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Toadette, Minh T. and Toad hunt for stars to stop Wario. New allies, new foes, new feet. |
| “Captain! Welcome back, Captain Syrup,” a human girl yelled. She bounced on the sand, her eyes glued solely to the ship’s lowering ramp. “Lovely to see you too, Lily.” Syrup crossed the beach and picked her up in her hands. “You’re looking extra scrumptious today… Did you polish that smile just for me?” “Yes, I did!” Lily’s expression was intense. She eagerly opened her mouth, her head tilted slightly back. Syrup immediately pushed her face closer, sliding her tongue inside until it filled the girl’s entire throat. The sloppy kiss ended with a loud, wet pop, followed by a string of thick saliva. Syrup stroked the girl’s caramel-scented hair, the strands catching on her rough knuckles. “I’d love you to share my bed tonight, but the dawn may break before I return.” “If you wish, captain, I can come with you.” “Aw… You have been very well behaved as of late…” Syrup pulled her in for another cheek kiss. “Sure. You’ll get to see my wonderful transformation into someone as fresh as you.” The girl’s eyes widened. Newcomers were being escorted onto the island. Except these weren’t kids. They were…adults? And Toads? And a…goblin in a pirate suit? Kitchen Island was like its own miniature society, easily eclipsing the size of Toad Town, Decalburg and Rose Town combined. As Syrup’s guards dragged Toadette and the others past candy-cane lampposts, a looping song played from unseen speakers. The streets smelt of brown sugar. Then the chilling horror unfolded before Toadette: children ran everything. Every establishment was staffed exclusively by children. They moved like robots, their faces forced into these unsettling smiles. Outside the Sugary Sprout Spa, a girl no older than nine scrubbed the feet of three lounging boys. Her movements were fast and mechanical, her back rigid as she delivered repeated, moist kisses without slowing. “Good morning, Captain Syrup.” Her smile snapped into focus as Syrup approached. “I have given eleven full moisturising massages and thirty-three kisses this morning. All clients satisfied.” “Excellent to see that your hands and lips are getting nice and strong,” Syrup said with a grin. “I look forward to an hour-long session tomorrow morning; I trust your techniques have improved since yesterday?” “She’s making our feet extra soft,” one of the boys called out, his laugh hollow. “Just for you, ma’am.” Toadette shivered. The true horror was seeing the tiny “S” patch on every kid’s neck. “She’s got them all branded like cattle,” Toadette whispered to Toad. “Of course,” Syrup purred, a cruel smile on her lips. “Branded and chipped, I might add. Can’t let my little babies wander off and get lost, now can I?” “Write that down,” Wario grunted to 9-Volt, who recorded the detail. “An impressive setup, haggy. The tracking, the labour… Might just borrow a few of your ideas for when I reinvent Diamond City.” Syrup’s smile widened. “Careful. You wouldn’t want me stealing your most promising citizens, would you?” Their grim tour ended at a towering facility shaped like a spatula. While they awaited a lift, large windows offered sickening views into the facility. Toadette took a deep breath and forced herself to look inside one. Her stomach heaved. Boys were strapped to hydraulic machines, forced backwards onto long, vibrating cylinders that penetrated them from behind. Their faces… “Nobody look,” was the only thing that could leave Toadette’s lips. “Simple flexibility training,” Syrup explained. “Sometimes I enjoy watching them go at it. Other times I’m in the mood to give them a little stimulation myself. And then there are the times where I’ll have one of my large, hulking lackeys create a new burrow in their bodies.” Toad shivered. “Every little flower deserves to be broken in at some point in life,” Syrup sighed, as if she were reminiscing. “At least when in my presence, I’ll ensure they survive the bloom.” Minh spat on the floor. Her cheeks turned green. “Best we’ve got in Diamond City is our prison prober,” Wario cackled. “A hyperactive little brat, ‘bout the size of Peach’s spawn here.” Toadette growled. “Animals—all of you.” “Even an animal has more civility than a dirty, yeast-filled mushroom person,” Wario shot back, wiping a booger on Toadette’s cap. With a sugary ding, the elevator finally arrived. The captives were shoved into barren cells on a high floor, patrolled by the Penkoon—penguin-raccoon pirates who glared at the new captures with malice. