FSE

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Another day in the Mushroom Kingdom, as Roy MacGregor went down to check on the Kennidon household as usual. It had been a rather fussy thing to organise a good time for him to go down and check on James' garden when all three of them had things to attend, but eventually they found the right day that worked for all of them, after a good week of pondering. A week that had left Roy utterly besotted with questions concerning Koopin's story since their last talk of which he felt he was taking more than his fair share of Koopin's time. So he decided today he would ask James instead who seemed to be on the mend and would at least appreciate some company. He didn't get very far, using his spare key the Kennidons gave him to enter the house when he felt something thick and blunt hook against his throat.

"State your business."

Roy had never had a hammer to his throat before. Knives usually, bladed instruments certainly but never a hardware tool. It was however something he did not want to experience for the way the claw hooked at his larynx almost garrotting him.

"Who are you?"

"Ahm...Roy MacGregor...Koopin's husband's friend."

"...ah. My apologies."

The hammer unhooked itself from Roy as he stepped hastily away to turn towards the intruder. It was a large hammer brother the height of him wearing a soft teal polo shirt and black shorts around his thick strapping bulk, rippling barrel chest wrapped in a heavy shell. The light in Roy's head clicked with surprise as he smirked.

"Mister fifty-seven...we meet at last."

"Hm. Koopin has told you about me I see."

"Somewhut. Actually he wuz in thuh middle of telling me his story about whut happened ten or eleven years back so ah dunno everythin' just yet. You know he's not here righ'?"

"I know, he's away with Charlie and his parents whilst James is at a hospital visit. Why are you here?"

"Ah came to water FG's garden."

"Eff-gee?"

"James, that's mah nickname for him, ahm sure fifty-seven ain't your real name."

"For all intents and purposes it is," said 57 cryptically. "I did not know James hired a gardener."

"Ahm just his friend...since you're Koopin's friend, let's start over. Hi, I'm Roy."

Roy offered his hand to shake, which the agent did amicably so with respect.

"I'm fifty-seven. Nice to meet you."

"You wan' sumthin' to drink? Koopin won't mind if ah make sumthin'."

"No thank you."

"So why are you here?"

"We have increased security at the castle, protocols have changed so I thought to keep an eye on Koopin just in case. If not his belongings."

"Does he know you're here?"

"No, nobody does. And nobody will, you understand?"

"Perfectly. Uh, lemme just go check on FG's garden, ahll be righ' back."

He couldn't gauge 57's demeanour well, seeing his expression almost never change from a stoic blank slate. Roy had seen the same expression knights and soldiers, but never in this kingdom until now which made the hulking brother stand out especially. Roy could feel his unblinking stare behind him as he walked out into the garden, carefully setting up James' tools and looking over the schedule he had written down for which plants to care for today. He only needed to micromanage them for an hour at least with occasional checks on them every so often as he silted the soil, nourished each vegetable accordingly and add some fertiliser tenderly. The only problem he had was at one point noticing some of the soil had turned somewhat acidic, forcing him to bring out calcitic limestone to counter against it.

"The only kinda lime he'd ever touch, heheheheh...hoo, alright ahm done."

He put his work boots away and hung up the overalls to sit back inside, seeing 57 had made himself a small cup of tea and was currently seated at the sofa. Roy decided to do the same, grabbing a spare bottle of orange juice and sat himself next to the agent.

"Soooo how's your life been?"

"Doing well. And yours?"

"Pretty great! Doin' a lot better than when ah first arrived here."

"Are you enjoying our fair world?"

"Absolutely. Man everybody's so nice here, nobody got any huge problems, no deep world crises, no strife."

"Hmhmhm, with the exception of Rogueport."

"Ehhh...true. Speaking of, ah wuz curious about that whole incident with Charlie...would you mind if ah asked you about it?"

"I believe Koopin and mister Bobunov have told you in great detail about the incident involving Charlie."

"Well...yeah, part of it. But ah dunno anything that happened after whut went down up at Nohboo-Nahga's tower."

"Ahh. Well, considering you have signed the same secrets act as both James and Koopin, I see no reason you should not know. Apart from the fact you have no involvement whatsoever."

"Neither does James, but Koopin told him."

"...true," murmured 57. "I just remembered now actually, you were involved in an incident a few months ago weren't you?"

"Heh, yeah that thing," said Roy nonchalant.

"That was very impressive, especially for one so new to our ways of existence. Your character's not in question then."

"So...can ah ask whut happened with Charlie?"

"Well you know Charlie recovered."

"Yeah but who's this spirit?! Whut's he got against Charlie, ah mean come on this is drivin' me nuts ah just gotta know!"

"You realise in your profession that there are certain rules concerning confidentiality."

"Ah know that, you think ah wanna mess with your king?! That guy is HUGE, but Koopin an' FG along with Shybert have told me parts of thuh story. Ah mean ah could wait, sure, but there ain't no reason fer you not to tell me."

"...I know Koopin trusts you. Surprisingly so, even if you are his husband's friend from another universe."

"That don't weird you out at all? About me an' him?"

"No, not especially. I've encountered worse things, much more hostile certainly."

"Sooo... mind tellin' me about it? We got nuthin' else to do, ah ain't leavin' until it gets dark."

"If you insist. But only because you're Koopin's friend, and because you of all people will understand the severity of breaking the official secrets act, that understood?"

"Understood, sir."

Cricking his neck slightly after sipping his cup of tea, the hammer brother gently stroked his chin as he began recalling the events concerning Charlie. It was perhaps his most disturbing venture yet in all his years as a member of the KIB, and most certainly the one case he would never forget.

---

The Rising Fallen Star

Chapter 6: Fifty-Seven

Koopin took a few hours to calm down after discovering Charlie, his mind in a state of both fury and upset as he waited once again for any results. He sat in Professor Gadd's bedroom where he was told to stay put, whilst the spectral scientist's laboratory was being commandeered by the KIB to examine every potential trace of the spirit's incurring wrath upon its new host. Memories of the battle came fleeting through Koopin's head like wounded screams, seeing Charlie twist and contort into monstrous visions that both frightened and offended him. It was an outrage, an insult to think someone would dare mangle his beloved chomp in some sick attempt to taint his innocence. He felt anger. Hatred. The part of him that had been learning self-restraint was slowly losing against greater reasons for him to act out, and it wasn't until he heard the door knock that he managed to pull himself from the deepening pool of rage that started to drown his thoughts.

"Koopin?"

The voice of 57 came firmly as he walked into the room, carefully closing the door behind him. Koopin didn't even look up at him, staring towards his feet trying to tear the earth in half with smouldering wrath.

"......what is it?"

"I came to check on you."

"......I'm fine."

"Are you?"

"...I don't want to get upset at you."

"Why?"

"......I don't know."

"You have every right to be angry, but we must keep a clear head until we fully understand what this spirit wants."

"What it wants? What...IT wants?"

Koopin shoved himself off the bed as he balled his fists.

"What it wants doesn't MATTER, not after what it did."

"I understand you're upset-"

"NO YOU LISTEN! That THING did something to Charlie, the one beating heart I still had that kept me from living in an empty house, DO YOU KNOW HOW THAT FEELS?! WATCHING SOMEONE YOU LOVE, BEING TAKEN OVER BY SOMETHING TWISTED, LIKE IT'S INFECTING HIM!?"

"No I do not."

"WELL GUESS WHAT! I KNOW, I KNOW IT TWICE! NOBODY SHOULD HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS, NOT EVEN MY WORST ENEMY! IN FACT, I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A WORST ENEMY UNTIL ALL THIS HAPPENED BUT NOW I DO, AND I'M LOSING BOTH OF THE TWO PEOPLE I ONCE SHARED MY HOME WITH, TO DEMONS! _DO YOU THINK THAT'S FAIR!? DO YOU!? _"

Heaving with rancid breaths, Koopin shuddered with fury as 57 gently pulled him into a deep embrace. It startled Koopin who at first resisted with struggling effort until the agent said:

"Just let it out. I won't let go until you let everything out. Go on, you can't hurt me...no one else will hear you but me Koopin."

That was all Koopin needed. The calm competent voice of 57 brought him to breaking point as he screamed furiously into the front of his shell. First came roars and screeches of anger, burning a hole through the hammer brother's stomach as he simply hugged Koopin close. It lasted a full minute hearing nothing but muffled shrieks until then came the longing tears as Koopin felt his knees become weak. But he stayed firm on his legs thanks to the agent's hold on him as he howled and wailed upon his suit, tears moistening into the fabric and staining its dark lining as he cried relentlessly until finally his knees gave out, falling before his appointed bodyguard. He spent the next six minutes sobbing relentlessly, beating his fists into the agent's body with dull thumping frustration. He never said a word until Koopin finally stopped, bleak and exhausted as he went down onto the floor with quiet whimpering. 57 offered his hand once Koopin became silent.

"Come on. Up you get."

He took his hand gratefully and stepped back on his feet, snivelling with eyes burning raw as he struggled to look up at the hammer brother.

"We will get Charlie back. I promise you that. He's here with us, we just need to find out how to exorcise this beast, and trust me that is something we are well experienced with. We will not give up and neither should you."

"I-i-i don't...d-don't want to."

"You don't want to give up?"

"I CAN'T give up. I've already been waiting for James to come back and it's been three stupid years already, how could I give up?! I want to make this thing pay for what it did."

"I assure you that we shall give this spirit what it deserves but for now I need you to keep a clear mind and vent through your music like always."

"I...I know. I know it just...it hurts. It just h-hurts so much."

"I'm sorry. I'm here if you ever want to vent, alright Koopin?"

"O-okay...thanks...sh-should I call you fifty-seven cuz it's really weird calling you that."

"Hmhmhm...suppose it is. How about Kieran? That's the identity I'm using for your upcoming company outing."

"W-wha-huh?"

"I have to keep you monitored, even during such events."

"Are you serious?!"

57 raised an eyebrow not even dignifying that with a response. Soon Koopin felt calm enough to leave the room and head over to the lab to see what they were up to. Charlie was now contained in a spectral stasis field, resembling a glass cylinder at least 10 feet high as various sounds emanated from the safety panels keeping it in check. The professor was there with Kammy, Boona and several other KIB agents keeping monitored checks on their own equipment. The boo slowly hovered towards Koopin with apologetic grin.

"Heeeeeey, how are you...doing?"

"Bearing," he replied, "is...Shellina alright?"

"She'll recover soon," said Kammy promptly, "if she were but a run-of-the-mill mage she would perhaps not be so fortunate. I must admit I am impressed, all of you that is, even though the other team we had did not perform due to the constant shifting nature of that old strange tower."

"We did our best," said 57, "I am just thankful we managed to recover Charlie."

"I agree. Now, Gadd it's time to earn your keep, give me the full report of our dear little subject."

"Right then," said the professor courteously. "Gather round everyone."

Slowly the people circled around Charlie's containment field as Professor Gadd composed his thoughts.

"Charlie is currently possessed by an entity. After Team Donut managed to neutralise it at the tower, the spirit went deep into Charlie's essence to recover. For now we have managed to contain it as you can see here by our Spectral Suppression Unit, which allows us to essentially imprison a spirit."

"Can it possibly escape?" asked Koopin.

"Nope, infrasonic sound frequencies are being constantly transmitted into the suppression unit to keep our subject at this state."

"What are we going to do? Are you gonna destroy it, trap it, banish it?"

"We are planning to exorcise it from Charlie, it is the only way we can be certain of freeing your chomp without any damage done to his spiritual form. If we tried to destroy it by conventional means, Charlie might suffer greatly and I know you clearly would not want that. I would not want it either."

"So, how do we do this?"

"The spectral readings I've gathered from our research have shown me that this entity is suffering greatly. An immense sorrow is culminating inside of Charlie that is not his own, and it is up to us to find the root of it."

"Basically," added Boona, "a spirit that remains trapped in this world is usually one that's got unfinished business, some kinda duty or mission that is so rooted deep in their last moments that they HAVE to finish it. We have to find out what it is, and put this spirit at rest."

"Do we even know who it is?" asked 57.

"Not yet," replied Kammy Koopa. "We have a clue however in the form of a piece of paper, something that was left behind at the scene of the initial haunting of Charlie in this very room. We've analysed it to be a train ticket from the vicinity of Rogueport."

"We have a name?"

"No, unfortunately the ink has been washed away so we cannot tell who, what or when this ticket was published. The style however denotes that it's someone within the last fifteen years."

"But if that was what this spirit left behind then it obviously was important. Perhaps a meeting that they missed."

"What are we gonna do?" inquired Koopin.

"We'll need to infiltrate Rogueport and find any possible clues. Unfortunately if all we have is one train ticket then it won't be easy, they won't have a register of passengers especially if this entity never boarded."

"Alright then," said Kammy promptly, "that's our mission, to find out the true identity of this thing by any means possible. Until then we remain clandestine, that involves you especially Koopin."

"Got it," said Kennidon.

"So how long did that take?" asked Roy.

"Three months," replied the agent, "though not through our own merit, admittedly. We were missing something that could help, and the KIB were finding it difficult to penetrate into Rogueport's seedy underbelly since it was entirely run by D-Mob."

"Who's this D-Mob anyway?"

"A gangster and wannabe-musician who took over half the city. There's a reason for this, it came from a strange power vacuum when several of the original smaller gangs were broken up and disappeared in the past few years. D-Mob came and picked up the remnants slowly forming his own empire out of them."

"Whut made it so hard?"

"Suits make them nervous. That and they had guards everyplace, we had to monitor the city a good while before we found absolutely nothing about our mysterious entity. We had no name, no presence, not even a beginning to start with. Surprisingly, it wasn't until the company outing that I attended with Koopin that we found a potential lead."

"Alright," started Koopin, "that's Kevin, that's Paul, that's Booris, that's Sher T and that's Lynn T."

"Does it ever bother you?" asked Koopin.

"What does?" replied 57.

"Doing all this stuff?"

"If it bothered me then I wouldn't be working this line of work Koopin."

"How did you start all this?"

"Being good at my job for twenty-five years. I can't say anything more than that."

"Jeez...alright then, I uh...you want me to introduce you to people?"

"I already know all of them. I did research on your office to better blend in through your company's network."

"Wait...isn't that kind of illegal?"

"Only if I do something with that information, or repeat it to other sources, which I won't to respect their privacy. It's just standard procedure."

"I uh...see, well alright, let's go...mingle then?"

"Yes."

Koopin strode out into the midst of the jungle clearing where the main company outing was with 57 alongside him in a very immodest shirt that screamed sky blue, with goonies printed above small islands and palm trees drooping in the tropical sun. It happened once every year, but every fourth year was a much grander meet of various teams from most branches across the world, usually to see how other managements fared and how good their teamwork was. Koopin had dressed down with swimming trunks and an orange shirt beneath his shell, not that anyone really noticed as the congregation of various office workers all split off into groups at different tables outside beneath the clear balmy sun and lush warm jungles surrounding them. The resort was owned by yoshis who were also the natives of the island as a rainbow of servants and staff mingled through the groups offering them drinks and snacks. Tables dotted around the smooth grassy region with everyone in high spirits. Almost everyone as conversations flowed back and forth.

