Toadette's Story

Chapter 31 - Forever Forest Forever

Her Highness reached into her dress and then pulled out two envelopes. They stuck to my hand like glue as she explained my next mission.

“I’m searching for a pair of more out-there footwear in preparation for this year’s event. And you’re going to help me obtain these shoes, won’t you, Toadette?”

Though I nodded, I didn’t have the slightest clue what she was talking about.

Her Highness handed a third yellow envelope to Minh T. “And I’ve a special task for you too. You’re going to obtain some special seeds from this lady to plant at the festival.”

“Really!?” Minh T. nearly crushed the envelope as she grinned.

I read the address on the envelope aloud. “Lady Bow. Boo’s Mansion, Forever For—”

Next thing I knew, Minh T. slammed the paper in my hand and strolled away, whistling. Did she really think I was going into that forest alone? As I caught up with her, Her Highness shouted.

“Be back no later than tomorrow morning.”

With every step we took outside those gates, Minh T.’s heart thumped harder and harder. Eventually, it sounded like her chest would crack open. Even while rummaging in the shop, the Toad couldn’t stop muttering to herself like a crazy lady.

“We’re gonna die. We’re gonna die. We’re gonna die.”

“You’re gonna die if you don’t zip it for a minute,” I said. I crossed the wooden floor, plucking an orange from a little tree. Some things never changed, such as my poor eating habits. Breakfast had become a foreign concept to me so long ago that I jumped straight into snacks and lunch.

“Alright, that’s that.” Minh T. emerged from behind the counter with a green backpack. This thing was ready to burst, just like how she stuffed Penelope’s bag. “Water, my sweater, Boo Repellent, extra—”

“Boo Repellent?” I snickered. “You really believe that works?”

“I KNOW it’ll keep their fingerless hands off me.”

Minh T., ladies and gentlemen. The Toad with no issues licking diseased feet but will have a heart attack if a Boo even looks at her.

The only concerning part of this trip was my choice of shoes. In these flip-flops, my feet were totally vulnerable. A sharp branch could pierce my foot, especially given the location’s lighting qualities. But since we had already left the castle, we weren’t returning to fetch another pair of shoes. On the other hand, Minh T. seemed to be going in flip-flops anyway, so perhaps I was worrying too much.

“Let’s hurry before it gets late,” she whined.

She got no argument from me. The sooner we could get out that forest, the better. After locking the doors, Minh T. and I headed south, then east.

“Halt!!”

I shrieked as a spear came one inch away from penetrating my chest. A blue-spotted Toad in a robe glared at me, arms trembling.

“Oh, not this again.” I carefully guided the spear away from me, barely facing any resistance from this so-called guard. Every time I’d entered Forever Forest for the past few years, he’d be standing his ground. Too bad it never stopped me before.

“Hi-ya, Fice T.”

“Both of you need to turn around,” he said in his light voice. “I cannot let you into Forever Forest.”

“Mmm-hmm, watch.”

Like always, I simply swerved to the side, giving me a clear path into the forest.

“OW!”

The Toad’s weight dug into my back. Did he really have to jab me right in my butt cheek? No matter how much effort I exerted, Fice T. refused to budge. All he could insist was that Forever Forest was too dangerous. As if it wasn’t dangerous the last few times I travelled there.

But he had the spear. Minh T. and I were empty-handed regarding weapons. Maybe we should’ve gone back to get my flats…

“You heard him. Guess we’re not going, Toadette.”

“Yes we are,” I gasped, reaching into my pocket. “Or else a certain guard’s getting fired for defying Her Highness’s orders!”

Holding the envelope as high as possible, I made sure Fice T. saw that iconic emblem of our leader. Nobody could confuse it with a princess of any other kingdom unless they were blind. A simple crown with blue jewels on the left and right, and a ruby gem in the middle. The only other addition was a horizontal line that split the crown into two halves.

Fice T. stiffened and backed up. “Very well. Go forward.”

“No, no, buddy,” I said, backing him into the brick structure. “Where’s my apology for the little stab earlier?”

He gave a feeble apology, but I stood there with my arms crossed. He needed to do something more than that. Something that would amuse me after the hellish three weeks I experienced. Unfortunately, no Boo was in sight to scare the living daylights out of this guard. No, I had to exploit another fear.

My smile grew wider. “If you’re sorry, suck Minh T.’s big toe.”

The two Toads’ reactions were on opposite sides of the spectrum. Minh T.’s mouth was agape as she looked at her stained toes. But Fice T.’s spear almost dug into his own heart.

“No! Please, no!” he begged.

“Guess I won’t forgive you any time soon,” I said. How fortunate that Fice T. had so few friends. Otherwise this wouldn’t be working at all.

The guard gulped, still backed against the wall. Minh T., with a giggle, swung her hips around as she approached him. The slapping sounds of the shoes against her heels already made his blood chill, but seeing those dusty soles got Fice T. panicked. He whimpered, shutting his eyes once Minh T. kicked the pink flip-flop off.