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a rendezvous with eternal youth,” Syrup sang, twirling the bloodied amulet before Jones. She blew a theatrical kiss at the unconscious Penelope. “Thank you, sugar.” “Move it, broad,” Wario chuckled. “While we wait for these maggots to fix my ship, I’d like a look at some of the treatments you give the older squirts around this island.” The cell door shut. In one cell were Toadette, Toad and Jones; in the next, Minh, Penelope and Jasmin. When Penelope finally awoke, she sat hunched with her head bowed. Hours passed before she finally decided to break the silence. “I thought I was saving everyone,” she whispered. “I’m nothing but a screw-up.” “You didn’t know,” Minh murmured, pulling her into a comforting hug. “You tried.” “Tried?” What good is trying if all I do is fail?” “How do you think I got to the point I am in life?” Toadette snapped, banging the wall loud enough for Penelope to jump. “My whole childhood was one giant mistake, and look how I’ve turned out. You didn’t even dent General Guy last year, and now you’ve poked an eye out this monster.” Minh stroked Penelope’s hair. “The fact you tried to save those kids… That’s the important part. We all love you, Penelope.” Hearing that made Penelope start sniffling. She broke into tears, throwing herself deeper into Minh’s arms. Her crying grew in volume as Minh squeezed her tighter. In a corner, Jasmin remained curled and silent, unable to utter a word. She simply looked at her dirty feet, hoping the sight would bore her enough to make her fall asleep. She flashed the briefest glance at Penelope. “I’m sorry, Jazz,” Penelope whimpered, finally unleashing a choked yell. “I fucking hate her! I hate Syrup!” “Hey! Language!” Minh shouted. “Let her vent,” Toad ordered. He then whispered to Toadette, “The longer we keep this dark side of hers in check, the better. What’s that about?” “You lived with her longer than I did. You should know.” She threw her hands up. “Now you know I wasn’t going crazy when I said her eyes went red during the castle incident, huh?” Toad nodded slowly. He then glanced at Jones, who lay nearly motionless. “That wretch won’t get away with this,” Jones growled, his eyes fixed on some distant point. “My amulet… She’s escaped with it once more.” “We’ve got bigger problems than one amulet,” Toadette scoffed. “Hundreds of kids are enslaved here, sir.” “I know her actions are abhorrent. But this amulet… You wouldn’t understand, lass.” “Other than the fact it’s some family thing, forgive me for failing to see the importance.” “The familial connection is only one factor of the equation.” He let out a guttural sigh. “The context with which she absconded with it is what truly keeps me up.” Toadette fell silent, waiting. “A decade and six years ago, Syrup and I were rivals, hunting our treasure but maintaining a level of respect for each other. Back when she understood the word. We pilfered, but we only killed those who were truly fit for combat. Then she approached me for my amulet; said it was the key to the Brine of Beginnings. I refused. I called her a child endangering herself.” He clenched his fist. “So she returned my respect with a storm of cannon fire. Ambushed my old ship. I watched sixty-three of my mates perish, and she cackled.” His voice dropped. “She snatched that amulet from my neck as I bled out. This isn’t just about a generational heirloom, lass. It’s about the sixty-three souls she still owes me. I will see her at the bottom of the ocean.” Toadette and Toad sat attentively, unable to look at one another. Minh listened from the other side, the horror of the past situation playing out in her mind. “If Syrup gets her hands on that elixir, there is no telling what strengths she may gain. What torment she will inflict on these stolen children.” Jones pushed himself upright, groaning as he leaned on the wall. “We must escape, mates.” “All due respect, you’re a shark,” Toad pointed out. “Can’t you chew through these bars?” “Do you think I’m so daft?” Jones made an attempt to chew. He let go after a moment. “Unfortunately impossible, lad.” “I was gonna say, it looks like they’re made of nanofibres with the way they’re built,” Minh said, running her hands along them. “Nanofibres?” Toad