"So how's the island turnout going?"

"Oh it's been fantastic like always, monsoon season notwithstanding."

"You see those guys from Port Prisma, that's a pretty rich place they got."

"Yeah the branch expanded real quick, I heard we even got a paintball tournament sponsorship."

"Paintball?! Wow, I mean it's not Roshambo but that's still good advertising."

"Yeah we're expecting at least twenty-percent down on market costs from that alone it's gonna be great."

"Oh congrats on being an auntie by the way."

"Oh thank youuu, it's been wonderful with the new nephew, my sister's been such a trooper."

"Koopin!"

He heard Shybert come frantically waddling out of the mixed crowd towards him.

"W-woah hey Shybert what's up?"

"I...n-nothing, just wanted to say hello, I didn't see you get off the boat."

"I was just helping out Kieran with his luggage."

"Oh?"

"Hey," said 57 shaking hands, "name's Kieran I'm from the Rogueport office. Nice to meet you."

"OH, nice to meet you!" said Shybert warmly shaking hands with him. "Shybert Bobunov, hwoh. I don't remember hearing anyone coming from that branch."

"Really? I sent out the request six months ago, once we had everything stable, mister Kennidon even talked me through it."

"OH, y-yeah I did!" said Koopin sharply. "When I went up to the office I gave them my number just in case, we haven't got the fax machines in see."

"No fax machines?!" squawked Bobunov. "What about phones?!"

"We get a few land lines," said 'Kieran', "but mostly we're just working on old junk we find and just uh piece together, you know, pretty hodgepodge. Honestly the only place with any modern tech is gonna be the Pianta Parlour, we're not really in a position financially to increase our communications budget."

"So what is your budget on then?"

"Mostly maintenance, staff upkeep, overhead."

"I almost thought you were going to say paying rates to the local mob, hehehoh!"

"Hah, naaah nah nobody wants to deal with us, we're a small quiet branch, we got no power and nothing of any worth. That's basically what saves us from the bigger things, just keep your head down and such."

"Oh, well I understand then I mean, there is a reason that property was bought up cheap hehoh."

"Right. Well I mean I hope I don't stand out in this crowd of folk."

"Oh I'm sure you won't, go out and mingle, no need to be stuck with just the two of us, hehehoh! In fact, I just saw some people over there from Port Prisma which is a VERY fascinating far corner of the world we just set ourselves a branch in, if you wanted some advice."

"Hah, alright that sounds great, so what do you do?"

"I'm the supervisor in Toad Town's administration. And what's your position if I may ask?"

"Resource Manager, I'm basically the one that's going out getting supplies for everything to work. Honestly I don't know why a TGA branch in Rogueport would work but, a job's a job."

"Then why did you go to work there?"

"They were hiring. It's hard to find good jobs that are clean...heh."

"Hehehoh...v-very true, um, I need to ask Koopin something if that's alright."

"Alright then. I'm just gonna grab a drink and I'll be back, you two have fun."

The hulking hammer brother wandered off towards the drinks whilst the supervisor flapped his arms nervously up towards Koopin.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Th-th-that ruddy TRAITOR is here, hw-hwoh!"

"Wha-who?"

"Yorick! He's only stonewalled me without even acknowledging my existence, I tried to say hello to keep things civil and he COMPLETELY ignores me!"

"You sure he heard you?"

"Yes!"

"Alright pretend I'm Yorick, shout out to me in the same voice you called to him from the same distance."

Koopin turned round and waited for Shybert to call out after he walked a certain distance. He heard him loud and clear even from several feet away amongst the business folk before they walked back to each other.

"Yeah I definitely heard you, WOW that is really rude."

"What is WRONG with him hwoh?! I have a ruddy good mind to...to just PUSH him and make him see he can't just keep avoiding me like some ex-boyfriend!"

"Yeaaaah it's kinda weird and also like I said really rude. I don't think you should start anything, there's people around here that don't know what's going on between you two and you're not gonna look good for being the one to cause a scene,"

"I-i-i don't want to make a scene, I have a reputation, I got sweet cred!"

"You don't have any street cred."

"Not STREET cred, sweet cred from the office suits!"

"That's not even a thing!"

"Yes it is, I'm well respected up in the world of office management I think you'll find!"

"Well cred or not, he's not going to start anything so it really is up to you."

"You're...you're right...it's just that...u-um-"

"Let me guess...you wanted me to talk to him?"

"Well..."

He struggled to look at him as he bowed his head with shame. Koopin simply crossed his arms and shook his head.

"No."

"Hw-hwhat?"

"I'm not going to talk to him for you Shybert. I think we should just let it be. He's a coward yes, but he's out of your life now and you're going to make something of yourself without him."

"Y-you're right...sorry it was stupid of me to even ask, it's not even my problem anymore."

"Good. Hey let's go over and talk to the rest of the team, take your mind off him. He's gone."

"A-alright then. Are you going to the Rogueport Jam coming up soon?"

"Naaaah I dunno."

"Oh...is...everything alright?"

"Just the usual, sorry I've just been really frustrated with a lot of problems lately."

"Alright then. Might help take your mind off!"

"Noooo it's fine, thanks for the offer, you go have fun I'm sure you'll like it."

"W-well...alright then."

Gently guiding the grumbling supervisor over towards the rest of his group, Koopin heard the sounds of disapproval from a story being told by Booris, his yellow fangs glistening towards Sher T., Paul and Lynn T., whilst Kevin had his red-shelled back towards them eating sandwiches a few feet away.

"-and he just screwed up their waltz with a bad two-step because he wanted to look flashy, and they end up getting voted out!"

"That is awful," said Sher T., "what an arrogant jerk."

"I know right?! Totally ruined everything for him and his partner, you never EVER do stuff that you never rehearsed."

"I agree, you always plan stuff with your partners before doing anything. In any business basically. Oh hey Koopin."

"Hey," replied Kennidon, "what's up?"

"We were just talking about, did you see Star Dancers last night?"

"Oh, no I don't watch that, my mom does though."

"Basically," added Booris, "this really good couple totally botched it cuz they tried to be fancy on the fly. Never works, this guy did a wrong move twisting his two-step, caused both him and his partner to fall flat out on their butts"

"Wow, sounds pretty bad."

"I quite liked the Lakimers," said Shybert, "they got a a real nice variety especially when they had to do breakdancing."

"Oh yeah that was SICK!" Lynn T. cried out. "Wow I would NEVER have expected those two old-timers to be breaking out the moves."

"Yes they were surprisingly limber for their age hwohoh, did anyone catch what song they used, quite a classic that one!"

"Atomic Boo?"

"YES that was it, what a good artist he was."

"I didn't know you liked him!" replied Booris. "Dude I got like all his albums!"

"HWOW really?! Do you possibly have 'Don't, Says The Mouse?"

"Oh yeah totally, you wanna borrow it?"

"Oh YES please, if that's quite alright with you!"

"Cool I'll bring it round next time we're at work!"

Koopin smiled gently extricating himself from the group as Paul did the same, feeling not involved at all in their topics as he hopped his way towards Mushkin the receptionist near the punch bowl table lined with plastic cups. The purple-headed plant did her best to ignore him however by pretending to call someone as Paul casually leaned himself against it waiting for her to finish whilst slurping from the punch bowl's ladle. Koopin however saw Kevin on his own and gently tapped him on the shoulder.

Hi-there!

Oh, hey, how's-it-going?

Not-bad. You-okay?

Same. Mushkin's-gonna-have-the-world's-longest-phone-call-just-to-avoid-talking-to-Paul.

I-noticed. He's-kind-of-a-jerk.

He's-a-disgusting-pig, I'm-glad-Mushkin's-got-taste, she-deserves-someone-better.

Wow. Something-wrong? You-seem-bitter-today.

Sorry, I'm-having-some-personal-problems-at-the-moment, which-is-not-helped-by-the-dirtbag-in-the-cheap-pot.

I'm-not-going-to-disagree-but-come-on-we're-on-an-outing, the-point-of-this-is-to-build-up-a-team-relationship.

When-he-stops-trying-to-do-knock-knock-jokes-about-me, then-I'll-build-a-relationship.

Okay, I-get-that-Kevin. Nobody-likes-him-except-Booris-and-he-barely-gets-involved-with-us-anyway, but-that-doesn't-mean-you-should-be-isolating-yourself.

Koopin-nobody-else-BUT-you-speaks-to-me. You-know-what-Paul-did-when-I-DID-tell-him-to-stop? He-got-up-off-his-chair, for-once, just-to-get-in-my-face-about-it-when-he-KNOWS-I-can't-read-his-stupid-fat-lips! I-don't-care-about-this-language-barrier-but-please-don't-pretend-it's-anything-else-but-that!

Okay. I'm-sorry.

Kevin sat himself into the grass, leaning his back against the table as Koopin sat down with him. It was only a few minutes after that he heard the koopa breathe rather heavily into his curled fists, shaking with fury as if about to scream before slowly retracting his body back inside his shell, marked with two brackets curving towards the left. He dared not disturb him, despite the sound of a fiercely restrained weeping that trembled from inside as Koopin gave him a few minutes to calm down before gently knocking on his shell. When he brought his body back out, he asked:

You-wanna-talk?

No, it's-fine. Sorry, you-don't-need-this.

Hey, I'm-here-if-you-want-to-talk, anytime, anyplace. I-got-your-back.

Thanks. I'll-be-a-lot-better-by-the-time-we-get-back-to-office, things-will-look-up-by-then.

I-sure-hope-so. SO, got-any-new-music-to-recommend?

Uh...Shybert-let-me-borrow-his-jungle-bass-album. Super-sick, better-than-Koopa-Bloopa.

Wow-really? Why's-that?

Better-tech, can't-hear-a-lot-of-bass-on-Bloopa's-stuff.

Who-made-this-album? Sounds-cool!

Goomba-that-I-keep-forgetting-the-name-of-lemme-think......G-O-O-M-B...E-D-E-no-no-that-okay, I-got-two-names-in-my-head-and-I-really-cannot-remember-which-is-which.

I'll-ask-Shybert-hang-on.

It took only a few minutes for Koopin to come back whilst Kevin stared off towards the sun. The gentlest murmur trembled through the earth occasionally as the wind softly picked up, giving a nice calm breeze to take off the heat from the island. Soon Koopin came back and replied:

G-O-O-M-B-A-S-S-A-N-O-V-A.

THAT-was-it-thanks! Kept-thinking-it-was-G-O-O-M-B-E-N-E-D-E-T-T-A-for-some-reason.

Wait, who?

I-don't-remember, it-sounds-familiar-but-I-got-no-idea-where-from.

Ahhh-never-mind-then. Hey-I-need-to-ask-Shybert-something-again-be-right-back.

Alright.

Again Koopin went back to Shybert who was currently getting into a debate with Booris and Lynn T. about the concept of future funk as he asked:

"Shybert, sorry to bother you again."

"Y-yes, hwoh!?"

"...do you know the name Goombenedetta at all?"

"Hmm it does ring a bell...why?"

"It's kinda bothering me and Kevin we can't remember where it was from."

"Hwell, let's see, that waaaaaas...the lady that used to be the tour guide for the Bob-omb Fortress until she left us."

"Wait, really?"

"Oh yes she was your predecessor. Let's see I think it was about ten years ago she left, quite rather sudden actually!"

"She left for Rogueport didn't she?" added Sher T. off-hand.

"What really?"

"Yeah that's what I heard, back then I wasn't even in admin, just a mail clerk but I remember that name, she left to Rogueport cuz I had to forward her mailing address when she left."

"You remember what it was?"

The last voice came from "Kieran" who now stood behind the red-spotted toad as he looked up back at him.

"Uhhh...n-no, why?"

"Oh, just I'm from Rogueport's branch so would be nice if we had a veteran on board. Hi i'm Kieran Konnolly, TGA."

"Uhhh Sher T., likewise. No sorry I can't remember her address exactly."

"Alright then. Sorry can I borrow Koopin for a few minutes, I got something to ask about our transferring protocols."

"OH, c-can I help?" asked Shybert.

"Nah it's fine, Koopin understands what we can and can't do at our office, won't be long."

"Hwell, alright then, now to say future funk is a competitive genre is quite frankly ludicrous and I can tell you why-"

Gently pulling him away from the absorbing electronic debate, the hammer brother took Koopin towards the trees until they were fully out of view.

"What was that name you asked your co-workers?"

"Goombenedetta...why?"

"That entity...it was calling out the phrase 'Beneh detta'. I wasn't sure what it meant but what if it's a name?"

"That can't be...th-th-that would just be-"

"A coincidence? Nothing is a coincidence in my line of work Koopin."

"B-but, that-"

"Think about it. Our entity comes from Rogueport, we have a possible lead."

"So what are you gonna do?"

"I'm going to try and find if this Goombenedetta still lives there. Or at least someone named Benedetta, it never occurred to us that it could be a name, that opens up a new line of inquiry."

"Alright...I sure hope something comes of it, that way we get all this done with."

"Agreed. Now, let's relax with some drinks while we're here, might as well make it last."

"...can you do me a favour though?"

"What?"

"You see that one yoshi over there wearing the black tie?"

"Ahh huh?"

"And that piranha plant over there, the green one that's kinda big round the stalk?"

"Yeeees?"

"Could you...possibly humiliate them and make it look like an accident?"

"......I'm not supposed to use my skills for frivolous means."

"Just the one time, that's it. I promise."

57 looked down at him with a slight disapproval despite Koopin putting on the most innocent cherub-like expression possible. He was very good at it, simpering sweetly with the thickest chubby cheeks he could muster that they almost dimpled as the agent made a move towards Yorick. Koopin casually eased himself over to where Shybert was still talking away with Booris, Sher T. and Lynn T. who asked:

"So any of you guys watch Spy Guys?"

"I'm not big on spy stuff," said Booris, "too quiet and slow, me an' Paul always watch the big action or horror movies."

"There's a surprise, how did you two meet anyway?"

"We were in boarding school together. I stole stuff from the vending machines, we shared our stuff, we were into the same movies too. His parents hated me."

"What about your parents?"

"My parents live in Decalburg, I got sent over cuz I had a lotta problems as a kid and needed some straightening out."

"Fighter were you?" asked Koopin.

"Ehhhh petty stuff. Stealing, vandalism...Paul was kinda weird, he didn't get sent there as punishment, more like his parents thought he was 'intellectually bored'."

"Seriously? Paul?"

"Yeah I never seen him bein' smart with anything so I dunno what their deal is-"

"A-AUUUUUGH!"

The sound ululating from the crowd of business-goers made everyone's head turn towards a rather flustered yoshi with pale blue skin, frantically stumbling his way through the clearing with furious drunken gait. His mouth was red around the lips with his tongue almost positively throbbing with a venomous sting. People dodged desperately as he lunged and staggered amidst wide-eyed visitors as he gasped and wheezed.

"WATER! WAAAATER!"

