Toadette's Story

Chapter 46 - Sick Slide to Freedom

With our only exit at the top of this water-filled shaft, what other options remained? Even if some miracle escape existed at the bottom, we’d have to dive so many feet to get down there. And while Minh T. or I could handle that no problem, myself especially, we were dealing with a boy who could barely keep himself above the surface.

Our time was only getting shorter as the Putrid Piranhas danced with more speed. They were more than eager to feast on us, the long-tongued bastards.

“I’m thinking another cutting round’s gonna be necessary,” DT said, wiping the brown tuft of hair out his eyes.

Minh T. grabbed his hand. “Even if you could slice all hundreds of them up there, you really think it’ll take long for them to regrow? And in a bigger amount.”

“Then our only other option’s at the very bottom! But I don’t know how we get down there when we won’t be able to see squat.”

Fantastic. We were stuck between two exits, one blocked by hundreds of flowers and the other blocked by this cold water. At least the water level meant that a floor of vines wasn’t another obstacle waiting for us, but still, our situation couldn’t have gotten worse. If we could just somehow sink to the bottom, with DT in our arms, leaving this place would be a piece of cake.

“Come to think of it, there might be a way.” And I looked up. “Whoa!”

My cap narrowly avoided a sharp bite from the largest Putrid Piranha, and the resulting splash sent me crashing into the wall. As the giant plant shrieked, it struck a second time! One of its vines smacked me in the face. Wasn’t long before it wrapped itself around my arm, pulling me into the bundle of slimy monsters.

“Nice try!” With my other hand free, I karate chopped myself free from this vine. The plunge into the frigid water may not have stung, but both my wrists now felt seriously inflamed. As if a throbbing wouldn’t go away in my left one, the one that had been violently constricted by the Putrid Piranha. And my right one had a pain that flowed down the rest of my forearm.

“Hey, E. Gadd!” I swam up to Minh T. as best as I could. “You stuffed your bag with all those arcade items, right?”

“Not all of them!”

“If they had Mega and Mini Mushrooms, I’m crossing my fingers there was some more useful junk.” The violent plant snapped at me again, nipping the top of my cap the moment I dove under the water. In seconds, I emerged behind Minh T., spreading open her insane bag. First, I felt all my shoes. Lovely. After that, it was an assortment of things that wouldn’t serve our situation. Another Mini Mushroom? That’d be a great way to drown. A Tanooki Suit? As if the two of us could carry a stone boy underwater.

Another loud splash caused a tidal wave to hit us, making our chattering teeth far louder. So, this was 100% how Daisy felt when she went through Toad Town Tunnels. At least she hadn’t been drenched for so long, whereas Minh T. and I had been wet for an hour, possibly longer.

“You know, your voice kinda sounds familiar.”

“Does it?” I asked the boy. Under my breath, I whispered, “Thought puberty would’ve dropped it by a pitch or two.”

“Hey, best amiga, whatever you’re looking for’s gonna have to wait! It’s charging up!”

Charging? The Putrid Piranha was way back, so it wasn’t a threat in the slightest. Perhaps Minh T.’s vision was beginning to slip among all the chaos.

“Bingo!” At last, an item entered my grasp that could aid our escape. “Boy, use this!”

After pushing the Frog Suit item onto him, he simply kept staring at me. Um, why? Didn’t he realise that we didn’t have time to twiddle our thumbs? These monsters weren’t gonna stay at bay for long.

“Hurry up!” I screamed.

“R-Right!”

Fortunately, contrary to what the name would have you think, one didn’t need to actually dress into the Frog Suit. Simply holding it tightly in one’s hands allowed it to cover the user in the green wear. All it took was three seconds, none painful. Now, whether he knew it or not, DT’s swimming ability immediately gained a boost. Plus, it did make him look less threatening and cutesier, even at the expense of oozing so much mucous.

“Good idea!” Minh T. said. “Now you can look and breath underwater, so finding that escape’ll be like…”

“DUCK!”

