Toadette's Story: Book 1

Chapter 37 - The Dive into Mushroom City

Minh T. and I barged into the cockpit. There, the plumber with the green hat sat motionless. Once I looked at his face, yep, he was completely out of it. He looked poisoned—just dead-eyed while he stared into nothingness. Immediately, I felt for a pulse on his neck. Although faint, it was definitely there. But the plane’s controls were going haywire like a car without a driver.

“I knew we couldn’t trust him!” I shouted, trying to resist the pressure as we dove. “How’d he pass out!?”

Minh T. hid her hands in her pocket, shrugging casually. If she thought that’d win me over, she had another thing coming. I backed her into the wall, my glare getting stronger.

“Okay.” She put her head down. “There’s a chance I dared him to smell your flats.”

“My flats? I didn’t even pack those.”

“I did.”

“Why!?” I shook her back and forth. “What made you do something that stupid!?”

She threw her hands in the air, maintaining the wobbliest smile one could have. “I needed my stink comfort. And thought it’d be funny.”

With no time to waste, I sprinted to the backmost cabin. I told everybody that there was a medical emergency in the front of the plane, hence why it was flying so crazily.

“Is Luigi out?” one Toad asked, dropping his papers. “The pilot’s out!?”

“Please, we’re taking care of it.”

“We’re all gonna die!”

My efforts to calm the wave of panic were in vain. Every Toad hugged one another, fought to reach a phone in the plane, or screamed at the top of their lungs. Not helping matters was the baggage avalanche whenever the aircraft dramatically tilted. Sweating bullets, I grabbed Captain Toad by his collar.

“You’re a leader, right? So you can fly a plane?”

“Well… That’s not exactly in my job.”

“Then what are you even here for!?” I pushed him back into the seat and ran to the plane’s front. “Calm them down!”

“What are we gonna do, Ms Toadette?” Penelope asked. Innocent child. She still thought I was the answer to all her problems.

I slammed the cockpit door and locked us two Toads inside. As I kicked Luigi out his seat to become the new pilot, it dawned on me how childish my thinking was. This wasn’t some hi-tech arcade game with simple buttons. Instead, every inch of this room was covered in knobs, switches, screens, and enough buttons to give an elevator a heart attack. If they made so many freaking buttons, you’d think they’d make one labelled “GET US SAFELY TO AN AIRPORT”.

Minh T. plopped in the other chair. “Considering he was steering this the whole time, I’m gonna guess there’s no autopilot.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!”

Our speed was out of this world. Soon we lost track of the clouds because the plane was diving at a straight angle. Nothing but the blue ocean below us. How would we even find a place to land without this autopilot tool? Mushroom City had so many buildings we could slam into trying to locate the airport blindly.

“Pull up!” Minh T. pushed her foot against the dashboard and yanked as hard as she could. The plane’s steep descent switched to an equally sharp ascent within seconds. Now we were zipping through the clouds like a rocket.

Groaning at the painful whiplash, I grabbed her shoulder. “Please tell me you can fly this.”

To my horror, she shook her head frantically. “Flying’s easy. Landing’s the real challenge. Why did I have to bring your smelly shoe with us?”

“Your captain buddy can’t help us, so we’re on our own. Tell me what I need to do.”

“Gimme your foot.”

“Huh?” Now I was back in the land of confusion. But seeing as Minh T. wouldn’t elaborate, I stretched my legs over the middle column and pushed my feet against her arm. Now she tugged on my ankle-high socks with her teeth until my feet were naked. Oh boy, I could see where this was going fast.

She pressed a foot against her face. “Good. Comfort me, and I might can get us there in one piece.”

“This is just gonna distract you.”

“Anything that takes my mind off the very real possibility of us stalling or crashing is essential, Toadette.”

Whatever she needed. I reversed directions, pressing my back against the dashboard. Then I continued rubbing my feet all over Minh T.’s face. Feeling the wind between my toes never stopped feeling awkward. Although, it was difficult to deny that her kissing gave me a sense of tranquillity. She planted slow kisses across my soles but announced them with obnoxiously loud smooching noises. Loud yet fascinating.

