Toadette's Story

Chapter 7 - Princess Daisy

Opening the curtains, the pleasant pink hue of the sky sent such a sense of relief in my body. Not one grey cloud was set to damper the mood, either. This was the happiness I needed before the grand arrival of Princess Daisy.

“The only time you worship my feet, and it’s when I’m friggin’ sleeping,” Minh T. moaned. Her brown hair was a frizzy mess.

“Oh, you felt that?”

“I ain’t stupid. I gotta say, your toe sucking’s pretty good. But it’s better to kiss ’em before sucking, as a little warm-up.”

“Yeah, I’m totally taking that advice.”

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

At the door stood Her Highness’s daughter, Penelope. Looking a bit more presentable today, she was. She had a white shirt and a black skirt instead of the skimpy swimsuit.

“Good morning, Miss…”

A look of horror overtook the girl’s face.

“Morning. What’s wrong?”

Her hand pointed straight at my crotch. Damn, I forgot I only wore panties and a loose shirt to sleep!

In haste, I slammed the door and leapt to the closet. What to wear today? Scrolling through my small assortment of clothes, I stopped at another set of my professional attire. Perhaps it would become my daily uniform.

Now I beamed a smile at the girl, showing off my clean aesthetic.

“You can wear something less fancy, you know.”

SLAM!

Back to the closet, I went. One minute later, I emerged sporting a pink shirt, black shorts, fuzzy white ankle socks and hot-pink sneakers. No vest-coat, no flats, just a casual look.

I flung the door so hard that it struck me in the face. Little Penelope snickered.

“Much better. Princess Daisy will be here in a few minutes.”

“A few minutes!?” I shouted. “Why didn’t anyone tell me ahead of time?”

“Welp, now you know how I felt last night.” And away she went.

I waltzed in the bathroom, where Minh T. brushed her teeth. My glasses just needed a little polishing.

“So, are you coming to meet this princess with me or not?”

“I’d love to,” she spat. “But I gotta work too, ya know.”

“Whatever,” I chuckled. “Get back to your shop before your flowers wilt of loneliness.”

As I climbed the endless flight of stairs, my heart rate accelerated. The anticipation of meeting a new royal was only one cause of that. The additional factor was the vibration travelling down the stairwell. The closer I got to the uppermost level, the stronger the rumbling became. Finally, I stopped at the only door at the end.

“Don’t screw this up. Don’t screw this up. Don’t screw this up.”

Once outside, I was met with gusts of warm wind. If you opened your mouth up here, it’d dry your tongue out. Away, I heard a loud buzzing noise along with various bits of chatter.

I pulled my shirt over my head just to be able to walk in this heat. A few steps forward, and I felt something soft.

SLAP!

My shirt came down, and my hand stung like hell. In front of me was a Toad. Scratch that. There was a mass of Toads spanning from one corner of the castle to the other. And within this mass, I was the only one not on my knees.

Someone yanked me to the floor. “Show some respect.”

Over the sea of Toads was a large, yellow aeroplane. Two Toads stood by the rear door. Given space in the middle of the crowd, all to herself was Her Highness.

While the thick door opened, a set of orange stairs rolled out. Yet what truly caught my eye was the thick smoke that poured from the insides of the plane. It looked like a fire had gone off mixed with some fireworks. At first, it was pink, like cotton candy. Then it transitioned into a berry-ish red.

Suddenly, all the Toads lowered their heads. Confused, I whispered, “What’s the big deal?”

KABOOM!!!

My throat was strained, yelling to the max, but I heard nothing. All that accompanied the silent scream was an intense white and red flash. Holding my hands over my eyes, I briefly lowered one to see what happened.

Glowing pieces of paper rained onto us all. As if nothing happened, the other Toads jumped to their feet, and a wave of applause commenced. And here I was clinging to the floor like a baby would its mother.

Eventually, I pulled myself up to see someone emerging from the smoke clouds. This had to be her. Princess Daisy.

Just looking at her, wow. To say this woman was beautiful would be an understatement.

Her skin was darker than that of Her Highness’s, and her eyes were royal blue. Was that a royal tradition or something? She boasted two flower earring as well.

Her clothes managed to compliment her slim build. A sleeveless shirt with a flower emblem made up her top, and orange/yellow shorts made up her bottoms. As for her feet, the princess wore white socks and orange tennis shoes.

Alright, let me take a guess. Was her favourite colour green? No, maybe purple. Definitely not orange.

“Hello, mushroom heads!”

The crowd applauded.

“I’ll be in town for a few days. Might have to stretch it to a week. So, I expect all of you to make every teeny-tiny thing comfortable for me. Can you handle it?”

All at once, Toads dispersed in mass. Some sprinted into that plane, while some dashed into the castle. My head spinning, I shrieked when something clenched on my shoulder.

“Pink cap, glasses, funny balls hanging off the head. Yep. You’re my helper, aren’t ya?”

“Y-Yes, ma’am!” My eyes blinked so fast, you’d swear I was having a seizure.

Princess Daisy shook my hand with an unneeded degree of force. “Neat-o. At least I won’t be mixing you up with the other spore-brains around this joint.”

The clanking of high heels got louder and louder. Sure enough, Her Highness was approaching me from behind. I swallowed spit and tightened my posture.