His senses were disoriented badly, causing him to barge straight into people as he knocked down group after group heading towards the punch bowl. Kieran was there trying to get a drink as he waited for the right moment, dodging awkwardly so that his foot tripped the yoshi just right into Paul's direction. The piranha plant panicked and turned with biting force down upon Yorick's snout by instinct, causing even more distress as the two waltzed a painful dance. The plant was swinging his pot around like a flail with the yoshi spinning in circles before grabbing at the bowl with clumsy fingers. His hands slapped down as the punch suddenly tipped, showering both of them in rich purple fruit juice before Yorick smacked his head against the table and fell down with Paul against him. A few gasps and snickering mutters came filtering from the audience, including Shybert who tried to keep his composure as best as possible watching Yorick desperately lap up the punch next to a near-concussed Paul that Booris immediately rushed over to.

"Looks like karma paid him back," murmured Koopin to Shybert.

"Y-y-yes, heh....hhhehehohoh...n-no, no I shouldn't, th-that would be...hhhohohohohoho-"

"I won't tell anyone if you don't."

"Tha-...h-h-h-hahahoh...d-deal, scuse me I should probably excuse myself."

With the hugest beaming grin, at least emotionally, Shybert watched amidst the gathering crowd wanting to burn the scene into his memory, whilst Koopin grinned towards 57 who shrugged nonchalantly.

Koopin soon began to set up plans for infiltrating Rogueport. In the past few years, BandKoop had been setting up competitions in order to showcase and boost support for new musicians, sponsored partially by various music companies in turn. Koopa-Bloopa had been taking part in several of them over the course of two years, and while he had only ever scored the top rank only once, he always came back for more with a thirst for conflict upon the battlegrounds of sound and vision. D-Mob would be headlining this year's event at Rogueport, in order to not only boost his recognition and sell more albums, but to also headhunt for any new blood that could join his crew if they were skilled enough on the beats. "Kieran" had his own disguise, employed essentially as a groupie to infiltrate the venue itself. It would be risky, but Koopin felt more uncomfortable about trying to snoop around with his real face rather than the DJ that already stood out, even if 57 had done most of the snooping by the time they were ready to ship out as they sat down near the docks at a cafe waiting for their boat.

"Goombenedetta Goombernoulli," said the agent. "Immigrated to Rogueport the same year she left the TGA and currently lives at three-six-one Rue Batard."

"Wow, took you a month to find that out?"

"Rogueport has terrible administration, couldn't even bother to put their stuff into alphabetical. But, we have her, now all we need is some evidence of this spirit's existence."

"Hopefully she has something. You got any news on Shellina?"

"Still recovering. She used up a lot of her magic just to keep herself alive."

"I really hope she feels okay soon. I don't want her dad to get mad and start haunting me."

"I'm well-versed in paranormal defences, I'll keep you safe."

"Heheh, heh...you're really sweet you know?"

He smiled up at the KIB agent who simply nodded back with a gentle grin.

"I mean all the things you've done for me, keeping me safe and, supporting me through all of this. I know it's your job but...I just feel like you've gone beyond what you should and I'm really...grateful to you for that."

"I only would do that for you. That's our secret."

"Wh-wh-what?"

"In my occupation I normally keep a conserved distance from my targets but you are an exception."

"Why is that?"

"Because you are very important to me."

He laid a hand upon the younger koopa's.

"That's all you need to know, Koopin."

A sudden blush came upon Koopin's face with gasping shock. He nervously gulped and carefully patted 57's hand politely.

"I...a-a-are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"What do you think I'm saying?"

"...that...you care deeply about me."

"I have my reasons."

"I...u-u-um K-...Kieran I...I'm flattered but you...you do know I already have someone right?"

"I know. But I'm here if you need me, for whatever you want. I am here for you Koopin. I will protect you."

"That...that's really kind of you but I...I-i-i dunno if-"

"What?"

"I'm just, I-i-i'm not looking for a new relationship."

"Neither am I."

"Wait, what?"

"KOOPIN KENNIDOOOON!"

The voice that bellowed out through the streets of the town made everyone swivel their heads due north as Koopin cocked his head. 57 gripped his concealed hammer by instinct as they watched a lakitu stand brazen in the middle of the road, his angry cloud underneath trembling with the slightest shade of silver lining as if brewing up a storm as he came hovering. His hair was parted in the middle, a grey bob cut that covered both his cheeks which scowled horribly towards the koopa sitting down.

"I HAVE FINALLY FOUND YOU! NOW PREPARE TO MEET!"

He swung his arms in opposite circles before making a kung fu-style pose.

"YOUR ETERNAL RIVAL!"

"Wait, what?" mumbled Koopin.

"You have a rival?" asked 57.

"N-no! I never even met this-wh-who is he?!"

"MY NAME IS MELVIN!" shouted the lakitu. "And I have come to make you PAY for the great injustice you have caused upon my family!"

"Wh-what did I do, I don't even KNOW you!"

"Oh you don't know me!? Yeah I bet you don't know me, you just walk straight on by for the past TWO YEARS it took me to find you! TWO YEARS I HAVE BEEN CONSTANTLY CHASING AFTER YOU!"

"What FOR, I genuinely don't remember-"

"ENOUGH! You and me will fight HERE and you will NOT run away from me this time!"

"I wasn't running, who are you?!"

"Want me to deal with this?" murmured 57.

"N-no, no let me deal with this."

He stood up from his seat and walked towards the lakitu who kept his gaze fiercely upon his opponent. Confused and visibly annoyed by this loudmouth in the middle of the street, the koopa made one final plea despite already feeling the frustration build up inside him.

"Listen, if you've got a problem with me, we can sort this out privately. I don't want to do this."

"Are you ashamed of what you did?! Then you never shoulda done it in the first place Kennidon! I'm not walking away, not after two years so FACE ME NOW!"

"Alright alright, you wanna fight, you've got a fight. I won't back down but...just remember."

The koopa locked his feet into an L-shaped stance, arms swung forwards showing both his fists.

"You wanted this."

In turn the lakitu approached with a hovering rush, spreading his fingers out like cat claws as he snarled viciously with bilious rage. The swoop of his cumulonimbus fluttered like a smog-wreathed ninja, surprisingly fast despite its pudgy cottony appearance as he struck out with a slicing chop for Koopin's throat. He dodged beneath the strike and slammed his elbow thickly into Melvin's cheek, knocking him back fiercely before resuming his stance. The lakitu burned his gaze into Koopin's face from beneath his glasses and swung out with a three-hit combo, lunging haymakers twice at his opponent before tricking him with a violent headbutt when the cloud scuttled forwards. The sharp stinging pain rattled through his beak as he winced with a gasp, closing his eyes tightly to focus on the next attack. Melvin pushed himself upwards, hovering briefly above Koopin's head before shoving his foot straight out through the thick gaseous folds underneath. Dodging swiftly from the aerial kick, he waited for the lakitu to land before socking a straight punch into Melvin's face.

Staggering from the blow, the clouded vigilante tried to headbutt him once more but Koopin was ready this time as he swerved to the left and clocked Melvin hard once again, sending him almost stumbling off from his cloud until it corrected itself. Furiously suppressing a scream in his throat, Melvin charged with a spinning lariat surprising Koopin rather viciously enough to slam both fists, one after the other sending him down onto the street before following up with a hammerblow from above. Koopin dodgerolled just before the dual fists came down on his head, bouncing back onto his feet with a rising kick as he slammed his leg straight into Melvin's wrists. Trembling bones vibrated through the lakitu's arms as he cried out with sudden shock, before Koopin grabbed one of the arms and drove his foot straight into the cloud's front face, punching straight into Melvin's gut which turned his scream into a gargled wheeze.

Struggling to compose himself, as well as his rather stunned and wounded cumulonimbus trying to reform its face with a seething glower, the lakitu gathered his strength before charging with his shoulder out, crying with vengeance as Koopin dodged easily. But Melvin stopped just short of his full-on rush and slammed his elbow hard into Koopin's chin, striking upwards enough to almost overbalance him backwards as he turned and swung a full glorious haymaker to try and crush the koopa's face. Koopin turned on his back heel cautiously and used the momentum of his staggering to form a monstrous roundhouse kick, spinning on his foot as the other leg swooped a full circle round him before crashing into the lakitu's head. Combined with his own lunging thrust, the force sent both Melvin and his cloud bowling like tumbleweeds in the desert.

Pushing himself back onto his feet, he stood with his cirrus transport beside him mirroring his expression of pain and fury. Despite his rather stubby legs, the lakitu was undeterred and lumbered forwards with a frantic uppercut, then two more followed by a thrusting side kick straight into Koopin's belly. What Koopin did not notice was that the cloud had slowly floated itself to behind him acting like a pillow to bounce him straight back into Melvin's range and collide with his incoming fist. The cloud did not catch him a second time as Koopin fell onto his knees, gasping with bitter bruise and a metallic sting in his mouth. No one except 57 saw the look on Koopin's face change briefly into wild ferocious anger as he sat patiently with his hand against his backrest, ready to jump in and stop the fight not for Koopin's sake, but for Melvin's.

"You...finally give up yet?!" shouted the lakitu.

Koopin slowly stood up, not turning to face him as he tensed his fists doing everything possible to not scream into the open sky as Melvin approached.

"I SAID, you give up yet?!"

"......what do you think?" he murmured.

"Huh?!"

"What...do you think, you cloudrunning spiny-sucking PUNK!?"

The sudden turn that Koopin made surprised Melvin almost as much as the strength of his roundhouse fist crunching hard enough to break the lakitu's glasses. Staggering backwards, he felt his collarbone grabbed by Koopin who roped him back in for another ruthless punch, then a third sending his glasses clean off within a dozen pieces. In that moment, a brief pulse of red burned through the koopa's brain forcing his fingers to clench and ready another punch. But he resisted, feeling something familiar creep inside as he bared his teeth panting as they both stared at each other with bruised faces, their eyes swollen with purple cheeks breathless until Koopin finally shoved him onto the street.

"Wha-...what are you doing?!"

He said nothing, walking away towards the pier as Melvin stood raggedly back on his feet.

"C-COME BACK! COME BACK HERE, I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU YET! I'LL BEAT YOU KOOPIN KENNIDON, YOU HEAR ME?! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!"

The lakitu left with blinding insult on his face, cradling his wounded body as he flopped into his cloud transport before slowly hovering out of the street. The agent followed Koopin with clandestine manner, merging himself into a crowd before he caught up with him at the docks waiting for their ship. 57 brought out a small red mushroom with white spots from his travel satchel.

"Here."

Koopin took it gratefully but said nothing, chewing it down like gristle as he felt his body start to recover its injuries a little faster.

"Are you alright Koopin?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you? If you need to vent, you can always-"

"N-NO! I am...I'm fine...please, just...let me be, I need to get into my...persona."

"I see."

"Koopin became rather stiff towards me," continued 57, "and I wasn't sure if Melvin was the reason behind it entirely. He knew nothing about this lakitu, and neither did I. I found no connection whatsoever between them in my investigations."

"Sooo wait," asked Roy, "is this guy for real? Or is he just sum idiot?"

"He will come back eventually. As for me and Koopin, our operation turned out rather smooth thanks to his aggressiveness for the big event that we were essentially infiltrating."

"Does Koopin ever make lahk any money offa this, lahk at thuh big venues?"

"I assume so...I know he gets paid for his DJ work, but he never puts the money into his own account in order to not raise suspicion. I assume he puts all that money back into his persona by strengthening it with new tech."

"So how'd thuh big party go?"

"Well...I'm not especially a fan of techno but I think Koopin did pretty well."

" WHUT IS UUUUUUUUUUUUUP ROGUEPOOOOOORT!"

The crowd screeched with overwhelming frenzy towards D-Mob standing proudly upon a neon stage.

" AH SEE A LOTTA PUNKS TONIGHT! LOOKS LIKE IT'S MAH KINDA SCENE, DOWN AT DA ROGUEPORT JAM! WE GOT A HOT PLATE FULLA BEASTY BOYS AN' GIRLS HERE TO MESS YOU UP INSIDE YO' HEAD, YOU ALL READY FOR IT?!?!"

Shrieks of excitement came almost unanimously.

" THEN IT'S TIME TO BEAT DA STREETS, LET'S LIGHT IT UP!"

Shimmering fireworks burst free from above the stage, which resembled a giant crown flickering in radiant streams of green, yellow, blue and pink. The centrepiece of the stage was of course the main turntable set itself with big speakers on either side so everybody could hear the fresh beats. With seven DJs all ready to break out their best stuff, the night felt like it lasted forever for the crowd awash within a kinaesthetic flow of styles both dizzying and maddening that both frightened and fuelled the audience into wanting more.

First came the style of breakbeat from a goomba called Backbreaker, starting off the night with a tricky assortment of drum accompaniments constantly changing the beat. Odd reverbs and strangely soothing melodies trickled underneath, like walking through a labyrinth of speakers in the warm breeze of sunset where every corner one turned would switch the rhythm on you instantly. Dubstep was a more familiar beat, a shy guy known as 2Shy4Y pulling the audience into a shimmering desert of sound filled with popping revving whirring machinations, each and every dub like a sand dune across the horizon. Flowing, constantly shifting, seemingly random and yet perfectly aligned with the sky as its main backbeat. Electro swing was a bizarre but wonderfully pleasant style being ruminated by a strange fusion of jazz and electronic, a glorious twist of old and new that a red yoshi called Stoop Pooch was feathering out to the crowd. Trumpets and saxophones squealing whilst being warped through a techno filter, strings and percussions of their grandparents' days playing the same rhythms of a rave club in the most pure of anachronisms.

Things took a vicious turn however when Industrial music came to the scene, courtesy of a grey wretched-looking duo known as Screech Creek. The boo wearing a noose was the DJ, the koopa wearing dry bone makeup was the guitarist as they hammered out a dark angry medley of pure steel sounds. Grinding metal strings and subtle screeching bass amidst pinging sharp undertones that dragged the audience down deeper and deeper into the dirt. Despite the aggressive sombreness, the audience still loved them, plus they were both able to sing in harmony surprisingly well over their song.

Luckily, the people's spirits would be revived by drum and bass, a standard affair that admittedly felt something of a downturn after the wretched industrial sound, but it managed to relax and elevate the frayed frantic dancing of the dozen-scoring bodies that swept across the main plaza. More boppy, more peppy a sound, the lakitu Q.Mellow orchestrating this part would keep the drums beeping between chirpy vocals and growling bass like a triptych of pitches. High voice, middle drum, low bass hitting the audience on all three fronts of musical perception in a song that was pleasing, exciting and yet strangely primal for reasons they would not understand amidst the confusing lights and dazzling faux-synaesthesia invoked by the DJs.