Minh T. might’ve been strange with her intense love of feet. However, Fice T.’s deep fear of feet struck me as equally bizarre. Sure, feet are disgusting and not to be loved. But how pathetic must you be to be scared of them?

Tears streamed out his eyes as the toe went into his mouth. The other toes appropriately made their home on his cheek, flexing while the guard cleaned the big one. Could this count as torture? Hmm… Considering he only had to suck one toe, calling it torture would be a stretch. It wasn’t like I told him to lick her whole foot spotless. That’d be a fate worse than death, given her hygiene habits.

“It’s okay,” Minh T. assured, slowly thrusting her toe. “Dirt’s healthy.”

Fice T. continued groaning as the other toes tried to gather inside his mouth. But if we didn’t get a move on now, we weren’t leaving this forest on time.

“That’s enough,” I said, summoning Minh T. to follow me.

“Okay!”

After she yanked her toe out, Fice T. spat a greyish liquid into the dirt. He wiped his tongue off as much as he could, only stopping once Minh T. gave him a hug and kiss. She said something to him, then took her shoe and met me at the entrance to Forever Forest. As much fun as we just had, our moods slid into the negative zone once we saw the dull colours.

I took the first step. Then, all of a sudden, the sky turned grey. Minh T. then took the next step ahead of me.

“BOO!”

“AAAAH!!”

She gripped her chest, spewing spores into the atmosphere. Her ranting didn’t deter my laughter, not one bit. But I wasn’t gonna play with her like that in the forest. I wasn’t that cruel, was I?

A few more steps later, darkness swallowed the daylight.

“You brought a flashlight?” I asked.

“I look crazy enough to walk here without a light?” Minh T. activated a beam ahead of us, giving us moderate lighting.

“Let’s hope we can navigate this place.”

The Toad blocked my path. “You did not just say ‘let’s hope’.”

Unlike Dry Dry Desert, I could count the times I travelled through Forever Forest on the one hand. And during those trips, the distance was short. Never did they ask me to hike to Boo’s Mansion. Giving Minh T. this info would’ve made her return to Toad Town screaming. However, wrapping my hand around hers would have the opposite effect.

“We’ll be fine,” I lied.

The dark trees crackled over us like lightning bolts, and the bushes shook with each step. Worst of all, everything here looked the same. Left, right, up, it didn’t matter where the flashlight pointed. The bluish grass and muted dirt blended together into a tiring mess.

“Look on the bright side,” I said. “Soon as we’re outta here, your feet will be the blackest they’ve ever been.”

“IF we get outta here.”

“We will. Then you can go back to having someone lick your gross feet.”

“AAH!”

Following that shriek, Minh T. constricted me like a snake. Her flashlight flickered on some bushes to our left. Atop these leaves spun flowers with giant red lips. Considering all the plants she adored, why were these out of the ordinary?

Hehehehehe…

Never mind. No plant should make a sound as unsettling as that slow, dying laughter.

“Toadette…” She dug her nails into me now. “Is that normal?”

“You tell me, flower expert.” Keeping a close eye on those plants, I pointed to the path directly opposite them. A horizontal branch protected it, coming up to our midsections. “Wanna bet on this path?”

“Whatever gets us away from those.”

She crawled under the branch, I hopped it, and we soon entered another vast area. The deeper we sunk into the forest, the more noises assaulted us. Snickering, rustling, growling, anything from our worst nightmares. Adding to my stress, I couldn’t let this get under my skin. Minh T. struggled to hold the flashlight stably, so this duo needed a protector. It’d been my responsibility for years, and today wouldn’t change that.

Yet continuing required a small sacrifice. Suddenly, the bottoms of my feet stopped kissing rubber and now felt cold soil.

“What are you doing?” Minh T. hunched over as I crammed my shoes in her bag.

“If we gotta run, I’m not taking chances in those. Next thing you know, I’ll be falling left and right.”

“I’d join ya and all, but look at where we are,” she whispered.

“Oh yeah,” I scoffed. “Like the Boos really wanna get their tongues anywhere near you or your—”

“LA LA LA! I CAN’T HEAR YOU! I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

SLAP!

After that slap, I held my hand over Minh T.’s. The more attention we drew to ourselves, the likelier it was that we’d invite unexpected company. She understood me with a nod, and we shared no words while exploring this massive circle. Time effectively came to a halt, for we noticed the same trees and bushes more than once. The exact same, mind you.

The durability of my feet also decreased a few minutes after ditching my shoes. Though the barefoot walking felt better initially, this squishy soil turned my feet into mush.

“Am I crazy, or is this place getting darker?” I whispered.

“This friggin’ wind…” Minh T. muttered, teeth chattering.

“Tell me about it. If I had corns on my feet, they’d have frozen off by now.”

“Ew…” At last, Minh T. could giggle again. “I like my feet natural, but not that natural.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

Her grip on my hand tightened. “Feet get dirty all the time, Toadette. So instead of getting queasy from it, my body’s programmed to adore the filth.”

“Shh!” I gripped her tighter, forcing her light to shine on the bushes.