DT instantly took a deep breath and threw himself backwards into the water. But while Minh T. followed, the Putrid Piranha’s movement kept me above the surface. It had opened its large mouth, revealing tons of its sharp, venom-filled fangs. If it wasn’t gonna come any closer, it must’ve been planning a different attack.

“What tricks do you have up your sleeve?”

For a few seconds, I watched as it seemed to yawn, slightly warming the damp chamber. This left me scratching my head. Was it just gonna rest up there?

A tug on my leg quickly sent me to the bottom like an anchor. Unable to open my eyes, I was dragged along by some force in this frigid water. And somehow, the cold wasn’t the most uncomfortable part. Some kind of stinging sensation burnt my nose while I held my breath.

Submerged, the shrieks and laughter of all the Putrid Piranhas reminded me of our last terrifying encounter with a mischievous race. At least the Boos never intended on eating us, or so their body-stealing leader said. Not only did these guys want our energy, but something told me we weren’t finished with them yet. Even without invisibility, these vines could get through a lot of tight places.

Perhaps the boss wanted me to escape.

My hearing finally left the world of muffled sound as I gasped for air. Rubbing this miracle water from my eyes, I was hit with a new surprise. Instead of being in a dark vertical shaft, now we were at the top of some long slide. A slide with an endless number of alternate tracks. Boy, this was something my brain would struggle to dream up in its tipsiest state. The slide was covered in the three primary colours, and DT was lugging…a tube? Not a pipe, no, one of those things you sit on at a water park. Like an inner tube.

“What now?” I asked Minh T.

“Don’t ask me.”

“You two aren’t the first to get stuck down here,” my little brother said as he pushed this device towards the edge of the slide. “Way long ago, a couple of guys died from getting trapped in chambers like those. So, they made an escape route like this for all the people who have to work down here. And one Toad thought slides would be way more fun, like a reward for a hard day’s work.”

“Boy definitely remembers history than you,” Minh T. whispered.

“They force kids to stay awake nowadays.” I concentrated on the circular machine. “So, just treat this like a simple ride?”

“Yeah, you wish it was simple, huh?” He held his fists in place for a few seconds, making the Frog Suit disappear. Water and mucus continued to drip down his body. “These things haven’t been upgraded in years, so the pedals are non-existent. In English…”

The boy popped his socked heels out of his shoes.

“Both of you are gonna have to put in some work.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me, but I don’t feel comfortable steering something that looks like it’ll flip over if I so much as sneeze.”

“I’m not dumb enough to let you kill us, don’t freak out. You get the easiest job, whatever your name is.”

Now, he said this would be an easy job. He didn’t mention anything about me lying on the floor, while he and Minh T. sat on the edge. Not only were they sitting on the edge, but both of them had me firmly pinned under their feet. Minh T.’s were on my face, and DT’s were on my… They were just above my crotch, too close for comfort.

“In what world does any of this make sense?” I asked, muffled under Minh T.’s wet soles.

“No pedals for left and right, but the sensors are still working. We gotta use you as a middleman, that’s all,” he giggled in a way that’d make Penelope proud. “Beats using an old bag or toolbox, I’ll say.”

Based on this, if DT’s feet pushed into me, the machine would slant to the left. And if Minh T. did it, the opposite would naturally occur. As much as being at Minh T.’s feet like this should’ve entertained me, they were covered in nasty water, smelt like vinegar, and I didn’t want to be doing this in front of somebody else. Especially my little brother. This encounter was twenty times more awkward than it had any right to be.

“Say, are those Putrid Piranhas gonna cause us any trouble?” the flower Toad asked.

“I’ve only done this for fun, never in an emergency. The only way to find out is by doing. Ahem, without further ado…”

With the click of a button, the inner tube produced a faint hum, like an air conditioner starting up. The weight of all four feet slowly increased as the vehicle rocked back and forth. For a second, it calmed down and slowly glided forward. Then came the drop.

My screams were wholly interrupted by Minh T.’s wet heel finding a home in my mouth! DT’s intense pressure on my stomach didn’t help matters. The faster we accelerated, the stronger their feet became. I was subjected to a chunk heel ready to force its way down my throat and two socked feet treating my lower midsection like a video game dance pad. As soon as the fall ended, my crotch received a swift kick. No doubt we were now moving to the left.