Since we were super high in the air, away from structures, now would be the best time to test how well she could fly while multitasking. First… Ooh, asking this hurt me.

“Do they smell good?”

Her sniffing got a power boost. Now it was like a tornado zipped and made a trip from my toes to my heels. And once she made the loop back to my toes, the Toad squeezed her narrow nose between the digits.

“Ooh-la-la. Someone’s feet are in top condition.” She followed with a whiff and sigh. “Smells like lemon this time.”

“I’ll take that over stinking.”

“You know, why haven’t I started using your feet as pillows yet?”

SLOSH!!

Minh T. found her mouth clogged with three toes. Jeez, even receiving compliments about my feet was still getting under my skin. Why? If someone thinks your feet smell good, even if it’s gross and weird, it should be flattering? Likewise, if someone adores how soft your feet are and wants to sleep on them, was there a need to react so panicked? While I pondered this, she sucked on my toes carefully like jawbreakers. Never biting, only licking and swirling her long, wet tongue around them…

When looking out the window, the plane’s movements were incredibly stable. The fear of rotting in a watery grave shrunk the longer Minh T. had my feet in her face. Hmm… It was true that when we crushed the berries, she worked harder when her emotions got extreme. Perhaps extreme positive emotions gave her a skill increase, too.

I dragged my feet down her face, pleasing her taste buds. Add a few fake moans to the mix, and I had her turning red.

“You like that,” she asked, lapping up and down my sole. “Right there?”

“It’s…” Even when trying to please, my true feelings could only twist themselves too much. This felt just as slimy and odd as every other time someone tasted my feet. Even if it was .00001% nice. I shut my eyes and sighed. “It’s a little bit interesting.”

“So you like it.”

“I didn’t say that.” I pushed my foot further in her face. “I’m just not as grossed out by it as I was before. That’s all.”

Minh T. blinked twice. “You have no idea how happy that makes me.”

While she made out with my toes, that dream crept into my mind again. If I didn’t like feet, I shouldn’t have dreamt that at all. It must’ve been an accident, like a weird non-nightmare. But no matter the origin, it refused to leave my head. It was like a tape or song you’d constantly rewind as a kid. The way she slammed her foot on the table, telling me to lick her toe. Her big…

No, I couldn’t bring myself to ask her that. That’d be a great way to make our relationship creepier and more inappropriate. Friends shouldn’t be doing things that boyfriends and girlfriends do in private. For the next couple of minutes, I let the dream play out like a film. Not because I liked it. No, I wanted to envision how it’d progress. First, licking the toe, then kissing the tops of her feet, then she’d get closer and ask me to rub her feet. Clean feet, at that.

Okay, Toadette. Bite the bullet. Don’t tell her about the bizarre dream—a dream that was more a reflection of her fantasies than yours. Come up with a convincing excuse.

“You want me to lick your feet?” I asked, trembling like a Mr Blizzard in a volcano.

The girl’s brown eyes widened. “MY feet!?” Her reaction was so much more dramatic than I expected. She was flustered, even though she’d been making endless references to wanting someone at her wide feet.

We were both like headless chickens, unable to process what to say next. I couldn’t tell her I was joking since that hurt her. Damn, even if I changed my mind, it’d leave her disappointed.

“If it helps you still focus better on flying this thing. That’s all,” I said.

“Thanks,” she said, lightly stroking my foot. “But I gotta use these pedals to steer when landing, so having slippery feet isn’t smart.”

“Right. You’re pretty knowledgeable about something you’ve never flown before.”

Phew, at least that was terminated before it could escalate into something stranger. I didn’t even consider how she’d been walking around this plane partially barefoot. How many germs were on her icky feet? For the rest of the flight, I kept my wet feet on Minh T.’s thigh. She admitted to loving it when I applied more pressure, so I kind of delivered her a small leg massage. Mainly performed with my heels. A half-hour later, something hit her.