The last two to step up were Koopa-Bloopa illustrating the style of synthwave, and a toad who emulated the style of trap music. Koopa-Bloopa brought a splash of fresh colour to near the end of the night with a fierce and exciting hum of synthesised vibrations that harkened through everybody's souls, a rabid frenetic beat that rolled sublimely across the waves like the neon shadow of a fugitive on the streets. Swift and dangerous, subtle but without any sinister element to it like a vigilante unknown with flying fists and walloping kicks inside every push of a beat, a street fight honed sharply within a song of three minutes. It made people nervous, which they confused for excitement and energy as they bounced rabidly to the odd pitch of the melodic song like watching a fish feeding frenzy inside an oil-slicked lake. Lastly, it would be the toad who called himself Mim McRee that pulled things down for the night and helped to settle the crowd with an oddly solemn yet ominous style of street music. Faux-cinematic strings and gentle synthesisers helped paint a backdrop of the inner city, the urban life, the trials and tribulations brought forth by the use of woodwind instruments. It felt like a small street orchestra trying to create their small but honest operetta, a modern style speaking through in that while there were no words spoken during the song, everyone understood it. People started crying. They didn't want to understand it, yet they all knew what he meant, the streets of Rogueport and its dark sinful history coursing through the trembling hands of the young scruffy toad. His honesty and passion would be the reason he won the Rogueport Jam, not because he was the last and most recent song that the audience heard.

In the midst of all this, 57 was slowly making his way round towards 361 Rue Batard. He had no idea whether Goombenedetta would be in or not, but he had a plan either way for her presence or lack thereof. Dressed up in an ill-fitting suit befitting of a gas inspector, he made his way into the apartment block gently making his way up the stairs without any encounters for the time being. The old brick and concrete foundations gave a rather depressing atmosphere, the lack of portraits or paint giving the impression of a tomb to the agent undercover as he reached the third floor. Nobody saw him bend down to lockpick the goomba-height door handle with a fine thin metal tool as it opened quietly, letting himself in.

The room was a mess, despite being rather bare in only having a bed, a set of drawers and two closets one of which was actually the bathroom. Not even a kitchen space other than one single old-looking microwave on a stand in the corner. The room was still at an average height however which made all the furniture look extremely compressed as the agent set himself to work memorising every single detail of how the room was before he would start searching. Nothing under the bed, nor within the mattress was of interest as he went over to the drawers to softly peruse through her fabrics. The toilet was much too small to hide anything in, but it wasn't until he approached the closet with actual clothes in that he heard something. A hollow thud beneath his feet. The closet contained nothing of interest, surprisingly empty apart from a television inside of it. He looked round briefly to find there really was no other space for it in the room, a place so small that it was only three of his large footsteps to the front door from the bed. He tapped his feet calmly, sensing the hollow space that was in front of the closet door itself as he gently scrabbled and fingered across the floorboards. The bed was holding down one of the loose planks with one of its posts as 57 shifted it, opening the secret treasure trove that laid underneath. A shoebox.

"Found you."

After the jam was over, Koopa-Bloopa was packing up his things and smiling to himself at the small beeps his 3DS made everytime someone made a post on his BandKoop. He was however more pleased seeing Mim McRee get more of the attention in comparison, or at the very least having them both in the top three of tonight's acts according to the pulse of social media frenzy.

"Ey boy."

"Huh?"

He saw nobody else around him, apart from the goomba that was now walking up to his side while the rest of the staff had gone to dismantle the stage.

"Yeah, Koopa-Bloopa right?"

"That's my name yeah."

"D-Mob wanted to offer an invitation to his party afters, said you got a real sweet sound to it, lotta aggression, really feels it."

"Thanks, heh, glad I got a fan."

"You comin' then?"

"I don't do after-party stuff."

"That wasn't a request."

The dip in the goomba's voice indicated a serious matter as the DJ decided not to test him. He nodded calmly and let the messenger guide him towards the back streets, cautiously leaving a note on his 3DS to 57 about his whereabouts while he wasn't looking. In the eastern backlots of the city, now decrepit with urban decay more than he usually remembered it, the gangs almost stood out from the locals by their flashier clothes and less scrawny appearance between the ragged great unwashed. They were all afraid of the gangsters, a harsh difference from the pleasantry and graciousness on the west side between the average people and the Pianta Syndicate. The houses were squalid and in two tones of both brown and grey, resembling a row of rotting teeth almost never at the same height as each other. The maze of darkened streets tested Bloopa's nerves, steeling his fists in anticipation for anything until they reached a warehouse guarded by several tough-looking toads that let them through. What laid inside was unexpected and Koopa-Bloopa almost wished that it had been a trap instead.

" BIG UP IN THIS CLUB TONIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!"

An offensively strong wave of funked-up hip-hop blasted at him the moment he stepped down the stairs and walked into the underground party. Dazzling lights from a spinning ball above their heads, the floor full of seething bodies of every species mingling and breathing against each other in a germophobe's nightmare. Skin glistened with sweat in a myriad of colours as the deafening beat of D-Mob's album boosted over the ceiling with a thumping havoc, forcing everyone to shout at each other to be heard as Koopa-Bloopa oozed his way through the crowd. There was a bar painted in fool's gold to one side of the room pillared by two impressive stalks of tropical fern leaves, similar to the other plants that dotted the extremities of the room in its darker corners where Bloopa could see people consorting discreetly. Some of them were just kissing or fondling each other, but others he noticed were drinking too much, or even worse judging by the white lines on their table. Soon the goomba led him to a large ornate red door that was guarded by a muscled pink yoshi with a wooden pulley replacing his right arm. The two instantly recognised each other as the goomba between them said:

"Ey, boss' guest is here."

"Yeah I can see that," said the yoshi, "I'm not blind you twerp."

"Jus' doin' my job buttwipe."

"WHUT wuz that?"

"N-NUTHIN' nuthin'!"

"Exactly. Now get your mudface outta here or I'll make you a permanent floor fixture, got me?"

The goomba waddled away looking rather insulted whilst the DJ stood nonplussed in front of the yoshi who simply crossed his arms.

"So...boss asked for you huh?"

"Yeah."

"Just haaaaad to be you, didn't it?"

"I didn't wanna come, but your goomba said it was best I not refuse. Trust me I wanna be someplace else right now."

"Makes two of us."

Seeing that this was getting them nowhere, Koopa-Bloopa decided to try a means of diplomacy as he sighed heavily.

"Listen dude, I don't wanna be here and I know you got a problem with me so lemme just start. I'm sorry for wailin' on your boys back at the cafe."

"Whut?"

"I know it was outta line, but I didn't know who they were, I shoulda just told sumbody like you so YOU could straighten 'em out cuz it's not cool to beat on waitresses. I realised after that you were comin' round to tell 'em straight and it wasn't my business to discipline 'em. Truce?"

"......truce. Name's Yoshua."

Smiling thinly at the koopa's apology, he shook the offered hand firmly with his left arm remaining.

"Koopa-Bloopa, natch."

"My boys're cockeyed morons anyway, even the one that don't got any eyes to start with."

"Hah, yeah I got that impression. You want anything? I can go to the bar and grab you something before I go in if you're standin' guard."

"Heh, sure, get me a gelato mojito, melon twist."

"Gotcha."

Six or seven minutes later the koopa returned with his drink which Yoshua gulped down almost entirely in one go, gasping with relish at the cold smooth fruity cocktail.

"Nnnnmmmhhhh yeah that hits the spot good. Thanks, sorry fer the wait, D-Mob's entertainin' sum peeps."

"You worked with him long?"

"Ehhhhh not really, 'bout four years nearly, used to be in another gang 'fore he took me on."

"Why, what happened?"

"I wuz the only one left."

He drank the rest of his drink with a fettered burp whilst sniffing back the buzz that came with it.

"Rest of the gang just...disappeared overnight. We were the rulers of the north quadrant, called ourselves the Rent Boys."

"What sorta work you did?"

"Extortion mostly. We stayed outta the Syndicate's way, we ran ourselves a nice little racket. People pay up with our interest, an' nobody gets robbed on our patch. We made good protection services, but one week I wuz outta town, saved up sum money to head up to Glitzville an' see if I could make it big. I got back, found everybody dead. Last one standing."

"Woah. You ever find out who did it?"

"That don't matter. Point is, D-Mob hired me when I wuz scoutin' round fer a new job an' now I'm here."

"So how many gangs are there in this city?"

"Two. D-Mob's an' the Syndicate. See all this?"

Yoshua swept his arm over the rest of the room.

"This is whut wuz left of the other gangs. They're all dead, or gone disappeared. Whoever's left either left the town fer good or joined up with us. Can't survive out on the streets alone."

"Damn. Sucks to hear, you want another drink?"

"Yeaaaah why not, grab me a refill buddy."

"No prob."

Smiling beneath his neckerchief, Bloopa went and got another drink whilst also grabbing a little rum and coke for himself. Yoshua gladly downed his second drink, hearing the sounds of D-Mob's guests about to leave as he stepped over to one side to let them leave. Koopa-Bloopa barely got a look at the small entourage, a mysterious figure in a black cloak dragging a rather heavy-looking sack.

"ALRIGH' PEACE MAN!, SEE YA ON DA FLIPSIDE! EY YOSH, 'ZAT MAH BOY BLOOPA?!"

"YEAH!"

"WELL BRING 'IM IN C'MON! STEP ON IN WIT'YO BAD BOY SELF!"

"Yer up kid."

Before he could walk in, the sounds of muffled whimpering came from inside the sack, a fretful cry of sobbing until Yoshua stomped his boot hard against it to silence the lump within.

"There...hate it when they start cryin', you alright handlin' him bro?"

"I am not your brother," said the cloaked voice with a cold logic. "I've handled worse fools than this, or your boss ever could."

"Well you got nobody else to shift the fuzz in Rogueport so whutcha gonna do?"

"We watch...and wait. I've always been watching others from the wings, waiting to see their performance end. Good day."

The cloaked figure walked away with his "cargo" in tow as both yoshi and koopa walked inside the room with Yoshua closing the doors behind them, keeping guard as Bloopa witnessed the inner sanctum of D-Mob himself. His tan-orange body draped in gold bling across his tank top except for the one silver bracelet on his arm that jingled slightly. Two female koopas draped themselves across his belly, circling their fingers across his midriff and teasingly sneaking underneath his tanktop with tender kisses to his face as he laid back against a half-circular orange sofa. The room itself was rather shabby with green table and glimmering lights above that showed acid-coloured walls in violet, green and yellow.

"Yoooo KB, whut is UP?"

"Yo, uhhh nice party."

"Is off da hook, you in da wildest place in all o' Rogueport, come on in kick back, relax! Wanna babe to wrap round ya?"

"Nah, not my type."

"Ohhhh ah see, you wanna nice boy to cuddle up with?"

"Heh, 'preciate the offer but I'm a little lukewarm tonight, head's all on fire but my tail's feelin' loose, you get what I'm sayin'?"

"Ahhhh righ', ah feel you."

Sitting down beside the pimp-fooling rapper, Bloopa simply waited for him to be done before they could talk business as the pianta shooed off the two ladies and hunched over towards the koopa.

"You's probably wanderin' why ah brought you up."

"Yeah, 'specially when I didn't win that whole big jam."

"Yeaaah ah saw that kid, he got a good trap sound but it don' get on wi' mah taste."

"Really? You, all about the streets, not wantin' to get in on the big message?"

"Ahm not a messenger, ahm an illustrator, an' music is mah canvas."

"Right, so why you want me?"

"You got a real mean streak about you kid."

He snapped his fingers to bring Yoshua over.

"Ah lahk your style, ah lahk yo' rhythms, you got sum street fire about you that makes me wanna PUMP, get whut ahm sayin'?"

"Right, you like my beats."

"Ah bet you lahk mah beats too, heck errybody does, look at all them people jumpin' out there, ain' nobody party lahk a D-Mob party."

"Yeah, it's pretty happening, kinda sick."

"Be even more sick if ah had sum sweet fingers lahk you workin' around mah deck."

"Wait, what?"

"You heard me."

Yoshua planted two small black cases onto the table, flipping one of them open to reveal a sumptuous little cache of shimmering blue coins worth at least 4000.

"Les' git righ' on down to bizness. You wanna make it big, ah wanna feel yo' beats. We could rule these streets you an' me."

"But why me? I mean no offence but you already got some good beats, you don't need someone like me."

"Yeah but ah can only do so much li'l KB, ah gots to feel a different energy about me, ah wanna use a different paint. Ah been usin' mah own beats fer too long that ah feel ah wanna git with sumbody else."

"Like a sorta...collaboration, right dude?"

"Hehe naw naw, nuthin' lahk that, more important."

He slapped his fat orange hand upon Koopa-Bloopa's hooded back.

"We could make ourselves a beautiful friendship, yanno lahk fo' real."

"Heh...listen, I'm real honoured but I'm not the life of the party like you, I don't work well in groups. I work in the shadows, I work on the backbeat...maybe I could handle collaboration but I dunno about being made a partner."

"That don' hafta be a prob-lem, you can always work backstage, way out in thuh shadows, all ya gotta do is make me sum beats. We sign off a good split, you don't gotta have much maintenance, ah can make it real easy, lessay about...thirty-seventy."

"Would I have to be part of your group?"

"If you's want to. Let you come in an' outta Rogueport anytahm that you wish. Plus..."

The yoshi gently opened up the second case as D-Mob grinned fiendishly.

"We got oursel' a li'l special welcoming gift fo' our new peeps, just to make it all a bit mo' exciting."

There he saw what he had always feared within this den of debauchery. Thick fluffy white lines resembling cotton candy with a greyish-blue tint and straws accompanying. Yoshua began slowly separating the lines out so each of them had one, the yoshi starting on his as he took up his straw and pressed the bulbous snout against it. The thick snorting sound was like morning phlegm as the fuzzy spores disappeared straight up the yoshi's nostril, his eyes bulging slightly as something infected his mental senses.

"You know whut dis is?" replied D-Mob. "Dudim Phreykunoutonthis, if you's wanna get science-y."

"Huh," murmured Bloopa restraining his shocked disgust, "you take chemistry?"

"Actually ah did, alon' with math. Ah wuz good but...wuz too bored abou' tryin' to differentiate mah trigonometry, ya dig?"

"Math's always been a neutral thing. You deal with this stuff?"

"Yeah, thatta prob-lem?"

"Just thought a big guy like you who's selling off well with his albums wouldn't need to touch fuzzy."

"Ey, s'all about mo' money, can't hurt to have a li'l extra in yo' pockets."

"Sure. Is your friend...gonna be alright?"

"Suuuuure he fine. Aren't you Yoshua?"

"Nnnnnnrrrrrr...killers...I seen 'em."

Yoshua slowly sat back against the wall feeling the spores creep up inside his brain as his entire world began to melt. The walls started to turn porous resembling a thick oil painting, as the floor undulated back and forth like a serpent's nest during the mating season. He clasped his remaining hand over his face, mumbling words the koopa could barely hear as a strange whining noise bubbled up inside the yoshi's head. It felt like deep vein thrombosis on his head, blinding pressure for a moment until it instantly eased off of him, lulling into a false sense of complete contentment.

"H-haaaaah my face...f-feels like it's made of wool."

"Wow...that good?"

"Yeaaah...so warm an' fuzzy. Fuzzy little cutters. Just keep cuttin' away 'til all the wool is dead. Black...brown...shadows rolling in the streets...dry cleaner'll never forget that stain."

"Wait what?"

"Bandits keep runnin', keep runnin' but he always caught 'em...great long shadows on the wall, friends all made of wool. Cutting them free, spin the yarn, break the wool. I lost so much wool baby..."