scoffed. “What do you know about…?” “Had to do a project on them in chemistry. Double the work, thanks to Stinky Soles over here,” she answered, gesturing to Toadette. “Let’s think… Acid would eat through it. Or we could use something electrical that’d disturb the bars enough.” “Good luck with that,” Toadette groaned. “They’ve got Stuffwell somewhere else.” Minh stamped her foot. “Dang it! Can anything just go right around here?” She took several deep breaths. Slowly they were overpowered by the humming of a machine. She turned to spot a floor scrubber machine coming by her cell. It made her raise a brow. The floor had already been cleaned hours earlier, so why was this robot returning? Then she spotted a smudge along the floor that it was desperately trying to wash out. A smile crept onto her face. “I’ve got a plan.” “Finally! About time it’s not me,” Toadette sighed. “Go on.” “Captain Jones, you and Toad be prepared to grab something. As for everyone else…” She looked at the bottoms of Penelope’s feet. They were black from so much pacing around the cramped cell. And when she glimpsed over at Jasmin, who’d been unwashed since being in her own former prison on the Sweet Stuff, she spotted soles even darker than Penelope’s. Maybe it’ll work without her. But that robot’s about to leave… No! “Jazz, get up, please.” When Jasmin didn’t budge, Minh tried again. “Please?” “No.” Minh’s eyes opened in shock. She could count on one hand the number of times Jasmin was so bluntly dismissive of her request. She got closer, gently resting a hand on Jasmin’s lashed back. “I know you’ve been through a lot. But we need your help to get out of here, okay? It’s the only way we get things back to normal.” Jasmin yawned, turning to her side. Suddenly she was upright, with two smaller hands pressing hard into her shoulders. “Do you wanna be able to go home, Jazz?” Penelope asked, her voice tight. “The sooner we stop being pirates, the better. Just move.” With a hiss, Jasmin retreated deeper into the corner. Her lips trembled, as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t. “Jazz…” Minh softened her tone a notch. “Do you remember the ship? That room?” Jasmin’s eyes narrowed. “If we stay here, they’re going to do that again and again to you. Do you understand me? It’s never gonna stop.” Jasmin growled. But this was the only semblance of eye contact she made. Gritting her teeth, she slowly rose to her sore feet and fell into Minh and Penelope’s grasp. Minh set her carefully on her stomach near the cell. “Girls, stick your feet through the bars. Make sure the bottoms are facing the ceiling.” “What exactly is she planning?” Jones asked Toad, who responded with a simple shrug. Toadette extended her dirty feet past the bars. “Whatever you’re doing, Minh, better actually be for escaping and not something weird.” “Call it a weird escape, Toadette.” Minh stood patiently, keeping a tight eye on the floor scrubber. One minute passed. Two minutes. Six minutes passed, and nothing had happened. Penelope flexed her toes repeatedly to make time feel like it was moving. By the eighth minute, seeing how far the scrubber had moved away, Minh’s fingers twitched. “What’s supposed to happen?” Penelope whined. “This floor’s hard, Miss Minh T.” “Just give it some time, please.” “If you’re so desperate to clean their feet, the pirates did gift us a sink,” Toad scoffed. “Then again, knowing you…” “You’re going to want to zip your lips right now.” Minh’s volume rose. “I’m not about to miss my chance to…” Her words were drowned out by the whir of the mechanisms. The machine’s humming intensified as it loomed closer. Penelope looked back and gasped. “We have to move.” “Don’t,” Minh said, her voice calm. “Hey, Mister Floor Scrubber, you missed a spot.” Penelope’s eyes widened. She instinctively tried to pull her legs in, only for Minh to hold them in place. As Penelope braced for the pain or intense tickling that the machine would give her, she heard it pause and begin to drift away. It lined up before the other cell, heading for Toadette’s damp and dusty feet. “Minh, this thing is gonna destroy my feet!” she screamed. “Hit it!” Minh yelled back. “Toad, Jones, hit it!” “I…” Toad groaned. “Sure!” He roared and threw a fist through the bars. His knuckles cracked hard against the metal, failing to leave even a dent. However, next to him, Jones had propelled his tailfin through the bars to slice the