eyes had gotten hungry. Hungry for some more variety.

I looked back to check on Princess Daisy. And yikes, she’d seen better days. Her colourful skin was replaced by a white complexion no different from that of a Boo. A blue blush dominated her skin on top of that. And her shivering had yet to slow down. Now her teeth were chattering, combined with her foot speed actively getting worse.

Dared I look at her feet? They’d turned just as white as the rest of her. And rarely did she stand on both legs, instead keeping one in the air at a time.

Okay, maybe this was going a little too far. It was hard to feel bad for the princess since she was the genius who came up with this stupid challenge. But even then, seeing her suffer like this kind of pulled my heart down.

I stopped in my tracks. “If you want, we can go back to the surface.”

Immediately, she raised her head. Jeez, even her nose had a blue hue.

“Ha... Nice try to get me and lose the bet.”

“That’s not even why I—”

“Just get us to the bottom of this place. That’s your order, now.”

Well, you can’t help someone who doesn’t want it. So I continued my walk, sighing out the cold air.

THUD!

Oh, this wasn’t happening! The princess collapsed!

“You gotta be kidding me!”

I flipped her on her back, pushing the cold puddle water off her face. Her stomach rose and sank, so at the very least, she was breathing. But what the hell was I going to do? I couldn’t carry her all the way up to the surface. And if I left her there to get help, there was no telling what could happen to her.

Damn it! The tunnels only got darker as I paced around the room. The only thing I could think to do was warm her up. But neither of us had heavy clothing, nor did I have some sort of item to heat her up. Think, Toadette.

Wait! I wiggled my own toes, which were tucked away in my shoes, followed by being cushioned by my socks. The only part of my body heavily masked. Was I really going to try something this stupid?

…Yep. If it meant saving my own butt in the long run.

I lowered myself onto the princess’s stomach, using her arched legs as support. “I hate this…”

With my shoes and socks now off my feet, I planted them onto her face. EEK! Her lips felt so weird on them… I grasped her shorts, pushing my feet as hard as I could into her face. For her sake, I had to fight through my feelings of disgust.

Rubbing my hot feet up and down the princess’s face was a test in both resistance and endurance. Preventing myself from getting squicked out was just one half of the challenge. My legs throbbed, but they weren’t taking this day off.

My toes had the top half of the princess’s face covered, while my heels and whatnot worked on the lower part. Perhaps with this method, the heat from my feet would fade equally into her. I caught her nose between two of my toes, closing my eyes at the sight. Forget her lips. It was her nose that was going to get me to laugh. Breathing between my toes, the wind draft sent me to cover my mouth.

But my efforts could only continue for so long without me tiring out. My toes stopped in her orangish hair, and I leaned my head back. At this rate, I was going to be stuck in this place for the whole afternoon.

“What are you doing?”

That voice jumpstarted my heart real quick. The princess pushed my feet off her face, and um… Where was I to begin?

She looked at her hands, which were still as pale as the rest of her body. Then, she chuckled. “Guess I lost, huh?”

That was the first thing on her mind? I thought she’d be more excited at the fact she was still alive.

“Sucks I’m gonna have to take a boring bath by myself. But anyone who beats me in a challenge is worth something.”

She felt around my body, taking hold of my feet. Then she sighed in relief, rubbing my soles against her face.

“Sweet warmth…”

At least she gave my legs a break since she was controlling them for me. All I had to do was sit back and watch. Did I say watch? I mean, sit back and keep my eyes closed because the last thing I needed to see was my feet being used in this manner.

The princess took my feet down to her neck, with my toes scratching right under her ears. Her smile failed to disappear, though I had to question whether she was enjoying the warmth, my feet, or both. That question became truer when she brought my feet to the sides of her body.

I felt like a string toy being constantly pulled on. The princess repeatedly thrust my feet along her hips and sides, taking away my precious warmth. Yeah, that transfer didn’t come without penalty. She’d better be grateful after this.

Her legs straightened out, allowing me to at least lay down somewhat. If only the ceiling wasn’t dropping water on me. I twisted around on my stomach, with my feet back on the princess’s face. This time, the tops would be responsible for helping her warm up.

With my head near the princess’s feet, something grabbed my attention. There was no smell. Or maybe I’d just gotten so used to the rancid smell of the tunnels that her feet were nothing. Either way, I didn’t complain. The time I’d have to endure her foot stink might be the death of me.

For minutes, the princess absorbed my heat into her body. My toes were the only parts that still contained some amount of warmth. Could I at least leave with those? Please?

Ready to go, I asked, “You think you’ll be good now?”

“Just one more thing I gotta do.”

What now? Her face had to be good and well by now.

Ew! Did she just lick my foot!? And she did it again! Great, now I was shivering for entirely different reasons. But I still tried to hold on. That is until her tongue made the mistake of going between my toes. Once that happened, I sprung off the princess, scrambling to pick up my shoes.

“You’re warm enough! We’re getting a move on!”

The princess laughed. “Hey, my tongue was frozen.”

And on top of her nasty mouth ruining my toes, my feet were kicking about in this dirty sewer water. My shoes contained them while I threw my filthy socks in my pockets. I was gonna have to give all these things a nice scrubbing once back at the castle.

“Not gonna put your socks back on?”

I shook my head. “Ever tried that after your feet get wet? The bottoms always come out all wrinkly and old-looking.”

“Forget about wrinkles. I’m tryin’ to keep warm here.” The princess put her shoes and socks both on. Good, they’d better stay on her feet.

Never had I seen someone so vulnerable to cold temperatures before. Well, not someone who wasn’t a Lava Bubble or something similar. And they say humans have less sensitive skin than Toads.

“Up or down?”

“Depends. How much longer is it gonna it take to get to the pit of this maze?”

I waved my hand past a pipe. “It’s right below us.”

Her jaw dropped, with her head following suit. One could only imagine what was going through her head.

“Let’s get this over with.”

I snickered. Hey, at least I wouldn’t be bringing her back as a Daisy-flavoured ice treat.