The yoshi began to fall asleep, gently rocking himself into a sweet slumber as he clutched at his body tightly with strange shivers of a relapse. The gangster opposite of him simply smiled chuckling.

"See ah told you, he all safe an' good but don' you try to cross him. Still break any fool's head if he ever wanted. Go on 'head...s'on the house."

"I'll pass," replied Bloopa, "I need my brain unfuzzed to get home."

"Whut, you don' got lahk a groupie or sumthin', man you dunno whut yo' missin'!"

"Guess I won't. What about you, don't stop on my account."

"Don' mind if ah do...bu' only if you gonna try it."

"I...think I would-"

"Lissen boy."

The pianta glared at him with a piercing grin transfixed on his face.

"This wuz an invite of thuh highest calibre an' ahm startin' to think you don' appreciate how lucky you oughta feel comin' in on mah presence. When sumbody invite you to their special dig, you git whut you're offered. If ah give you sumthin', you best better take it, you wanna know whut happen to thuh last guy who didn' accept mah generosity? You went an' passed him all in a big sack just now."

"...al...right then. But we go together. You and me."

"Heheh, thas' thuh way ah lahk it, alrigh' then KB."

D-Mob gladly snorted up his share as Koopa-Bloopa leaned over the line of fuzzy whilst swiftly pulling out a small handkerchief. Distracted by his imminent trip, the gangster did not notice that his guest simply wiped up and pocketed the drug into his pocket carefully, despite his snorting pretend noises.

"HHHhhhhHHHHHOOOOOOO! HOOOOOOO JEEZ!"

"Haha hahaaaaaaaaaa yeaaaaaaaaah light it up boy, you feelin' IT?!"

"H-H-H-HOHOH Y-YEAH, YEAH WOAH I-I-I-OH JEEZO PEACH THE WALLS ARE GOING!"

"Howzat feel for ya right shell boy?"

"F-feels like my head is all...ball o' wool, m-my shell feels all shiny an' odd like um...l-like a big giant button."

"Hehehaaaaah yeaaaaah...that's whut ahm talkin' about, wouldn't you wanna do THIS every hour on thuh downtahm?!"

"Ohhhhh...yeaaaaaah that's the good stuff, I never felt this before. Hhhhhhh...wow makes it all real worth it doesn't it?"

"Yeaaaaaaah..."

Both musicians leaned back into their seats, gasping as the drug took its deeper toll upon D-Mob and his cohort whilst Bloopa just pretended to keep up the pace of bliss.

"Whut got you into this?" asked D-Mob.

"H-huh?"

"Made you wanna be a DJ, ah mean."

"Nnnnyeah...I wanted to scream. Scream out to the world and make it listen or else I would beat it right back in. Back in its ugly face."

"Yeaaaaah ah hear you, ah wanted to make them hear me too. We both just kids wantin' sum attention."

"Yeaaaah sure am, that's all...that's all I really wanted to be. Just someone to listen. Everything."

"You work out wi' me...we gonna make errybody listen to both you an' me. Even if they don' want to."

"And if they don't...want to?"

"Then ah will make them. They'll all see."

"Where did you...get this stuff?"

"Ah got friends up in real high places. Can't tell ya who they are but if you wanna come in ahll introduce you."

"Sounds...cool. Listen...you ever heard of a girl named Goombenedetta."

"Nah-uh, sorry. Why, she an ol' gurl o' yours?"

"Yeah...was hopin' I'd see her in town, guess not, always was a real wild one. Hoped I would see her in this place, maybe. Hey I need to go sort out my club routine, how about I leave a message for you after I get back to my hotel an' sleep it off?"

"Alrigh', sound good. Don' think you gonna get another free sample."

"Wasn't plannin' on it. Ohhh...jeez the walls look like a freakin' jungle."

"Yeaaaah try not to get lost, you need sum help?"

"Nah, nah I got it. Peace out D-Mob, stay cool."

"Later brutha."

Stumbling himself out of the room, Koopa-Bloopa narrowly avoided the teeming crowd as he made his way back onto the streets. Once he felt he was clear he started to straighten out his pace, shaking his head clear of his own self-delusion before swiftly tossing the handkerchief full of fuzzy into the canal and taking off his Bloopa clothing in mid-strut. He only hoped that his friend the agent had better luck than him as they regrouped back on the ship that would depart from Rogueport, not even noticing the odd pale white face that had followed Koopin with a look of shock forever etched upon his features.

"Can we talk?"

57 heard Koopin behind his cabin door as he asked:

"Password?"

"Balloon."

He got up hearing the code for "all's clear" and unlocked his door, letting Koopin inside the modest room. A bed dominated it front and centre with a small washroom to the side and one dresser opposite.

"I...I have to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"...do you honestly care about me? Not just because it's your job but really care about me."

"I mean what I said Koopin. You know that too, you've felt that surely."

"But...but I don't-"

"I know you're drowning. I know it's hard for you to keep swimming against the current. I do not want to replace anyone. I am just here for you to unburden yourself with."

He felt a pair of large hands grasp his cheeks as they met each other's gaze. Something swelled in Koopin's heart, a dangerous sickening feeling that was all too familiar to him. One that he had long missed and yet was so afraid of ever feeling again as he started to tear up with shivering fists.

"I-i-i-i just don't know wh-what to do."

"Follow your heart Koopin."

"That's not what's right, it isn't right at all!"

"Is it? I know it's just the truth. You are forgetting something."

57 cupped Koopin's chin, closing the distance between their lips as they almost tasted each other's breaths.

"I do not exist. I am unofficial and so whatever you shall plan to do with me remains such."

"N-no...no that...that's not true."

"Why?"

"B-because I feel you. I-i-i feel your heart beating, right here, I feel my heart beating with it. Why do you care so much about me?"

"Why would anyone not care about you? Your heart can't take this, it needs someone to stand with it."

"B-but that's not...you."

"Then let me be a shadow. In place of him. I want to keep you safe. Warm and at peace."

"I-i don't need you to do this for me, not like this."

"You're torturing yourself. Let me help you. You are suffering, you have lost so much warmth that your heart's becoming fearful and tepid."

"That's not true!"

"You do not know how long he will take to return, IF he manages to return."

"H-he'll come back! He promised me!"

"What if that's not up to him? His body might not commit despite his heart wanting to. Would he blame you for such an errant weakness after this long without his warmth, Koopin?"

"I-i can't betray him. I just can't, it would be wrong, I couldn't do that to him, h-he's risking his LIFE out there whilst I am just sitting here miserable without him!"

"You are risking your life too. He may not know but you have fought bravely to bring back Charlie."

"But I can't BETRAY him!"

"Who said you were? What makes you think his body has not betrayed you already?"

"H-he would NEVER do that to me!"

"No. No he wouldn't betray you. Not knowingly that is when he can control himself...do you understand what I'm saying Koopin?"

The hands of his bodyguard crept slowly up the back of his neck and cheek, pulling him closer as Koopin slowly began to sob.

"He will forgive you, for when he cannot even control himself."

".........h-h-help me. P-please, Kieran h-help-"

"Shhhhh...tell me what you want Koopin."

"I just want a warm bed. Somebody sleeping beside me, someone near me, someone......someone in me. I...I want someone inside me, p-please."

"Then I will keep you warm. Come."

He bent down to kiss upon Koopin's cheek. Then upon his lips as he closed his eyes and submitted to his wanton needs. The moment their tongues entwined he felt as if his clothes and shell had disappeared. His eyes opened to see that Kieran had lost his in turn, a raw herculean sculpt of rigid bronze arms and strong-bodied legs. His body was thick and rugged, oddly clean of scars and imperfections as he placed his head upon 57's chest. His heart felt huge, beating like a drum slowly. Every pulse made him feel something throb, thickly beside his smaller leg as the agent picked him up easily, slowly pulling him down against his naked body onto the bed as his hands sailed down Koopin's back. Clasping at the sweet pert rump, the sharp twitch of his little tail made him gasp with rattled breath as they kissed once again, the large 6'6'' koopa slowly kissing his smaller 5'4'' companion. Roaming his lips across the younger flesh, he felt Koopin's moans gently quiver from his body with every kiss and suck, his tongue raking across the tame yellow skin as they felt each other's shafts tensely grinding against the other.

"H-hhhhhhh! K-kieran...o-oh stars-"

"Shhhhhh...there are no stars here to watch you. It's just me. And you."

"I...I want to feel like this again."

"You will."

"Is...is this what you want to?"

"I want to keep you safe. Let me make you full again."

"F-full? H-haaaah!"

Gently the digging of his finger slipped into his puckered hole, softly spreading him open more as Koopin became helpless in his agent's grasp. 57 kissed him continuously, besotting him with a shower of affection amongst his warm deep words that rumbled thickly into Koopin's heart. He ached with a desperate need, pulling his arms round Kieran's neck and suddenly pushing his tongue deep inside the agent's beak. Whimpering frantic sounds that came bubbling from his throat, he swallowed the grunting bliss of Kieran's utterance as he was fingerfucked more deeply, straight up to almost full past the knuckle. The second digit went in once it had done its job, stretching his winking rump further until he felt he was ready. Slowly, he laid Koopin down fully against the sheets as he lined up his thick cock. Barely he had a chance to look at it, but he already knew that it was wider than those he knew.

"Open yourself up. Are you ready Koopin?"

"I-i...I wanted...just to be warm again. Please...f-f-fill me, Kieran. Fill me."

"Ohh...I have waited to hear you say that."

The first thrust came with a surprising ease as Koopin gasped from the strange filling sensation. How long had it been since he felt that, the thick heat of invading lust pushing deep inside his body, his legs starting to quiver frantically as he clutched his fingers against 57's broad back.

"A-AAAAAH! OHHH, K-kieran!"

"Hhhhhhh...how does that feel?"

"O-ohhhhh......ohhhh I missed this. O-oh stars please, please don't stop."

"Yes. That's the spirit...we are both just strangers on a cold night."

"Please don't stop. Please...d-don't leave me."

"I will not leave you. My body...is yours."

With sudden shove he hilted smoothly inside the younger koopa, forcing the air out of his lungs as he mewled pitifully at the deep throbbing force that fed Kieran's body heat through him. They stared into each other's eyes as they frantically kiss, a passion overwhelming as the larger male built his steady rhythm inside him. Firm grunting sounds between their tongues webbing with saliva, his beastly baritone voice locked against Koopin's trembling tenor as he pounded harder inside him with thick pendulous balls smacking against the tight quivering tailbase. Every thrust would hilt itself fully into Koopin, every clashing of hips would grind against his most sensitive rippling walls as he cried out in wondrous tearful relief that Kieran could feel wetting on his cheeks. They barely had a chance to breathe let alone part from each other's lips as their eyes became blank with lustful frenzy. They knew they had no words left as Kieran held Koopin down against the bed to ruthlessly slam his body against him, his virile cock hammering away into his charge causing him to shriek and buck upwards in bliss. He felt his belly turning sticky with pre, struggling to keep his focus through the haze of his mind as he pressed his fingers into Kieran's wide shoulders.

"Th-th-thank you...th-thank you, o-oh stars Kieran please! H-harder, p-please don't stop, f-fill me!"

"Nnnnngh, ohhh...ohhhh Koopin...a-aaaah...I'm...c-close, are you?"

"Y-y-yes, just a little bit...m-more, AAAAH! L-let me finish with you."

"S-say when. Just...say, you sweet little thing."

The moment Koopin felt himself breach his climax, he woke up from his dream with a start, bleary-eyed and clumsy-fingered as he felt his body buck against his mind's will to turn the sheets of his cabin bed into a rather warm sticky patch of shame. He was at first shocked that he could even do such a thing, having not had any such moments like this in a long while before realising how pent-up he must be. Then along came the deep withering humiliation of what he had just committed as he tried to find a spare sheet of linen before trying to get back to sleep. Guilt burned inside him with frustrated tears staining on his pillow.

"Koopin became more and more distant from me," said the KIB agent, "for reasons I could not understand but I decided not to press him. We soon returned to the laboratory with our new findings but before we go any further...there is something you must know."

"Whut's that?" asked Roy.

"This next part is almost forbidden to speak of, particularly to that of the ordinary public. Only Koopin knows of this, along with James since it somewhat relates to him."

"Whussat supposed to mean?"

"I must warn you that, as someone of a similar origin to that of James, you are allowed only by proxy to know of this incident. You are forbidden from repeating this to anyone else in the public under threat of imprisonment by His Majesty. No one but you, Koopin, James and the KIB are aware of this next part, do you understand mister MacGregor?"

"Y-y-yeah...I understand."

"Alright. Now let's continue."

"Is that...him?" asked Koopin.

"Yes," replied 57, "it has to be."

"This was in her apartment?" inquired Kammy.

"Filed away in a box beneath the floorboards, clearly of very sentimental value like this scarf."

The group back at Gadd's strange laboratory all mused over the photograph that 57 held before them. A koopa stood ragged without a shell in brown wretched clothes, including a strangely immaculate scarf with patterns of white and red in tartan. Next to the koopa was a goomba in an orange frilly dress and an oddly-shaped hat.

"Well we now know that he's a koopa," said Gadd, "but what about his name?"

"I couldn't find it. There was nothing written, not on the back of this, not even a note or a greeting card, it was all fabrics and the odd receipt but nothing that told me his name."

"There has to be something surely!"

"The only thing me and Koopin are aware of is that we know who the waitress is."

"Wait, pardon?!"

"She works at a cafe," responded Koopin, "she must have known him, I recognise that uniform."

"So you're telling me that a waitress is the one holding the entire key to our great mystery?!"

"That seems about it," said Kammy oddly proud, "not the first time a female has befuddled you by knowing more than you, is it Elvin?"

"It would be a first time for me, Kammy."

"Whatever, we now have a new lead. Unfortunately it shall have to wait."

"Why?"

"Because we have an urgent matter to attend to. One that cannot be ignored."

"What could POSSIBLY be more important than this?!"

"The world doesn't revolve around your mistakes, much as you want it to. This also concerns you Koopin."

"Wait, what?" he replied.

"Do you remember a strange creature calling himself Blooshan?"

A name he had not heard in nearly five years slowly came back to haunt his memory. He felt rather dry in his stomach as he wringed his fingers nervously, saying everything that Kammy needed to know.

"I...know of him."

"He has contacted us. Concerning a very special mission that is of great interest to us...and also of you."

"What does he want with me? It's not enough I got this, now I have to deal with his problems?"

"He refused to meet us unless we brought you, apparently this problem concerns you explicitly."

"I just...don't......okay fine, fine let's do this."

"Less of the lip young Kennidon, remember who you're speaking to."

"Right, s-sorry ma'am. I'm just tired of all this, I wanna keep going on helping to fix Charlie, not get sidetracked by other things."

"Trust me I want the same, the sooner I get out of Gadd's place the better but we cannot ignore this."

"Why?"

"You will see. It's a most highly unusual mission."

Kammy Koopa walked out of the basement with her entourage following back towards her ship. The KIB agent charged with protecting Koopin however stood close, watching over him with a soft look in his eyes that Koopin dared not meet.