Did neither of these buffoons understand that to drive a vehicle, you use your big toe for the gas? Even a simple girl like me, who didn’t own car, could tell you that.

Minh T.’s heel went so deep in my mouth that I was afraid I’d choke. If only it tasted good and not like cheap water, it might’ve been bearable. To add to my discomfort, every time this machine needed to go to the right, she was obligated to push her foot deeper into my face. My head was the pedal, so there was no winning.

And with DT, I couldn’t tell if he’d secretly figured out who I was, which would explain why he was kicking my body with such aggression. Or maybe the boy had so much spunk that he couldn’t control himself. Either way, would it kill him to go a little easier on me? I could only take so much of this.

“How long is this gonna take?” I asked, gargling Minh T.’s salty digits.

“A couple minutes at worst! Don’t tell me this is too much for you!”

“Don’t tell me you expect me to last longer with Minh T.’s foot suffocating me!”

“Hey, we could’ve swapped positions, and then you’d be dealing with mine. I did you a favour.”

As if. Wearing socks would’ve neutralised whatever odour could’ve formed. Besides, it was already getting concerning that his speed did seem to rival mine. The last thing I needed was my own brother to outstink me. Could I or my feet have any unique traits to ourselves?

Minh T. now stuffed her clammy toes in my mouth, with three of them penetrating past my teeth. While the big and pinkie toes remained outside, I slowly treated the remaining ones like pacifiers. Whatever mild pain she caused me was insignificant compared to the major crotch pain DT delivered with his aggressive kicks. Much of my effort was spent adjusting my body to have him hit my thigh instead. Anything other than my damn pussy would’ve been a nice target for this unjust abuse.

Where did all this strength come from? While I was bouncing from home to home for the past half decade, he should’ve been living comfortably in Mushroom City. After all, didn’t Mommy move to this junky place to get a job that didn’t pay her small money?

“For such a dangerous job, the money better be worth it,” Minh T. said.

“Dangerous, but it’s way more fun than sitting at a restaurant or—”

BONK!

And I thought that taxi ride gave me horrible whiplash. This sudden stop was strong enough to tear my head from my neck. Minh T.’s toes pinched my nose, trapping the unpleasant odour in my vicinity. And two boyish heels were stacked next to each other right against my groin.

The girl squeezed tighter. “It’s back!”

“I’ll deal with it!” DT yelled.

Groaning, I felt the pressure on my lower body finally disappear. And now I rose to my feet to get some fresh air and a sight of what we were up against.

Just a couple of feet in front of us was a panting Putrid Piranha with its tongue stuck out like a dog. With it were six smaller followers. All that purple liquid coming out their teeth… Something told me we’d have to exercise more caution here. Especially when I looked down and saw nothing but an abyss below us. Bastards broke the slide.

But DT apparently never learnt of the word “caution”.

He’d already hopped into the air, bringing his foot down onto the giant Putrid Piranha’s head. Fat load of good that did him. The boy just bounced back, coming an inch close to missing this vehicle if I hadn’t taken the initiative. I leaned and stretched out my arms, letting him crash into me.

“So, how was that plan supposed to go?” I asked.

“I… If I can’t cut ‘em, then what?”

“If it decided to look up, you would’ve been its lunch just now.” Guess I’d have to take matters into my own hands. “Watch him, Minh T.!”

I growled every time I slipped just trying to warm up for a run. The water that’d seeped into the vehicle made balancing a test of patience. And the longer it took for me to stand straight, the more this Piranha guided us into its mouth. The front of the inner tube already felt the teeth marks scrape against its underside, generating a sharp noise.

“OW!”

While locked onto the Putrid Piranha, something chewed me from the side. One of those little ones!

“Damn Piranha!” I elbowed it atop its head, stumbling backwards. Then on my other shoulder, another one’s sharp vines scraped me. Time for a strategy change. Screaming, I took both of their vines in my hands and—WHAM—bashed the little bastards together!

But killing them was a whole other issue. Normal attacks weren’t gonna get us far, as they were already rising.