“If Toadette gives you problems, treat her as you see fit. But keep her alive.”

Princess Daisy smirked. “Like I need you telling me that, Peach.” Her grip got tighter, wrapping my hand like a Cobrat. “But, I think Toadette and I will get along just fine.”

“Just don’t do anything stupid again, understood?”

She left us to head back in the castle. Princess Daisy’s face switched from smug to annoyed as she walked me to the edge of the roof. Oh no, this was TOO close to the edge.

“When this kingdom eventually falls, she doesn’t know how hard I’ll be celebrating,” the princess uttered. “Anyways, whatcha think of my grand entrance?”

“Deafeningly impressive, Princess Daisy.” The ringing in my ears had yet to subdue.

“Awesome. Part of being a stylish princess: everyone’s gotta know when Daisy’s in town. But explosions don’t really look cool in the day, huh? Should’ve landed here at night.”

The princess dangled her legs over the roof, staring out into the miles of land surrounding us.

“Did Peach give you the rundown?”

“She told me you were robbed. That’s all.”

The princess groaned, pulling a shoe off. “Why does she always leave the important bits out. We’re searching for three things. You got an idea of one?”

What kind of game was this? She looked no different from Her Highness when she wore casual clothes. I scanned her from her feet to her hair, and everything was in order.

“Getting warmer,” she teased.

“I don’t know.”

“My crown, stupid.” She pointed at her head. “You ever seen a princess go out in public without one? Let alone another territory?”

“Sorry…”

Princess Daisy removed her other shoe, tossing it in my direction. Remember, Toadette, breathe through your mouth. The taste might be a bit soured, and your tongue may get dry. But it beats smelling lethal funk.

The royal now stretched her legs in my direction. “You’re too slow for the rest, so I’ll cut to the chase. The second thing on the list is my soccer ball.”

“Why would a soccer ball matter?”

“Because it’s no regular soccer ball. That baby’s made of gold with a hint of silver at its core.”

Her thick white sock hovered before my face. Now the advice from Penelope came back to me.

“You have cute socks, Princess Daisy.” Boy, that was one of the most awkward sentences to escape my lips.

“Ooh, if you like those, wait until you see my bare soles. In fact, that leads perfectly into the third thing stolen. My all-important shoe collection.”

“Huh?”

Seriously, unless you live in the trashy parts of Mushroom City, who the hell steals shoes? Or maybe these guys had a foot thing like Minh T. and were getting off to the smell.

“These sneakers are the only things I got right now. My flip-flops, heels, winter boots, fancy sandals all disappeared. Kinda pisses me off more than the soccer ball if I’m bein’ honest.”

“But why your shoes?” I questioned.

Slowly, the princess began to peel the sock off her right foot. “If someone of my status wears something, its value skyrockets to the heavens. Some commoners like you are dumb enough to pay millions for a smelly shoe because it was on MY foot.”

The middle of her foot was now revealed.

“Okay, that makes sense. But so, why do you need me?”

I couldn’t react to the sock landing on my cap. The princess pushed her right foot in front of my face.

Her big toe flexed its way into my mouth like a grubby worm.

“Two answers, Toadette. One, it’s not like I’m doing all this work by myself. And two, it’s not like Peach can train you to be an effective foot slave. So Daisy here’s gonna give you some real lessons, ’kay?”

The rest of her toes pinched my lips until I actively sucked on the big one. Yuck! Bits of sock fuzz swirled along with my tongue. It was like licking pulp that swims in orange juice.

Her big toe flew out my mouth and pushed into one of my breasts. “Swallow,” she commanded.

As much as I wanted to spit it out, the woman’s blue eyes locked onto me like a Bull’s-Eye Bill. Swallowing my sanity in the process, I closed my eyes and sent that sweat and sock lint down my throat.

My tongue drooped out my mouth for some freshness, but all it met was the princess’s foot. It came up and down twice before my tongue made a hasty retreat. What was that flavour?

“Just a sneak preview,” the princess said as she shoved her socks and shoes on. “But we’ve got plenty of time to train that mouth.”

My eyes widened as I watched the princess do a backwards somersault off the roof of the building. Just a few moments before hitting the ground, she appeared to spin, rise a little, then descend safely. She brushed herself off and waved me down.

“You waiting for an invitation?”

“I can’t do that!” I screamed, nearly falling off the castle from panic.

“Obviously not with that attitude. If you’re not down in ten seconds, I’ll go ask Peach for her whip.”

“You can’t be serious!”

“Nine, eight, seven…”

What choice did I have? I jumped off the castle. The wind got louder in volume the faster I went. And unlike this crazy royal, I couldn’t manipulate my body mid-air. That’s video game nonsense. This was the end for me.

Huh? How was I still breathing?

I opened my eyes to see the princess holding me up. Then she dropped me. “I may be a little crazy, but again, I’m not stupid. Now gimme a place of interest.”

“Place of interest?”

“Duh. Somewhere that seems interesting. A place we might get some hot info from.”

Well, that was easier said than done. How do you decide where to search when a thief has left zero clues behind?

Wait! Club 64! When I was a kid, my mom always mentioned drama finding its way back to that restaurant. Thankfully, I hadn’t experienced anything of the sort in the years I’d been there. But if we were gonna start tracking down some robbers, we’d be foolish not to start there.