Lakilulu floated back over to her wife carrying two Tasty Tonics, one for her, and another also for her. Koopie Koo couldn’t drink on account of her pregnancy, of course. So Lakilulu was taking upon her the heavy burden of drinking for two.
She set the drinks on the table and Koopie Koo shook her head in feigned disapproval. “You’re really making me jealous...”
“It’s a celebration! You have to drink,” said Lakilulu. “We won.”
“I don’t know if this counts as ‘winning,’ Lulu...”
The bartender stepped out from behind the bar and up to the projector screen. “Okay, hello everyone,” he said. “Welcome to Club 64. Everyone knows why we’re here today, and that’s to celebrate the anniversary of the end of the war. But more importantly... We’ve finally found the rough cut of Zip Toad’s last movie!”
The entire bar went into a cheer, especially Koopie Koo, whose interest in obscure movies was unparalleled.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
“This movie was shot several years ago, during the midst of the Mushroom Kingdom Coup, but it was thought to have been destroyed after Zip Toad abandoned the project and fled to Down Under Land. But thanks to some very helpful, very anonymous sources--” the bartender winked in the direction of the Master Poet--”we’ve finally obtained a copy. One scene was shot in this bar, and everyone will get a free round on the house once we get to that point in the film. Are you all ready for... Toad of a Nation?”
Another cheer.
The bartender flipped on the projector and the movie started to play, the very first scene showing a nearly-naked Zip Toad making out with a lady Toad that he was also undressing.
The movie was absolutely terrible, one of the worst things anyone in the bar had ever seen, an utterly-baffling propaganda project that had no self-awareness and at least fifteen scenes where Zip Toad took his shirt off.
It was also one of the funniest movies of all time. An instant classic.
And in everything of the violence against the Koopas in the former Mushroom Kingdom, the uproar between species that escalated into what was nearly a full-fledged civil war, and the embers of tension that still burned between them to this day... Toad of a Nation was probably the best healing that Toad Town had ever gotten.