“Got it!” Dodging another bite, I slid to Minh T. and pulled a softer item out her bag. A bit of fire power, nice. “Been a while since I used one of these.”

“Which is that?” she asked.

“Move!” DT shouted, pushing Minh T. to the ground.

The orange glow around my hand immediately sent them both scurrying to the other side of the vehicle. I apologised for the burn, but the Fire Flower wasn’t the easiest item to control. As I clenched my fist around its stem, I felt the spark of energy piece my heart. Oh boy… Brace yourself, Toadette! There was never a time when this flower didn’t make my veins contract. Good thing I knew what was in store because my feet weren’t going anywhere! In ten seconds, I’d adapted to the volcanic heat.

With a glance at my red braids and pink spots, I was finally ready to unleash a blitz on the Putrid Piranha and its henchmen.

Looking back at Minh T. and DT, one was terrified, and the other stared in awe.

“Are you single?” the boy asked, his brown eyes twinkling.

…Moving on. I spawned a fireball in my hand, pulling back like this was a game of softball. At the same time, three smaller Putrid Piranhas rained down on me.

“Taste this!” Pitching it at them, the ball disbursed and vaporised the giggling freaks. The remaining three quickly spiralled around my ankles. Ha! What a surprise they were in for when they turned to ash. “Careful. Hehe, I’m dangerous.”

Now that left the big one.

I fired constant shots like a machine gun, all of them aimed at the leader. If a ball missed the head, it hit the stem. But the majority of them bounced into the creature’s mouth.

As the slide rumbled, the monster let out a scream. We shot up the slide like a rocket, retracing our steps. But even though its movements forced us backwards, there was still the matter of the slide being broken! Worse still, the Putrid Piranha was still alive, opening its mouth right at the bottom!

“Suggestions!? Suggestions!?” I asked, trying not to cry from the blinding downhill winds.

“Chomped, poisoned, or both! Those are our options!”

“Good enough!”

Minh T.’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry, what!?”

No time to explain! In a move that could be described as both stupid and cool, I somersaulted off the ride and slid ahead of it. Nice that the water couldn’t sap away the effects of a Fire Flower.

Being cold for so long made the warmth in my feet super relieving. The way the flames travelled down my legs and into my toes… I needed as much firepower in them as possible. Although, I’d never shot a fireball from my feet before. Was it even possible? They’d taught us that a ball could only exist in someone’s hands. Well, let’s put it to the test!

Ahead by four seconds, I leapt under the broken section of the track. The Putrid Piranha’s mouth stretched across the entire length of the void, its teeth gleaming as if to say, “Get it? I’m the more dangerous plant.” At last, a tingling in my heels gathered at my toes. So much energy to store at once…

“And YOU can go to Hell!”

As all ten digits curled up like fists, then spread out as far as they could, a warm glow illuminated the pit. An out-of-control stream of flame burst into the Putrid Piranha’s mouth like fireworks, finally settings its lips ablaze. It screamed even louder than before, just what I prayed for!

“This is your worst idea—”

Minh T. was in for the shock of her life. As the tube carrying her and DT passed above me, a mist of sizzling, noxious gas shot at us from below. The Putrid Piranha’s final attack, if you will. It smelt just as weird as when it opened its mouth in the mineral water chamber, but this time, its force crushed me against the underside of the vehicle. And the wind at that pressure was enough to rip a whole through a steel building! Seriously, the ride was faster than any taxi trip in this dangerous city! I could feel so much dust entering my nose as we continued to climb, along with the various bumps from damaged floors.

BOOM!

Ah… Light! I could see light! We were out the sewers! If I wasn’t scared shitless that we were fifty feet in the air and now taking a plunge to the Earth, I’d have been cheering.

CRASH!

My back smashed against the tarmac as I was the first to land. The road wasn’t in the best condition either. It had a huge, HUGE crack in the middle and reeked of bubbly chemicals and smoke. And cheese… Lots and lots of cheese… But that crack quickly found itself covered by the vehicle and two dizzy Toads.

DT tumbled out the machine, panting yet laughing. “That. Was. Awesome.”