"Are you okay?"

"Hmm?"

"You seem rather stressed more than usual."

"I'm fine, it's okay Kieran."

"Remember what I said, if you need to talk-"

"I know, it's FINE Kieran."

"Okay."

"......I'm sorry."

Koopin turned away rather shamefully, rubbing his shoulder as he flinched slightly from 57's touch.

"What's wrong Koopin?"

"I-i-i just...just need to focus on this right now, I'm...s-sorry."

"Alright then. Let's get going."

"Wait, what about Shellina, will she be alright?"

"Gadd and Boona are here, plus we have our own contingent of medics to make certain she'll recover well. Let's go."

Soon the black airships began to hover across the sea, heading out towards a strange unmarked island that for all the world seemed like a tall extinct volcano that had not a single scrap of green growing upon its barren mount. The airships were unable to land so they found themselves rappelling down onto a carved stone dock set high above the waves where a small score of shy guys in tribal garments greeted them. Koopin had hoped he would not have to return to this place, after filling him with dread and confusion about his own existence in a most uncomfortable fashion, of which he had explained everything about to the KIB before making their landing. In the very centre of the volcano was a resplendent paradise of seething natural waters formed by volcanic bubbles bursting through deep sea vents, enriching a cornucopia of pristine aquatic flora to create a garden that floated on the waves of the giant sea cave. At the end of a procession of bowing guys was a grand pale squid with black-masked eyes and draped long tentacles across a half-submerged throne. He stood at least a good thirty feet tall as Kammy stood before him, the KIB agents keeping weapons primed in their holsters as Koopin walked forth.

" How long have I waited to see you again," said the great Blooshan, " how are you faring Koopin Kennidon?"

"Why don't you read my mind or something and tell me?"

" You are not happy to see me again?"

"I'm...very busy with trying to get my life back. I'm sorry, but this is not a good time to ask me for my help."

" I understand and I apologise for this. But this is something that concerns you."

"How?! How does it possibly concern me any more than trying to save my pet chomp from being POSSESSED by some twisted fiend?!"

" Because what I have found is much greater a threat to our world's existence."

"Is that certain?" asked Kammy. "We know very little of you sir Blooshan, but I must confess from our initial scans your brain waves are extremely unusual. In fact, I daresay they are not even of this world."

" I am a recluse by choice. I was content to live peacefully by myself with this small island community as we take care of each other. I would not wish to interfere with your lives but this favour I ask is of the most severe necessity."

"What may I ask, and also if I may, WHAT precisely are you?"

" I do not know. I know my body, yes, but I know not who wields it. For nearly twenty-six years I have existed like this, a grand brobdignagian blooper who can sense far greater things about his own existence than others of his species. I have always felt that my intelligence is not natural, that somehow I was given this...but as to what or why, I do not know except for the fact that a portal opened up beneath the sea. I remember something that pierced my mind deep, thrust me from a dark primordial ooze and sculpted me anew. I remember a part of me that never felt as if it belonged within this body...and yet another part of me...it understood so clearly."

"You say something affected you from another world and changed you into this sizeable state?"

" The size of my body came through natural means. But it was my mind that grew through bizarre sculpture unheard of in this place. And now, that same tremor that so changed me and in turn also young Koopin has come to haunt me."

"What do you mean exactly?"

" There is a ship, that landed far beneath the sea. Several months ago, I heard whispers from my fellow brethren about a mysterious new place from which no blooper has returned since. I once made my way to approach it, but I felt something stop me. Something I have never felt in my own newfound existence."

"And what was that?"

" ...fear."

His voice dropped with a strange trembling they all understood. It was the voice of a victim as the great beast struggled to "speak".

" I studied from afar...what darkness may lurk within, but I see nothing come out of it. I...I watched and scoured the ship's moorings as close as my fear enabled me, and I felt something in me. I heard memories from the smell and taste of the water...that flows bitterly from the ship's remains, a water so familiar that I started hurting. I felt...I felt this pain inside me as if desperate to remember something. And then I found this."

The blooper carefully dragged one of his smaller tentacles across the wall of his sanctum to reach into a crevice nearby to pull something free. He offered it towards Koopin as a strange jagged strip of metal, almost as thin as an envelope with multiple layers finely distributed into varying depths of opacity. It reminded Koopin of cellular dissection underneath a microscope.

" This key...must mean something to me. When I first found it, there came something from a dark recessive side of me. A voice somehow familiar and yet one I could not place. That is my request, for it is now time I call upon you to repay for my debt Koopin. One I had hoped never to confide in you, but you must search down into the depths of that ship and find me what this key holds the secrets of be it my past...or something else."

"Is that all you want?" asked Koopin tersely.

" I know you and I have not had the most fortuitous meet but I bear you no harm."

"I...I know you don't. I'm sorry. I'm in a really bad part of my life right now, and I know you're not a bad person but...I need to save someone that's important to me."

" I only wish I could help. To be endowed with such knowledge but have a body so limited to the sea when all I can do is but roam the depths and save the unfortunates who would fall into the abyss like you once did. I promise you this, no more will I ever accost you after you have completed this task."

"I didn't mean-......I don't want you to think I hate you."

" I know your feelings for me are complex. We do not have to say anything. I only ask you, because I trust you."

"You...you trust me?"

" I do. Please...whatever darkness lies inside of that ship, you must banish it from this place."

"Alright. I'll do it."

"Even though I would never take with us a civilian," added Kammy, "since you only offered this if young Kennidon comes along, I really have no choice."

" I await your return. Please, be careful. Whatever lies inside of that wreckage surely will not be complacent."

The largest airship of the minute fleet had been carrying a submarine in its belly, now depositing it into the sea as Koopin joined the small crew with 57 and five other agents. The submarine was surprisingly compact, assigned only for reconnaissance missions judging by the lack of dormitories or eating quarters. Separate seats, a radar room, and a control deck was all that was required as the dark indigo submersible travelled beneath the depths of the great blue. Koopin said not a single word to 57 throughout the voyage as they watched the radar and portholes available. Endless shadows of ancient rocks made a fictional horizon between the odd clumps of shapely coral and nervous sea fauna from bloopers to cheep cheeps to dolphins. The closer they got towards their destination, the more barren it became until not a single creature would be seen for the next twenty minutes. Then, they saw it. A ship within the abyss.

Steel and verminous with grand pale wings and a giant hexagonal-shaped mirror that glistened like a shard of the moon, the crew watched with fascination and an utmost sense of unease amongst all but the most trained of veterans amongst them. It looked like a giant dead beast the size of a plane as Koopin felt something crawl underneath his skin, creeping along his neck as something flickered in his memory. A deep dreaded déjà vu made his hands shiver and sweat with his throat.

"Wh-wh-what IS...that?" he gasped.

"We don't know," stated agent 38, "but we're gonna be the first to explore it."

"I-i've never...done any deep-sea stuff."

"We're not that deep, you are good at swimming I hope."

"Yeah, I can hold my breath for like ten minutes."

"That's impressive!" said 49 honestly. "Maybe after this we should ask you to join our underwater division."

"I'll pass."

Staring out towards the wretched ship, Koopin did not turn when he heard 57's voice next to him.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I don't want to, no."

"But you still came? You know I don't think he would have stopped you from leaving and letting us do this instead."

"I didn't wanna come but Blooshan and I have something of a special agreement. It's complicated."

"I certainly hope you can trust him."

"He saved my life when I was little. This is my way of repaying him. I've been acting like a jerk lately, I feel like I oughta do something."

"I haven't noticed."

"Don't lie to me."

He rubbed his head feeling the pangs of guilt warm his mind and stomach to an uncomfortable itch.

"I'm sorry for the way I've been acting. You really helped me through this."

"It may be my job to watch over you, but that doesn't mean I have to treat it like one."

"I know. Thanks."

The sub soon found its docking point, pressing its airlock against a weakened part of the hull that had already been too damaged to remain stable. With expert guidance and engineering, the KIB agents carefully stabilised the pressure and carved open an entrance with cutting tools after putting on their deep-sea suits. Surprisingly light and durable with several layers for warmth, it felt more like clothes suited for mountain treks rather than diving, apart from the large steel helmet that allowed them to see a good 200 degrees around them. They also had camera feeds on their helmets recording everything they would see for future reference, with 57 commanding operations as he turned on his communications in order to test the boost signal.

"Mother this is Bertha, we're now breaching the hull."

"Good," replied Kammy Koopa, "keep your flowers primed and ready but make sure to keep watch for any vapours still present."

"Understood. Alright, we're going in."

Five koopas slowly made their way into the depths of the unknown ship whilst two remained behind on the sub, a dazzling set of lights accompanying from their suits as they landed upon meshed grates with a shuddering subdued clunk. The long corridor twisted slowly into darkness, the shadows devouring their lights with such ease as to make it impossible to see beyond a good ten feet. The colour of the walls were a strange boundary between green and black as patterns formed an array of stoic slithering tendrils. They saw broken glass from large tubes like pillars every fifteen feet, the floor a series of meshed grates forming shapes that none of them understood.

"We're in," said 57.

"What's your readout?"

"Still compromised. Design is unnatural. Power levels indicate some systems are still on though."

"I see."

"The walls are breathing," said 49 gasping.

"No they're not surely," replied 86.

"How can you tell? I keep feeling this odd wind coming through the place."

"What do you think Koopin?"

The agent turned towards Koopin who simply stared at the geometry, the walls feeling oppressive as if about to crush their heads completely.

"What do you make of this?"

"......it's not from here."

"We already knew that."

"N-no...no it's not built...like the old ruins we used to make. Not stone nor steel, this is something worse."

"What do you mean?"

"It...it feels like someone...just ripped the skin off of someone and locked all the nerves and veins inside a steel tomb. This doesn't feel like it was made, it more feels like it was um...c-created, like maybe born but not quite."

"Like cells in a test tube?"

"Y-yeah, maybe."

"That's rather morbid."

"Oh and chasing after a dead koopa isn't?"

"Just never expected you to say such things."

"Well these past few years have shown me differently. What...kind of person would even make something like this?"

He struggled to keep his hand steady as he crossed his fingers upon the strange varicose sinew, smooth and hard like cold steel yet strangely soft and pliant enough to press in like the flesh.

"Alright," said 57, "let's keep close, remain in shell formation and keep a hold of each other's hands. Koopin you stay with me."

"R-right."

They all held at least one other koopa's hand before walking forwards in a chain gang formation, slowly bunching up into a semi-circle as they headed further into the dark abyss. The sounds of their heavy boots clunked with furrowing echoes into the deep breaches of the ship, the water underneath starting to ripple with their vibrations as 49 asked:

"What's all this stuff underneath the flooring?"

"Looks like some sort of drainage system," replied 38.

"But for what, this ship had half its rooms flooded naturally."

"That's true...then it's not for water."

"What about the tubes?" added 86.

"They look wide enough to fit us into them."

"Maybe perhaps some sort of transportation system?"

"For the inhabitants? No, I don't think the ship needed that."

"Not a ventilation unit, the logistics don't make sense."

"It's definitely glass," said Koopin, "not osmotic in its design, this stuff was meant to keep something IN those tubes."

"Maybe some kind of filtration system? You know to clean out impurities in the water."

"W-wait, stop!"

He pulled 57's hand firmly before pointing at the breakage of the grating in front of them, showing a sickly porous green liquid flowing constantly.

"Look, see there's water right there."

"Is it?" asked 57. "Or maybe some other type of liquid."

"Well is there a way to find out?"

"Eighty-six, what's your opinion?"

The koopa designated with such a number walked forwards and pulled out a small device from his suit pockets that resembled an especially fancy thermometer before dipping it into the off-colour liquid. A gentle beep confirmed results as he gave his estimate.

"pH level is three, turbidity two-hundred...conductivity is about four, that's almost like sea water except..."

"Except what?" asked 38.

"Except that it's not actually water like you guys guessed, it more feels like...like some sort of electrolyte-based soup."

"Soup?!"

"There's a lot of protein-based chemicals in the mix, definitely organic. Not artificial...in fact it matches the kind of chemicals you would find in...living bodies."

"Living......you're not saying this-"

"Unless they found a way to manufacture organic proteins through the use of machinery...it's possible."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," said 57 calmly, "we only just scratched the surface of this place, let's continue on."

Resuming their pace with hands holding firmly, they soon found a half-sealed door that split into three parts. It took them some finagling to force the twelve-foot high portal wide enough to squeeze through but they managed as they reached what appeared to be an isolated hallway between two doors. The portal behind them struggled to close as water started to fill the chamber, causing them to panic briefly until 86 shouted with his water reader in hand:

"It's alright! It's not the same liquid we were testing earlier!"

"How is that any better?!"

"It's not acidic enough to damage us, this has a pH of five, we're safe!"

Soon the odd water filled up completely causing a sense of decompression as the door at the other end of the hall opened to allow the new visitors through. Murky and composite with a strange jaded filter made things much harder for them to see through their helmets as 86 spoke through the intercoms in their suits.

"Definitely not water from our seas."

"It's not?" asked Koopin.

"No...the composition's much more different, this is the water from inside the ship, possibly to comfort its inhabitants."

"Is it water from their world?"

"Most likely. Perhaps our water harms them, might not be acidic enough in their case."

"I think you're missing the obvious question," said 57. "Why do they even need water in their ships to begin with, when the previous corridor was dry?"

"Might be a malfunction, the fact this decompression chamber is even filling up with water proves that they need it, why else would it be here?"

"Hmmm...the atmosphere's turning heavy. That's it. It's the water pressure."

"OH, you're right, of course it's changing the water pressure to adapt, it must not be able to handle the lighter pressure of our seas!"

"W-wait," stammered Koopin, "isn't that bad for US?!"

"No, don't worry these suits adjust themselves to maintain a safe amiable pressure for us, so we won't suffer as long as we're in them."

"If that is the case," replied 57, "that means if anything happens then our entry point will be safe, if this entity is hostile."

"Let's hope it's not," murmured Koopin.

The chamber filled completely allowing them access into the deeper bowels of the ship, opening to reveal a room that both sickened and horrified them. Floating before their very eyes were dozens of thin white strips amidst black rotting smears of ink bleeding from each tendril.

"H-hhhhhhh...o-o-oh stars...they're all-"

"Bloopers. Not just them either."

Other creatures laid discarded within the flooded room. The bones of cheep cheeps crushed and chewed mindlessly, dolphins gouged and eviscerated with the odd yoshi or koopa in the mix. Their sunken gaze stared up with fear and sufferance upon the visitors, their bodies preserved strangely well by the alien water. Koopin struggled as he felt weak at the knees, struggling to pull free of 57's grip as he twisted himself away and resist the urge to vomit at such horrific carnage.

"Mother," radioed 49, "we found a food storage area."

"Give me a sit rep."

"Bloopers, dolphins, koopas and yoshis, as well as some cheep cheeps. No survivors, they seem to have their remains preserved in this fluid that fills the room."

"Keep close together and progress further into the ship. You need to find the control panel for Blooshan's key and extract the information still."