back-right corner of the scrubber. It sparked, a massive gash revealing the battery bay. Toadette retracted her feet just in time for them to not be run over. The machine made its way forward, targeting the soles of Penelope and Jasmin. “Bring your feet closer to the cell,” Minh ordered. “Closer, closer… Good!” Before the robot could clean their feet, she yanked them back in and stuck her hands through the bar. To her dismay, her reach was short. Her fingertips were just inches from grabbing a stick atop the automated scrubber. No, I won’t give up! With a squeal, she forced herself against the bars as much as possible, fitting enough of her thick arms through them to finally wrap her fingers around the stick. She pulled it far in one direction. One by one, the mechanisms of the machine quieted down. Then there was nothing but Minh’s panting. “Not done yet,” she sighed. Struggling against the bars, she pulled the damaged battery out of the device. It leaked a yellowish liquid, with a thin slash having gone through it. “Good job, Captain Jones,” Minh cheered. She rubbed the battery against the bars until she could finally spot the substance spreading onto them. Penelope watched with bated breath. Minh’s smile persisted, but her movements became more erratic. Now she was grunting, and her face began to harden. “So we’re still stuck here?” Toadette asked. “Why won’t you just melt the bars, you dumb brick?” Minh yelled at the top of her lungs. She thrusted the battery against her cell’s bars until a healthy stream of acid spewed out. An extra jolt of electricity zapped her and sent the acid spilling onto her toes. She scrambled to the sink and washed her feet, her guilt growing as she realised she’d dropped their only means of escape. “I am so…” “Whoa!” Penelope pointed. “Look!” Minh slowly turned her head, expecting a guard to have come in. Her jaw dropped. A toxic sizzle rose into the air. The nanofibre bars hissed and smoked where the acid touched, breaking apart strand by strand until they thinned to useless strings. She pushed her way through the small opening, only having to struggle with her cap’s size. Once her feet touched the other side, tears started to leave her face. “I… I did it.” Containing her relief, she grabbed the battery and spread its acid against more bars. “Careful not to let this touch you. It’s like lava.” “You clever little mushroom,” Jones snarled, his mouth curving into a smile. “The tactical genius that a crew needs to survive.” “And you thought you were just dead weight,” Toadette said. She pulled Minh in for a hug. “This is why I loaned all my homework to you and no one else.” “Thank you,” Minh blushed, but her relief vanished as her focus shifted to Jasmin. She took the girl’s cold, limp hand. “Vamos, Jazz. We’re moving.” “Now we’ve gotta escape this tower,” Toad said, entering the exit hall. “Too high to jump.” “I’m not scared to fight any mean guards,” Penelope growled. She ran further down the hall. “They’ll see what happens when they treat me like I’m—” “You’ll fight them with us, not alone,” Toadette said. “Sure, but only because you…” Penelope looked at Toadette. “You want me to…?” Toadette smiled and nodded. Penelope’s face twitched. She ran up and hugged Toadette, nestling her head in her chest. She let out a warm sigh. “Let’s fix this,” Toadette whispered, taking Penelope’s ponytail holder and putting her hair back up. Jones overlooked the windows in the hall. Based on the Sun’s position, he determined it was near seven o’clock. The sky warped into the colours of dusk. Toad joined him at the windows, taking in just how populated this city was with both Syrup’s pirates and the kidnapped children. “Our radar is on Syrup’s ship,” he said to Jones. “Or Wario’s ship, rather. How exactly are we gonna reach wherever they are?” “Based on the trail of the light when the amulet touched the Penelope child’s blood, I’d wager a guess to where they’re headed.” Jones adjusted his heavy coat. “We’ll need to commandeer a vessel. Syrup is unlikely to only possess one.” “Well that’s easier said than…” Toad squinted, looking out towards the northeast. “Someone else is coming here? That’s not Wario’s ship.” Jones locked onto the target. His smile grew as he recognised the waving flag against the orange sunlight. “About bloody time you showed up, you bastards!” *** The dark sand of Full Moon Island swallowed every step. Even the ocean’s waves