“Headset!” She tried to put on a headset that Luigi would’ve been wearing. Tried. Truth be told, our Toad caps complicated a lot of matters. Human headphones weren’t the most compatible or comfortable. But that’s what I was here for.

I stacked my feet into a solid tower and pushed part of the headset against Minh T.’s face.

“Smart thinking,” she said before holding down a button. Now her attention was strictly on whomever she communicated with. “Hello?”

“MA 200!? Is that MA 200 trying to get through?” The voice was so tinny and crackly that I barely heard it.

“Good afternoon.” Minh T. put on a professional voice. “Our pilot has a medical emergency, and I need direction on how to land at Mushroom City National, please.”

“Oh my goodness. Okay, we’ll help you out.”

Within minutes, the plane entered its final descent. I crossed my fingers that Minh T. would steer us to safety. Unlike her smooth cruising, our plane nosedived once she realised she had missed an ideal spot to descend. Through the cockpit glass, there were miles and miles of giant steel buildings everywhere. Most importantly, directly before us, a long stretch of asphalt with planes scattered.

“You can do it, Minh T.,” I said, pushing the headset and my toes tighter against her face.

“Brace for impact!”

The first wheel hitting the ground made me bounce so high that I hit my head on the ceiling. Then, before Minh T. could scold me for my lack of a seatbelt, the backmost landing gear sloppily hit the ground. We passed so many planes, and I clenched my chest. Was it game over? Was she gonna drive us into something?

“What is that!?” she screamed, breaking her vocal cords.

Right in front of us, an equally sized jetliner closed in on us. Even though she had maintained composure up to now, Minh T. began to hyperventilate. Not the thing you want your only pilot to do.

“Go left,” I said, shaking her head with my feet. But she wouldn’t budge, as if someone had frozen her.

Yelling at the top of my lungs, I squeezed in the space where her feet would be guiding those pedals. And in that instant, knowing my arm strength wasn’t quite comparable to leg strength, I took the wildest strategy. Forcing my face into her left foot, driving it as deep as it could floor that pedal. In this darker area, no sense of movement existed. Just the feeling of my lips against the top of her foot and a mild-scented odour. I’d know what’d happen next in four seconds.

One, two, three… FOUR!

I opened my eyes, reality sunk in with what I just did, and I bumped my head trying to exit this foot space. But when looking at Minh T. again, her eyes were so wide that they stretched off her face. And with a gulp, she went from having clenched teeth to a small smile. And it grew. Grew so big that it became a series of laughter.

“We made it. We made it!”

“I won’t…” I said, rubbing my head. At least that fearful hour was finally put behind us. “Come on, I don’t wanna be off the ground anymore.”

“You bet— Toadette!” Minh T. had confusion written all over her face. “How come you’re so blushy?”

Blushy? I squinted at my reflection in the glass. Damn, if only I was allowed to punch it. I looked like a strawberry monster. And though I knew where that blush came from, that would be my secret. Again, just an experiment. It was an experiment to save our lives! No love whatsoever for her foot or whatever that faint smell was.

Nevertheless, she refused to wait for an answer, pulling us into the passenger cabins. When we all gathered within the airport, the Toads treated us like movie stars on a red carpet. Receiving this much praise… How surreal.

“Was it hard? Did you think you were gonna die? What do all those buttons do? Did you press them all? Ms Toadette, can you teach me how to fly? I can’t even right now!” Penelope went on and on with her questions.

In one breath, I gave her a satisfactory answer. “Go ask Minh T.”

She was the real hero. And she sure seemed to love the attention everyone gave her. One minute, she’d be dramatically retelling the event. The other, she’d be dancing as if to put on a celebratory show for herself. But she earned the right to praise herself so much.

The noise slowly died down, and we only heard the heavy sound of heels clacking against the floor. Her Highness dusted off her shoulders and cleared her throat. “Our flight took a rather unexpected turn, but let’s be thankful we arrived in one piece.”