Sunken behind the leaves, two white eyes glared at us. Its spinning body made me do a double take. So, enshrouded in a camouflaging green, a Forest Fuzzy waited to pounce on us. These freaks were nuts about anything with blood, but humans and Toads were favourites among them. As I shoved Minh T. towards the nearest pathway, its bulging eyes kept on me.

Thud!

Minh T. grunted, dropping her light as she struck the path’s protective branch.

“Go, go!” Mustering all my strength, I tossed her to the other side. But my reaction was too slow to avoid the Fuzzy. In an instant, it latched itself onto me like glue. Its high-pitched meeeooork cry played like nails on a chalkboard. Singlehandedly, it brought me to the ground.

“GET OFF!” I screamed, reaching behind. It felt like someone was repeatedly scraping the back of my head!

WHACK!

Though my head burnt, the pressure was no more. In seconds, I wobbled on my feet, leaning on something to keep me upright.

“Lemme bandage that up,” Minh T. said, rustling through her bag.

“I’m fine,” I insisted. “At least you got it before it multiplied.”

“They multiply now?”

Wincing, I led us down the new path and into another stupid circle. This time, my eyes focused on the bushes near the centre. Clearly, threats would linger there as well. Minh T. kept one arm wrapped around me even when I told her everything was okay. Come on, I wasn’t a baby anymore.

“Please, Toadette. You’re still bleeding.”

I spun around. “I. Am. Fine…”

Rustle, rustle…

Minh T. pointed at the bush before us. Then, disappointingly, a familiar giggling echoed through the forest.

“WHY!?” I kicked the dirt. “We’re back at the start!”

“Good. ‘Cause we’re going home.”

“Says who?”

“Me.” Minh T. shined the flashlight on herself, fully illuminating her disapproving face.

“So clearly you don’t realise or care that this is MY job. If I don’t get these stupid shoes, guess what? You’re not the one getting tortured. That’s MY punishment!”

Not only was my breathing heavier, but hers as well. She pulled her phone out just to return it to her pocket.

“What?” I asked, hands on hips.

“Let’s just go. No signal anyways.”

Even if she had some signal, nobody programmed an extensive map for Forever Forest. It’d take too much effort. But, despite being less receptive, she still held my hand and let me lead us down the travelled path.

For three nerve-wracking hours, we combed the following circle. It only took us an additional hour since we looped back to the first ring again. But once we were on our fifth lap, I felt stupider than ever. Each time we walked past a specific path, red eyes flashed from a broken tree. A clue?

“Finally!”

Just like that, this forest casted us into its third circle of Hell. Denser trees, denser bushes, and pitch blackness. At most, the flashlight lit up two metres ahead of our feet. Speaking of my feet, where were they? They’d gotten so covered in this dirt that I could neither feel nor see them.

“On second thought, maybe I should put those shoes on again.”

“You really wanna stop?” Minh T. did a 360°, unable to note anything specific. “Besides, you look a lot better without shoes.”

“I bet,” I chuckled. “Probably not smart to get wet in these temperatures, you know.”

She pointed the flashlight at my feet. “When I see your feet, I see you naked. It’s… hot.”

As those words left her lips, the forest’s ambience awoke. First, the wind switched from mild to irritating. A heavy breeze would’ve been bad enough in this place, but the water droplet on my big toe froze my nerves. Minh T. looked me in the eyes, and we joined hands again.

We’d been through so much in life, we didn’t need words to communicate sometimes. Our only mission was finding some cover.

The bullet-like raindrops turned the soil into freezing mud under our feet. Minh T.’s flip-flops clung onto her feet for dear life while my heels obliterated the ground. And within the rustling of leaves and the thunderclouds, a high-pitched noise echoed among the trees.

“Fuzzies!?” I asked, not daring to look back.

“Go suck on someone else!” Minh T. screamed.

Louder than her voice was the sound of howling. Immediately, we hopped the path closest to us. We were lost already, so what did it matter if we went deeper?

Just as we entered the next ring, my legs wobbled.

“Toadette!”

Minh T. dragged me along the frigid ground. Little did she know how badly she scraped my knees.

“Stop,” I groaned, stumbling to my feet. The next sprint started off strong, but I quickly changed my pace. Why was my vision getting so… fuzzy?

As Minh T. and I clung to each other, I began to brainstorm. Flip-flop attacks worked against the Shy Guys, but Fuzzies had always been tricky to slug. Minh T. got a stroke of luck. But what if we just confused the sound? Someone could’ve been sent to look for us, to save us.

“No, Toadette, what are you doing?”

I’d already spun on my heels and reversed directions. Minh T. could kill me later if I wasn’t already mutilated by this foe.

Just a few metres ahead, the breathing was loud and clear. This was it!

BONK!

Aside from my groaning, another voice let out a moan. The pitch was high, but the creature was too big to be a Fuzzy. It had to be Toad-sized. Once Minh T. caught up with me, she threw the flashlight to the ground.

“Toadette, I don’t know why you’re acting so not-smart today, but—”

Her words faded away. Through my wet glasses and fading vision, I spotted some yellow hair.

“Penelope?”