"A-are you SERIOUS?!" shouted Koopin. "We just...w-w-walked into this HORRIFYING place, and all you can say is 'continue the mission'?!"

"This is precisely why I do not bring civilians on our expeditions. We already knew this would happen, having discovered that almost sixty-percent of the blooper population has been decimated from this region of the sea so whatever's down there is quite clearly a threat to aquatic life and so must be dealt with."

"Why didn't you deal with this before?!"

"We were gathering more intel whilst tracking down your mysterious spirit. With what Blooshan has told us, we now feel more confident in facing this."

"R-right...this is awful. This...this horrifying beast, how can we find the control panel this key fits into!?"

"Blooshan explained that he remembers a set of two blue conduits that run overhead. Once you find that, you will find the control centre that his key unlocks. Now keep moving and please keep your wits about you, understand?!"

"Yes Mother," said 86, "we'll be careful."

As soon as the radio clicked off, 57 noticed something from a half-floating carcass as he stepped closer.

"Look at this. The dolphin...something's wrong."

"What do you mean?" asked 49.

"These markings on them, they're not caused by teeth. Look, see the way the gouging curves around its melon?"

"Mmhmm?"

"This is something different. Not hunger. Curiosity."

"Meaning this creature has intelligence. Of a sort."

"How intelligent?"

"Hopefully enough to speak with it...in fact...all of the dolphins have not been eaten. But only them, these ones are more...dissected."

"C-c-can we stop talking about this please?!" shuddered Koopin. "This isn't a morgue for Peach's sake!"

"We need to know what we're dealing with, we can't rush in. Let's move on."

Carefully picking their way through the macabre waterlogged feasting chamber, the five koopas traversed into the next hall where they soon found the blue conduits that were spoken of. A long twisted path of necrotic-looking steel-plated tissue was ahead of them that lasted more than 40 minutes, as the sound of thick rumbling creaks from the deep sea pressure forced itself upon the ship. Groaning from the weight of the world above it, the integrity of the ship gave them pause as Koopin asked:

"How do you plan to get rid of this ship exactly?"

"We destroy it," said 86 simply.

"Wh-what?!"

"We can't return it back to its own world since we don't have that sort of tech so we'll dismantle it through a special eradication process."

"Basically toss it into the lava," replied 38 factually, "you'd be surprised what stuff we melted at the bottom of the Koopa Kingdom."

"What..." stuttered Koopin wide-eyed, "you mean this has happened before?!"

"Well yes, concerning alien technology. We can't use any of this, we made a mandate not to bring any outside-world technology to our cause for fear of severe repercussions."

"Like what kind?"

"Catastrophic. We've had a few too many close shaves to really start messing with stuff we do not understand, forty-nine was at the last disposal actually and he uhhh...um...f-forty-nine?"

They all turned to see that one of their friends had disappeared. Not a trace could be seen of his presence as 57 called for him by radio.

"Forty-nine, come in. .........forty-nine, respond, do you read me? ............Mother, we've lost contact with forty-nine."

"What?"

"We cannot contact him, he was following us in the same hall, but he's disappeared, can you contact him?"

"Forty-nine this is Mother, do you read me? ......forty-nine you are ordered to respond immediately, do you copy?!"

"How did he disappear?!" cried Koopin. "We're standing in a hallway, there's nowhere else he can go!"

"Who was holding his hand?" asked 86.

"I was," said 38, "but I needed to adjust my helmet, it turned slightly out of focus so I couldn't see and my hands were briefly occupied."

"Well from now on," stated Kammy, "all of you have at least one hand upon each other closely, do NOT lose any contact with each other, period, is that clear?!"

"Yes Mother. Apologies."

She clicked off as they progressed further in, finding the end of the conduits' path to reach a larger much cleaner sort of room with a strange enormous device at one end of it. It appeared to be a computer, a large monitor dominating above a thin emerald-coloured panel that stuck out from its surroundings due to its bright shade. But what mystified them even more were the two giant cylindrical pods that looked big enough to fit a person in them, one on each side of the system.

"What is that?" gasped Koopin.

"I don't know," said 86, "but it looks like our main objective. Hold onto me, I need to take a shot of this."

"Right."

They all stood close to him as he photographed it, before heading over to investigate it properly as Koopin looked over the odd clean slate beneath the monitor. He tapped gently upon it but nothing seemed to activate, nor did there appear to be any keys or lines within to indicate such.

"How does this thing work, is it just a sculpture?"

"No it can't be," said 57, "the conduits end here."

"Well Blooshan gave me this key...at least I think it's one, must be some kind of slot I can put this into."

Gently pulling out the strange "key" from his suit pocket, Koopin felt around once more to find a thin slot on the left side of the panel. As soon as he inserted it, the machine began to wake with a rumbling sound vibrating through the entire floor of the submerged room, sending out distortions in the water as the walls forcefully sucked the control centre dry. The intense rushing waters caused them to stumble in panic as Koopin and 57 watched the monitor closely. Once the fluids had been drained, the monitor started to send power into the pods which began to slide open as if beckoning its new visitors inside. The panel also began to light up, but not showing a keyboard oddly enough. Instead it showed two hand prints that did not resemble anything they had seen. Two enormous clawed digits on each hand reaching at least 14 inches.

"That...th-th-that's a very...large hand."

"Yes. What if..."

The agent gently moved Koopin to one side and placed his own hands on the imprints. By some bizarre metamorphosis, the panel moulded its prints to fit the koopa's hands like a child's clay as there came a voice from the monitor.

"NEURAL RECORDER IDENTIFIED. SCANNING GAMMA WAVES."

"Wh-what the," stuttered Kennidon, "i-i-it just spoke our language!"

"USER UNKNOWN, NEURAL ACTIVITY DOES NOT MATCH DESIGNATED USER. ACCESS NOW LIMITED."

"Access? Neural activity, is this thing reading your mind?"

"Seems like it," muttered the agent, "it must recognise who uses it that way, like a fingerprint scan."

"That would be hard to fake...what access do we have?"

"I'll ask it."

"ACCESS NOW LIMITED TO PREVIOUS DATA RETRIEVAL. FULL ACCESS SHALL BE RESTORED ONCE USER RETURNS TO THEIR ORIGINAL NEURAL CAPACITY."

"Hm...seems like it pre-empted our question, mind-reading."

"Wow...it's like some sort of...psychic computer, that's incredible! Well, what about data retrieval then, there has to be something useful."

"Alright let's see."

Mentally asking to retrieve all of the data from his "personal access", the KIB agent watched with steady gaze upon the screen as it searched through Blooshan's key data. Eventually it began to flicker as a voice came from the past, a voice clearly different from that of the main system despite nothing showing on the screen.

"Are you awake?"

"...yes."

"Good. Welcome to the Vortex Hive, new drone."

"I...I am alive?"

"Yes. You have been born anew from a species now beneath you. Beneath us."

"What...species?"

"It does not concern you. Now tell me what you know."

"I...I know of our history. I know of our creed. I know of our Queen."

"Recite to me our creed, or else you shall be deemed a degenerate."

"The...the creed of the Vortex...to harvest the secrets of our prey. To strengthen our breed through purity. To continue our existence and thrive from the flesh of other species so as to never hunger."

"Very good. You shall learn to thrive for our Queen."

The recording cut off as it skipped ahead towards a new data file.

"Drone, you have your first mission."

"Yes, Warrior."

"You must hunt this new world for sustenance to the Hive. Capture your prey alive, then bring them to us."

"I will do so, warrior. What prey should I collect?"

"The fertile and the young. One is slow and sumptuous, the other is lean and inexperienced. You are not yet ready to take on the warriors of your prey."

"I understand."

"Fertile and young?" murmured Koopin. "You...you don't think he means-"

"Just keep listening, there's another file."

"You have a new mission, drone."

"Yes, warrior?"

"The one you were born from, perfected from its imperfect genes, has come to invade our Hive."

"It must be searching for its offspring. I know where I shall find it."

"There is another danger. This intruder is accompanied by our most wretched foe, the Pod Traitor."

"Traitor?"

"This creature has defied the will of its race, to become our most natural prey and circumstance, but it refuses to follow the order of things, the order of our hierarchy. This traitor now hunts through the passageways of our Hive along with your genetic spawn. You are an unusual drone, and so I give you this task."

"Is this traitor...the one whose name we dare not speak?"

"Yes, that one. Kill the prey, but do not feast upon it. We shall make its flesh an offering to our Queen and no more will that loathsome degenerate exist. Now go...should you fail in your mission, then you shall also be deemed a degenerate like the one we birthed you from."

"Yes...Warrior."

"Traitor?" pondered 57. "He mentions a pod but he mentioned a hive before."

"Isn't that what dolphins have? Pods are for dolphins but a hive is something insects would have, and the...you said the marks on those dolphins before were different."

"Yes?"

"What if this...thing has something against them?"

"It would be an odd sort of hatred to invoke that curiosity. But I believe you're right, there is something connected to dolphins with this creature. There's more."

The next recording sounded different, namely for the fact that Warrior had now been replaced by a young frantic voice of a different species.

"Why are you fighting me?! I just want my son back!"

"You are an intruder of the Hive, and so you must be punished."

"Please, Karziisss! You were created from me, I don't want to kill you!"

"If you lack the instinct to kill, you do not deserve existence."

"I do not kill family, you are my brother and I REFUSE to kill you!"

"...what...did you call me?"

"I will not kill my brother."

"I...I am not your brother, strange beast."

"My brothers and sisters have the same scent as my family. So do you. That is why I shall not kill you, I will fight you but I will not kill you."

"Brother?" asked Koopin. "What does he mean?"

"No idea...the monitor should be showing us but its visual functions may have been damaged from the crash. Wait, this is the last recording."

Another voice, one that almost sang with calmness joined the young voice as well as that of Karziisss.

"We can save his mind with that machine."

"What is it?"

"A neural projector, it can send his entire neural network as a copy into another creature across existence. The Hive made it as a precaution after my interventions, to preserve their more important members such as their Queen."

"Why...do you wish to save me?"

"You are my brother. We may not have the same mother, but you are still family."

"But...I...I hunted your offspring."

"Are we not hunters? Is it not your duty to hunt the same as I, just as it is my duty to protect my family at any cost? You are right about me and you being not so different, and you must know that I will do anything to save my son."

"I...am a hunter. A drone of the Queen."

"Then why did you fight your leader to save us?"

"I......I do not know. To think my inferior, and the traitor, wish to save my mind from decaying inside this wretched body...something made me...choose you over my Hive."

"We were not the ones who wounded you. We should not punish your mercy with absolution. Come, put your key into the machine and we shall transmit your mind to someplace safe."

"Wh-where...will I go?"

"Somewhere you shall live in peace. Where your mercy shall blossom unto others, to free you from this twisted creed."

"You...p-promise my freedom?"

"By the machines of your kind that so enslave others, I shall free you-KZZZZRRR-"

"-away from the machine, degenerates."

"You cannot take on both of us, drone!"

_ "I am a warrior, address me with RESPECT vermin!" _

"YOU are the vermin here, infecting my world!"

_ "What you call infection is but improvement!" _

"LOOK OUT!"

KRHHHHZZHHHH

"What?! N-n-no! NO, the machine!"

"Karziisss, can you hear me?! Karziisss! KARZIISSS!"

"NEURAL TRANSMITTANCE INTERRUPTED. SUBJECT INCOMPLETE AT SIXTY PERCENT, ALPHA AND THETA WAVES OF BOTH SUBJECTS NOW PRESERVED INTO USER'S ORIGINAL BODY."

"KARZIISSS! KARZIIIIIIISSS!"

_ "RHHHHHAAAAAAAAARRRRR-" _

The recording finally ended, a monstrous bellow trembling throughout the room that sent fear of a most primal nature down deep into both of the koopas. They glanced at each other nervously, too afraid to even turn their heads for fear of the monsters that lurked within the darkness behind them. Slowly taking out the key, Koopin dreaded the words that came out of his mouth for fear it would attract attention.

"That...that scream at the end. That was a giant blooper...and...something else."

"It was," replied the agent.

"Wh-what do you think...happened to Blooshan?"

"He might understand this," replied the agent, "more than we ever could. I cannot fathom what sort of process he has gone through, but I assume from what was said that this process failed and caused his original mind to be...separated somehow. And through that process he had part of his mind reborn in Blooshan."

"He did mention a portal that shot something into him...but that...this ship only came here a few months ago, th-th-that was when I was...when...B-blooshan saved me I-i was a little kid, that was almost thirty years ago!"

"Then this vessel must have been roaming across different worlds for that many years before landing in ours. Failure of its systems."

"Well...we got what we came here for, so let's just get out of here as soon as we-......h-...h-hello? Guys?"

57 turned to find they were both completely alone inside the control centre. 38 and 86 had disappeared without a trace as the lone remaining agent called them on his radio.

"Thirty-eight, respond. Eighty-six please respond, we can't find you."

"Th-this is eighty-six! I...I-i-i was being d-dragged, b-behind you!"

"What?"

"S-someone took us, me and thirty-eight, we were kidnapped a-a-and I can't find him!"

"Remember your training, this is especially not the time to panic."

"YOU DIDN'T SEE THIS THING, IT HAD ITS CLAWS AROUND MY FACE!"

"DON'T talk back to me with that tone, you are a professional now calmly tell me where you went!"

"O-okay...hokay...I...I think I managed to loop round back to where we...started no wait this...this is somewhere back in the corridor leading towards where you are right now."

"Good, I want you to keep walking towards us and we shall come find you. Understood?"

"Y-yes...I understand it-...I'll just keep walking to-...towards you."

"We're leaving as soon as we find you, thirty-eight and forty-nine I have no idea where they could be, but we are going to dispose of this ship with creature and all insi-"

"I found him."

The deathly still in the agent's voice gave pause to 57.

"...what?"

"I...I-i found him. You better come quick."

Koopin ran with 57 as they held hands firmly tight to keep from losing each other in their rush to find 86. But not before the agent handed Koopin a fire flower from his suit pocket.

"Do you know how to use this?"

"......yeah. I do, just...point and shoot."

"That's good. They'll work both above and underwater, if you see anything that does not resemble a koopa, shoot first, is that understood?"

"Y-yes."

"Let's go."

Wielding his sturdy large claw hammer whilst Koopin gripped the stem of his incendiary plant carefully, the two went down the long twisting hall back to the decompression chamber before they found their fellow koopas around 30 minutes later. Both of them were standing still, with 86 facing towards them in a bleak shock and 49 facing away from them.

"Are you alright?!" asked Koopin.

"He...h-h-h-he...it came for us."

"When?!"

"When you were watching th-the monitor...that thing. H-h-h-horrifying-"

"Forty-nine."

The other koopa kept his back towards 57.

"Forty-nine, answer me."

Still he did not speak, as Koopin and the agent walked forwards with 86 remaining perfectly frozen with fear blanketing his eyes in the abyss of the long skin-lathered corridor. The KIB agent pulled 49's shoulder to turn him round.

"A-A-AAAAH, OHHH JEEEEZ!"

