Super Princess Peach

Ch. 16, Pt. 1

A/N: I know: you guys are sick of "part 1" this and "part 2" that. But hey! Shorter chapters, more readers, right? Maybe?

When Peach woke up the next morning and looked out the bedroom window, the storm had cleared and the rain had stopped. However, the skies were still thick with storm clouds, making it look like night. 

As everyone began to rouse from their sleep, a toad started a fresh fire in the ground floor's fireplace and heated up the leftover pucker bud stew. Everyone sat in a large circle and sipped up a mouthful as the pot was passed around. After Peach ate her share, she said, "How did everyone sleep last night?" 

"Better than I have in days, princess," Toaday said from the other side of the circle. 

"Yeah, after sleepin' on the ground for the past couple of days," Toadland added, "those cots were heaven!" 

"Yeah," Toadum agreed. "In fact, if nobody's living in this place, we should make it into a secret base." 

A few toads, including Toader, Toadlee, and Toadonelly, glared at Toadum, and the poor toad looked away sheepishly. They were still a little hot about Toadum starting the forest fire that had consumed the Hoo's Wood. 

But Peach smiled at Toadum: she'd been thinking the same thing. "That's a good idea, Toadum," she said; the toad brightened. "What do you guys think? Should we make this place into our secret base?" 

There was silence all around the circle as the toads considered the thought.  

"I dunno," a toad piped up, sipping on some soup when he got the pot. The toad sitting beside him snatched the pot from him after he'd gotten his share. "I mean, that owl said that this was the haunted region of Vibe Island, right? How do we know that this shack isn't haunted?" 

"And how do we know that someone doesn't own this house?" Montoad asked. 

"Uh, look around," Toader said. "How could someone own this house? This house was practically buried in dust when we got here. I don't think anyone's been in this house for at least two generations." 

"That's true," Toaddette said. "This house is basically free for the taking." 

There were murmurs of agreement.  

"But what if this house is haunted?" the first toad asked again. "Like I said, we're in the haunted region." 

"Well, I haven't seen any ghosts yet," Peach pointed out. "If we do, we'll take of it when the problem arises. But haunted or not, we need a place to stay." She gazed around the circle. "I'm sure we all know that we probably won't be leaving Vibe Island for a little while. And I don't think that any of you want to be skulking around in the woods" - she blushed - "or so to speak during our stay. We need somewhere where we can fortify, right?" 

The circle of toads began nodding. 

"So are we all agreed?" Peach asked.  

Everyone nodded again. 

"Good." She beamed. "We'll get started after we finish eating."

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After everyone had eaten their share, they immediately went to work.  

Some of the blankets from the bedrooms were cut up into several washcloths that were used to scrub away the last of the dust on the first and second floors and to buff the cabinets and the mantle of the fireplace on the first floor. Peach and Toaddette tackled the bathrooms again, scrubbing away the last of the grime and slime.