“It was not awesome!” Minh T. shrieked, holding her stomach as she stepped on the ground. “I feel so nauseous.”

“Puking can be cool.” The boy waltzed over to me. “Never seen someone use a Fire Flower like that. Think you could show me one day? Come on, please? That was just so…”

And he continued on and on. How could the kid so calm after everything that had just happened? Sure, we were out, but wasn’t he the least bit injured? Even if I wanted to entertain him, if we didn’t get a move on, someone was gonna hold us responsible for destroying the street and a part of the Piranha Plant Slide. Lucky there were so few people on the road. Alright, Toadette, get up…

“…I can’t breathe…”

Nope, my body wasn’t moving. I couldn’t feel any heat, so the pain couldn’t have been from the Fire Flower. Maybe breaking through several floors of an underground water system wasn’t the smartest. But these two looked perfectly fine, with Minh T. showing no issues as she walked to my side.

“Hey, shouldn’t we get out of here before someone notices?”

“Can’t breathe.”

She cocked her head. “Come again?”

“Please!” Now I was hyperventilating, grabbing for my heart. The pain was now searing from head to toe. “Shit! I really can’t breathe!”

“But how? I don’t…” The Toad put her hands to her mouth, not moving an inch. “They hit you with poison, didn’t they!?”

Poison? Really? Life couldn’t have picked a better time for me to get sick? Even then, being sick never felt so strange before. I could always breathe, just maybe with a stuffed nose. And my body certainly wouldn’t be throbbing and feeling like someone was setting my lungs on fire.

Minh T. turned to DT, clenching her fists. “We wouldn’t even have been messing around down there if you weren’t helping out this hooligan!”

“Don’t take this out on me! Why were you even following me in the first place?”

Oh! The coin case! The remote was still in my pocket.

“First, we’re taking her to your house, got it?” Minh T. grabbed my aching right side. “Faster walking there than to the hotel.”

“Hospital too far?”

“They’ll identify what’s in her body and then figure out we were in a place we shouldn’t have been in. You wanna explain to the cops why you were down there?”

The boy rolled his eyes. “Fine. Let’s go!”

I recognised this path. It was the same one we’d familiarised ourselves with when we’d first moved here. And likewise, the same path I took when I left. For being such a grand city, it sure was less willing to change than Toad Town. A lot of the places looked the exact same as they had six years ago. Maybe a few posters switched here and there.

Would the apartment look the same? …If I could keep my body from shutting down, I’d have been able to tell you…

No! I could at least make it far enough to see it with my very eyes. As they carried my barefoot body to more crowded streets, the 28-storey building towered over the various shops and whatnot. Its red brick exterior that admittedly helped it stand out among the various blue and grey buildings. The part I couldn’t explain at all: my smile. For a location I never wanted to see again, something about its presence made the throbbing a little less agonising. Even being inside, where others raised an eye with concern at my state. Phew, just being in an air-conditioned building put some ease on my trembling body.

“24th floor, right?” I asked.

“Oh, you remember what I told you earlier. Smart girl.” There was Minh T., actually using her brain rather well. When the doors closed, the lift carried us interrupted.

“Can I ask something?” DT poked my side. “Why exactly are you both barefoot?”

“We’re adults. We’re allowed to be,” Minh T. groaned as she set the rest of me into the elevator.

“O-kay… Your friend’s nails look nice, that’s all I wanted to say.”

“Hey, and mine don’t?”

“She’s sick. I was just trying to compliment her.”

“Thank you… Minh T. did them…” I exhaled, my breathing getting fainter when they brought me into the hallway. Of course, they’d take me to 2404. That was our number, one I couldn’t forget.

DT pulled a key out and stepped inside. “Mom’s definitely not here yet.”

“Perfect. I’m not expecting her until four like usual.” Minh T. shut the door, attempting to push me deeper inside. “Go get that breathing machine.”

“Think that’s gonna help her?” he asked, removing his sneakers at the front door. Funnily, I mimicked his exact same motion despite my bare feet being on this carpet.

“For now, yes. Now do it! Let’s go!”

“Yay…” And then I fell, gasping like a fish out of water…