Koopin felt his heart twist in a knot of horror as he screamed at what they witnessed. His face had been removed, beak and everything to leave a hollow carved remnant of his skull and helmet. The pull of 57's hand forced the body to crumple onto the floor as 86 struggled to compose himself.

"Th-th-that thing...it...it's picking us off one by one."

"Then we are leaving," said 57, "this ship is now a class two threat and we shall leave no trace of it in our world, period. We have what we need now let's-"

"W-wait, what's that?!"

Something trembled behind Koopin as he heard a familiar sound he knew all too well. The sound of water rushing forth with thick voluminous force down the tunnel they were now in. The foul bilious liquid had soon overcome them, pouring with torrential flood as they struggled not to slam themselves into the walls by grabbing onto each other, the world consumed by a dark wretched effluence.

"WH-what was that?! Why did it fill up again!?"

"Must be a cycle," said 57, "must be motion-activated."

"We have to get out of here!" cried 86. "Th-that thing, if it comes back, we won't stand a chance against it!"

"Then ready your weapons and let's retreat, make sure none of us are out of each other's sight."

"Okay...a-a-alright, I......s-s-stop."

"What?"

"Don't. Move."

Through 86's eyes there was something strange about the wall to his left behind 57. It glimmered with a sharp serpentine spine unlike any part of the wall surrounding. The spine started to move as he shouted:

"O-OPEN FIRE!"

Blasting from the hip, he shot his fire flower into the wall sending a brief blazing ball piercing through the water before it collided with a small burst.

"WH-WHERE IS IT?!"

"Calm DOWN you fool!"

"I-I-I-I SAW IT! I SAW SOMETHING!"

"You're letting fear get to you you ignorant shell-headed-"

"SHUT UP! I WON'T DIE HERE, I'M NOT GONNA.....gonna........."

The look in their eyes told him everything. A brief current flowed past his elbow as there came the deepest primordial fear that he would ever know in his existence. Through the waters came a sound, muted and piercing, hissing against his helmet. His hand shook unsteadily as he tried to brace his feet, readying to run as soon as he could.

"No," said 57. "Don't. Move."

"H-h-help. H-help...me."

"Just stay calm. Koopin, when I say fire, aim above eighty-six's head."

"H-h-he's not gonna...h-h-he's not gonna get me."

"Please, remain calm."

"I-i-i saw what it did. I know what it did."

"Trust me then. Do not move, let me jus-NOOO!"

The koopa turned and fired desperately, blasting a volley of flames through the porous ooze as something lunged for his shoulder, slashing huge claws deep enough to gouge as he fell screaming. He turned towards the creature who responded with its own blast of a screeching chemical spray from its throat, billowing acidic bubbles on 86's face.

"_A-AAARGH, AAAAAAAAAAARGH, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGH! _"

His scream deafened the other two through the helmet communiqués as they watched his face, stricken with horror at the acid burning through the thick glass-strengthened helmet and down upon his flesh. Yellow skin began to seethe like rotting fruit, his eyes melting as he started clawing at his beak. Koopin would never forget his scream. Nor would 57 as the moment his friend stopped screaming, there lied a half-melted koopa's skull staring before them. It was only then they looked up towards another creature, from another world entirely.

A glimmering domed head with sharp piercing fangs from an eyeless face, a chitinous body of black verdant hue and long wicked claws that carried strips of yellow flesh still hanging off of them. Its body ended below the waist in a long skeletal tail like that of a monstrous eel as it floated before them in demonic stature, its voice seething through the waters until it echoed inside their heads. Koopin had heard this voice before as he began to smell the bleeding ink, the writhing flesh against his fingers and the waters of sickness in his mouth. Dreams becoming nightmares.

"Wh-wh-what...th-that thing is-"

"This...what in stars' name are you?"

Fear crept into the agent's heart as he readied himself, knowing regretfully that this thing would be far more versatile in water than they ever could as he stood before Koopin with hammer ready. The creature floated closer with acid churning in its throat, spitting out a toxic bubble pulse that they dodged away from.

"GET BACK!" shouted 57.

"WH-WHAT DO WE DO!?"

"JUST DO WHAT I SAY, WE'RE NOT DYING ON THIS SHIP!"

"B-BUT, THEY, KIERAN-"

"I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU KOOPIN, NOW FIRE WHEN I TELL YOU TO!"

Brandishing his weapon with aggressive stance, the agent lured the creature towards him with his larger bulk as it swung out with raking claws that cut through the water like blades of purest steel. He hooked the claw of his hammer against the beast's spindly arm pulling it harder towards him as he shouted to Koopin to fire at its back. Kennidon struggled to aim as he shot off four flames, two of them missing but two would find their mark against the sinuous spine causing the monster to shriek. Pushing 57 against the wall, the alien turned and launched itself towards Koopin with screeching fury, its tail behind whistling like a scythe in the corn as he fired constantly. With panicked eyes and trembling hand he missed more than he hit, catching the monster's neck and left shoulder as it swiped at his weapon with such ferocious force that it severed the flower completely, decapitating its red-hot petals to lie scattered through the water cooling. But before it could land its next strike on Koopin, it felt itself being jerked viciously back by the hammer brother grabbing at his tail, gritting his teeth as his muscles twitched with flexing veins beneath the arms of his suit.

"KOOPIN. RUN! GET TO THE AIRLOCK KOOPIN!"

He didn't dare disobey his voice, running fast as he could with great lagging steps as he pushed himself furiously through the thickening water pressure. Struggling with his heart racing, he clutched his chest in panicked sobs fearing the darkness would kill him as soon as he stopped to breathe, whimpering frantically as he stood at the chamber entrance waiting for anyone to come following. He hoped with all his heart that 57 would come running to see him, catching his breath as he wept against the wall, shivering into his hands until something came pounding and crunching like monstrous teeth against the walls.

"KIERAN!"

In the faint abyss, he could see two shapes wrestling with each other violently, one of them clearly his friend locked into the grip of the vicious entity, grappling its black arms to force its claws away from his body whilst evading its slender jaws that dripped venom from its teeth. The creature's head was close enough that even underwater, the agent slammed his head underneath its chin before pushing himself away with a double kick to its chest. He ran sluggishly through the aquatic tunnel before forcing himself through into the chamber as Koopin followed, the motion-activated system closing the door behind them as it slowly began to drain the water around them.

"H-hhhhh...h-hoh s-stars we m-made...we made it."

"Y-yes...hhhhhnnnn...we...will not stay a minute longer in-"

BANG. The chamber shook as something thudded against the door whilst the water continued draining. Then came another thud, the monster shrieking from the other side clawing with a raking sound that screeched like nails on a blackboard.

"IT'S COMING THROUGH!"

"Get behind me! We might have a chance out of the water."

"We...w-we're trapped. I-i can't fight something like this, n-not like this."

"If anything happens, I want you to run."

"Wh-what?"

"As soon as that door opens behind us, you run. Fast as you can back to the submarine. Do not wait for me."

BANG.

"N-n-no! No we can pray, the stars'll save us!"

"Koopin-"

"Th-they saved me before! When I was facing a demon, they saved my life, I-i-i can just-"

"And how long will it take to grant our wish before we're being torn apart by this wretched monster?"

"I-...I-i-i dunno."

BANG.

"Exactly. They might have saved you once, but we're not taking any chances, you will run as soon as that door opens."

"THE STARS WILL SAVE US KIERAN THEY SAVED ME ONCE, PLEASE!"

Slowly the creature managed to wedge its claws into the door's opening sections, screaming grinding sounds as the compression chamber struggled to cope with its malfunction. 57 did not change his grimaced tone towards him.

"Promise me."

"...I...I-i-i don't want you to die here. P-p-please, give me time to pray, I-i-i know the stars will answer us."

"There's no time. Whatever happens...I will always do my best to protect you."

".....I...I have to tell you something."

"Then tell me later."

"GO, NOW!"

Koopin ran as soon as the door opened, both the one behind him as well as the one that the alien tore itself through with slavering fangs and ridged body crawling on the grates. The lack of water reduced its speed but it still remained a most lethal opponent as the hammer brother wielded his black iron weapon.

"_FACE ME, MONSTER! IN THE NAME OF HIS MAJESTY, I SHALL NOT LET YOU LIIIVE! _"

Leaping forwards with its slicing tail behind it, the entity swung its claws with an explosive strength as 57 struck it hard across the head. The beast was not stunned as it slashed its talons across his helmet, raking scars on the glass before feeling the crushing blow against one of its arms. Pain was a numbing dull sensation it had not felt since birth, and one that it easily ignored by its most basic instinct. The alien lunged for his legs, grabbing one before striking upwards with its tail like a scorpion's to plunge through 57's heart. The koopa timed his hammer strike perfectly, cracking a solid blow with his backhand claw to knock the razor-sharp tip off its course, whistling past his shoulder as he grabbed the tail underneath one of his arms and slammed his hammer straight down upon its lower abdomen. Screeching with throbbing bruise, the sea creature tried to squirm itself out of his wrestler's grip, the tail lashing frantically behind the agent's back as he swung down for a second crush against whatever organs it had inside it. Soon it released his foot, pulling itself hard enough to yank its tail out of the koopa's grip as he released quickly to avoid the slashing whip, the creature reasserting itself back onto its belly to crawl forwards once again as 57 backed up. Thick pure acid vomited from its throat in an attempt to wound the agent, but he dodged quickly seeing the dripping froth from its chin before he rushed forwards and swung his iron claw down onto the beast's head. Blunt trauma delivered two dents into its domed visage as it snarled with fury, grabbing at his arm and pulling him in to crawl itself on top of him. He struck across its head with rage shaking in his hands to subdue the fear that was lurking inside his heart, gasping as the creature tried to bite down upon his helmet. Its jaws were strong but not enough to crack through the steel, bending it with a crunching sound as 57 whacked his hammer straight at its throat. Brief choking sounds stifled its attack, enough for him to push the beast off him and swing down with righteous mallet upon its neck again and again, straddling its ribcage with his girth as he started seeing red. Crushing its larynx with desperate force, the alien screeched and sputtered gasping sounds trying to vomit up its poison, but always finding it being forced back down by its constant assault upon its throat. Swinging with claws blindly in frustrated anguish, the beast managed to strike true and rake hard into the koopa's suited front. He didn't stop beating it, knowing it had to die eventually, knowing that all living things needed to breathe and he was determined if nothing else to sever its head completely from its neck by crushing it into a black verminous paste. The monster continued its slashing frenzy, ripping as hard as it could with each new layer being carved upon 57's chest as he hammered with shaking fists clenching the handle together. Shell fragments began to crack as he felt his flesh being ripped to pieces. He never stopped.

"_RRRRRRRRRAAAAA-A-A-A-A-A- A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-AAAAAAAAAARGH! _"

Koopin heard him scream with furious bellow across the halls, frantically pacing at the exit. He didn't want to leave but at the same time he knew he had to. He felt strangely cold and heated at the same time, shivering with panic as he hoped silently to the stars above that Kieran would live. That he would see through this and fight the monster off long enough to escape. He prayed with all his might, tears streaming down his face against the glass curve of his helmet. He waited. He heard the sound of footsteps.

"K-ki...k-...KIERAN!"

Stumbling from the darkness with deep stomach wound was his friend clutching himself. His feet dragged against the grating, his suit ragged with tears as he felt his oxygen deplete quicker with every second. His hammer gripped tightly in his other hand dripped with a foul black ichor.

"I knew, I-i-i knew you would, I prayed-"

"We're leaving now."

"Y-yes. Yes I'll just-H-HEY! HEY WE'RE LEAVING, WE GOT TWO PEOPLE HERE, ONE OF THEM'S INJURED!"

The door to the submarine opened as Koopin guided 57 in with great effort, closing behind as they soon departed from the sunken ship. The crew on the sub put the vehicle into autopilot to ascend cautiously before attending to the agent's wounds, seeing the monster had dug deep into his flesh and twisted up his shell's front belly as they stripped him of his suit and gave him oxygen. Koopin took his helmet off with reddened eyes and frantic breaths, shivering with horror at the monstrous wound as both shell and bone became locked together like branches twisting on a winter's night.

"Oh...s-s-stars you're...I-i'm so sorry."

"This wasn't your fault," murmured the agent.

"I...I dunno what to say. This...this was just awful. All of this. Everything."

"I made a promise. I would protect you, Koopin."

"But...but I don't think...that I deserve it."

"Why?"

"Be...because I...I-i-i-i need to tell you something."

"Tell me when we get back on land. I can't focus."

"N-no. No I need to-"

"Koopin. I won't leave this world today."

"H-how do you-"

"Do you trust me?"

"......I...I do."

"Then let me sleep...for now."

Koopin slowly backed up to sit himself down at his seat whilst the submarine crew attended to Kieran, the agent slowly dropping off to sleep as they did their best to suture his wounds and repair any critical damage. Koopin feared the worst as his breathing began to soften, his chest rising slowly less and less with each passing minute as he started weeping into his fists. All he could do was hope and pray that things would turn out for good.

---

"And so I survived," said 57, "barely. The wound was deep, I remained in intensive care for the next two months whilst they stitched up the best they could. I only have one kidney, and half of my liver had to grow back but apart from that I survived well enough as you can see."

"Damn," murmured Roy, "that...that wuz messed up. You tellin' me sum kinda SEA ALIEN came down on this world an' killed all your buddies?"

"The three that were with me yes. But I made sure that Koopin would survive more than anything, I would give my life to save a civilian. All of us would."

"Makes sense when you're a soldier...ah would do thuh same thing too."

"I know."

"So whut did Blooshan think of all that data you found out about him?"

"He was...strangely quiet, and in remorse. Like he had just learned of a friend he had long since forgotten and almost mourned him. But as to who it was I could not tell you. I cannot imagine what experience he had knowing that his mind had been split apart and transmitted across the realms of space."

"That does sound real messed up, but then ah seen weirder stuff so ah guess it shouldn't really surprise me that much-HWUH-JESUS!"

The sound of the telephone ring almost made him jump with a start, before he marched off the couch and picked it up as quickly as he could.

"Hello?! ......yeah this is Kennidon's house. No Koopin's off away, ahm currently housesitting. ......Roy MacGregor, ahm listed as a friend of family? ......oh, cool ah can pick him up? Great, ahll come down righ' now, be there in about thirty minutes. ...alrigh', thank you, you have a nice day."

He smiled as he put the receiver down.

"FG's ready to come home from hospital."

"That's good," replied 57, "would you like me to accompany you?"

"Uhhh, sure? Ah mean if you want you can wait here, ah don' mind."

"Just in case you need assistance."

"Heh, ah can handle one raptor, ah done handled him plenty times before."

"Is that so? Maybe you can tell me sometime as part of the official secrets act."

"Sure, why not, let's go then."

Roy walked out of the Kennidon household along with his new acquaintance, the hulking hammer brother making sure he locked the door before making their way down towards the town and its hospital off in the distance. Churning away in Roy's mind was the fact that Koopin and his world never ceased to amaze him by what it accomplished when, even in the face of great horrors from beyond, there was nothing that could break that indomitable spirit of simplicity and tenderness that this world seemed to exhibit always. A kingdom he would respect more than he ever thought he could.