Cue another round of applause as everyone’s eyes locked on Minh T.

“We’re heading to the hotel right now, but once your bags are given, do whatever you wish,” Her Highness announced, rubbing her head. “When Luigi wakes up, I swear…”

Her threat fell on deaf ears due to the clamour as we squeezed into these black vans. The sleekness and tinted windows made me think I was on an espionage mission. And boy, living in Toad Town for so long numbed me to how drastically different this place was. The moment we hit the streets, it was impossible to ignore how these buildings grated against each other like oversized Thwomps. So many shops on higher floors, too. So many people gathered in these areas like ants…

When I looked at Minh T., she let out a laugh. “I can tell you didn’t spend much time here. Look at your face.”

Yeah, that much was obvious. Whereas Toad Town’s buildings felt inviting and warm, these skyscrapers were intimidating. And we zoomed past way too many for me to count. Wait, did I say “zoomed?” This van rarely hit its top speed, thanks to how crowded these streets were. Toads, humans, Piantas—everybody took up the road like a sidewalk. At least doing this made sense in Toad Town since we had only one or two buses. Here? Could these people get a move on?

Before entering the pretentiously named Mushroom Kingdom Hotel (MKH), Penelope tossed cards at us all. “Two of you share a room each! If you want any room service amenities, it comes out of your pockets and not those of my mother!”

She grinned when aiming directly at my chest. A more playful grin than a demonic one, admittedly. I returned the smile, patting her on the head as she continued. Though, my happy expression was replaced with shock upon reading these key cards. Our floor was on the 70th floor!?

“And I thought the castle was gigantic,” I said, handing Minh T. her card. This hotel’s lobby made the castle look archaic. It had everything I’d imagine a rich place to contain. A golden fountain in the lobby? Check. Fancy red carpeting? Check. People with posh accents? Do I need to answer that one?

So tall was the hotel that we couldn’t even take one elevator trip to our room. First, about fifty of us pooled in a giant elevator with doors on each side. Then once we got around floor 40, Minh T. dragged us behind a line of people waiting for a smaller elevator. Was this how rich people operated or something? What was wrong with one elevator getting us places?

“If elevators visited every floor,” Minh T. explained as we escaped, “well, we’d be stopping at every floor. You wanna be trapped with the smell of sweaty people for 20 minutes?”

“Sounds like your dream come true,” I said, scanning the card against our door. “Definitely not mine.”

Wow. Our room was even smaller than my room in the castle. Perhaps that’s how the hotel could fit so many onto a single floor. But even still, the luxury aesthetic made its way into our private quarters. Much of the room’s furnishings were seemingly made from gold or bronze, one of those fancy metals. The bed also saw a size reduction, but Minh T. immediately dropped to her knees when seeing a cord dangling from the mattress.

“Does it adjust!?” She played with the device, causing the bed to shift up, down, and even fold inward. “Give me a moment.”

While she squealed and spread out across the bed like a starfish, I observed at myself in the wall mirror. Eh… A clothes change was in order. The jeans could stay on, but the shirt was drenched in a nervous sweat. Mushroom City didn’t need a taste of my armpits. So, I switched to a dark red shirt and brushed my hair a little. Alright, now I rocked a full casual attire, sneakers and all.

“Let’s see,” I looked at my phone. 3:50. “I’m not staying in here when we’ve got hours to kill. What do you wanna do?”

“If you want, we could visit your—”

“Not the way I’d like to begin my vacation, please.”

She froze for a second, then gave me a nod. The cherry expression returned to her face. “Right, let’s not rush things. But I want you to pick what we do. You’re the new girl in town, Toadette.”

Hmm… Ooh! If we didn’t want to waste all our energy, a movie could do us wonders. Of course, the theatre experience had to be distinct here compared to Toad Town. But on top of that, movie theatres are dark. I glanced at the bottoms of Minh T.’s feet while she bounced on the bed, smirking.