faded the deeper the party trudged forward. Palms bent overhead, twitching with the cold breeze. At the head of the search, Captain Syrup gripped Jones’ bloodied amulet. Once a beacon that lighted the waves, it now burnt low under the Moon, its pulse quickening with every step forward. Each flicker was sharper than the last. “Place gives me the creeps, yo,” 18-Volt muttered, his massive frame hunched. “Quit whining,” Wario snorted, smacking a branch out his path. “You’re a giant! If anything’s lurking in there, you’ll stomp it dead.” “Look,” 13-Amp cut in, “the sooner she gets this magic youth stuff, the sooner we grab the star and bounce.” Syrup ignored them all. Her eyes were fixed on the trembling light in her hand. The dense path gave way to a jagged outcrop of black stone. There, between two slabs leaning together, was a slit in the rock barely wide enough for a child. “There you are,” Syrup purred. She forced herself to fit inside the tight passageway. Behind her, the Gaugau pried the stone wider. Inside, the tunnel angled down, its walls slick. The deeper they descended, the cooler the air became. And then the descent ended. The chamber was vast, the ceiling covered in shadows save for a single hole above, where moonlight poured into the grotto. In that pool of pale light sat the drink she sought: a pool of black water so still that it resembled obsidian, broken by only the rhythmic plink of liquid falling from a stalactite. 9-Volt stepped up beside Wario, his nose wrinkling. “Smells like burnt plastic…” “Get on with it, haggy,” Wario said, folding his arms. “Your magic juice is waiting.” Syrup took her time crossing to the pool. She knelt at the edge, studying the reflection that peered back: hair thinner with age, fine lines etching deeper around her eyes, the faint tremor in her jaw… All the years of battles worn into her skin… She murmured something, cupped her hands and plunged them into the brine. The liquid was frigid to the point of stinging her bones. It clung like honey. Without allowing herself to hesitate, she drank. The taste was heavy with minerals and bitterness, yet there was a lesser flavour so sweet it was almost nauseating. She swallowed. At first she stood motionless. Then her breath hitched. Her fingers spasmed, nails scraping stone as a tremor ran up her arms. Her shoulders jerked back as a ragged cry left her. “Captain!” her crew shouted, rushing forward. “Hold it, you idiots!” Wario barked, blocking their path with an arm. “Let it happen!” Syrup thrashed on the cavern floor, her body convulsing. Her crew watched in horrified silence as her skin tightened, stretching and reforming with a sound like leather being pulled over a tyre. Then came the pops and cracks—the crunch of her bones reshaping. Her red hair reached closer to her feet. The harsh lines of age around her eyes and mouth smoothed away. Her screams tapered off, replaced by deep gasps. Drenched in sweat, she pushed herself up. Her movements were clumsy. She looked at her hands, now unblemished. Her pirate attire hung loosely on a frame that shed at least twenty years. Finally she turned to face the others. She ran a tongue over her new, full lips. “Well?” she asked, her voice now sharp and high. “How do I look?” Wario stroked his moustache. “If you weren’t so despicable, I’d dare call you attractive.” “Even from a monster, a compliment is a compliment.” Syrup moved with a lightness that she hadn’t felt in years. She let out a laugh, skipping in a circle around the pool like an innocent child. Then her sword was in her hand, twirling. “And my abilities are intact! This is a dream come true!” “Speaking of dreams…” Wario stuck out his hand. “Come on. The star.” “A deal is a deal.” She pointed to one of her guards. “Bring it to him.” Wario’s grin widened as the green Ethereal Star appeared in his hand. The Volts exchanged triumphant high-fives. “Now,” Syrup purred. “We’ll head back to Kitchen Island once I’ve explored my new body properly, if you don’t mind.” She gave a look to Lily, wiggling her fingers. “You wanna play, Lily?” Lily’s face flickered before breaking into an eager smile. “Most certainly, captain.”  ---------- Author's Note: That Donkey Kong game was coming out when this story arc was in the middle of development. I had to try not to let Young Pauline’s design influence how I designed an aged-down Syrup. |
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