FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

James found himself waking up in front of the TV, which had been turned off by the time he felt his lids fluttering above his eyes with a wincing slight. Sighing softly as the world came back to him, the familiar scene of a koopa's house gave reassurance that he was not dreaming once again as he smelt something delicious from behind him. He turned his head and saw his boyfriend cooking away on the stove as he slowly got himself up with a stretch noisily. "Good morniiiing!" said Koopin across the house. "I was wondering when you'd be up!" "Mmmmmm sorry...did I miss anything?" "No no don't worry. I mean ther than me getting some shroom fry ready for ya, also got some rice with it to fill ya up." "Ohhh good. I've been needing some food." "Hehehee! Well you just sit down here and I'll have it ready in a few minutes ." He gladly walked into the medium-sized kitchen and sat himself down on the table which had a plate and cutlery set all ready and out for him. The kitchen was a butter-yellow colour like the rest of Koopin's house's walls, but the cupboards had also been coloured the same with the fridge having a more creamy pale colour. A few minutes indeed was how long it took as Koopin brought over two steaming plates of fried sliced mushrooms dappled with various spices, along with a hefty portion of rice on the side. "Would you like tea with it?" "Ummmm...naaah not yet, you got any juice?" "I do, some orange juice!" Koopin gladly went to his fridge and poured out a glass for James beside his plate, whilst he himself settled on a mild cup of koopa tea infused with leaves to give it a minty warmth as they tucked in. The moment he tasted the mushrooms on his tongue he was whimpering, the raptor scrunching his claws underneath his chair with the happiest-sounding moan as Koopin stared up at him, his left eye still purple and bruised. "Mmmmmmph!" "Heheh, you like?" "Sooooo gooood I missed this." Wasting no time he was starting to wolf it down without any sense of control as the koopa smiled bashfully at his boyfriend ravenous for his food, eating his own at a moderate pace with occasional sips of tea. The sun was shining through the window on the wall as it painted across the wood of the table as James stopped long enough in his eating to ask: "Any big plans today?" "Just heading down to see my mom and dad, remember?" "Ohh yeah, huh...bet they'll be happy to see me." "I should hope so! You have no idea how much we've all been missing you, not just me but my parents too!" "I know I have a lot to make up for, but I'm done with big journeys and such so I wanna just settle down here. I mean if you're okay with me staying here and all, I'll get a job again and we can just be together if you want." "Of course I do," said Koopin. "Why would you think I wouldn't?" "I just wanted you to make your own choice, you shouldn't feel indebted to me or anything, this is your house." "Yes, yes it is, and I say I want you to live here with me." "Heh...you're the boss." The sound of whimpering attracted both of them to look down at the feet of the table as someone had come sneaking through surprisingly well for what was essentially an iron-skinned beast. Charlie gave his most sweet-hearted puppy dog eyes with frowning look up towards James as Koopin stopped him. "Noooo Charlie, daddy needs to have all his strength, I fed you already." Little panting licks of his teeth amidst tinier sounds was tempting James even further but he trusted Koopin's words and resisted the urge. "Sorry Charlie. Don't wanna overfeed you, daddy Koopin gave you your breakfast and I know he wouldn't say that if it wasn't true." The koopa smiled despite the chomp's best insistence of a fawning moan for more food as James turned back towards his boyfriend. "So we go meet your parents, and that's...it, nothing else?" "I got an appointment in two weeks," said Koopin, "you can come too if you like, it's down at the 1.2.8." "An appointment? It's a club, not a doctor's office." "I do some work there, just a little technician's job on the side to keep the money rolling in." "I didn't know you were good with electrical stuff." "Well I sorta learned bits and pieces, yanno...but you can come along too if you want, come on down to the club, there's a DJ down there you might like to hear." "Oh really? What's his style?" "Ehhh a little progressive, little trip-hop, some breakbeat actually." "Oooh I like breakbeat, that's like the younger brother of dubstep." "Um...it's not?" "What come on it totally is." "Well, how can it be the YOUNGER brother if breakbeat came out before dubstep?" "Uhhhh...r-right, my point is breakbeat is cool because it reminds me a lot of dubstep except it's got a less...heavy sound to it, sorta feisty like a martial artist." "And dubstep isn't?" "Dubstep's kinda heavy, sorta thick and hard like a brawler or a real heavyweight boxer, it slams so much more deep and it's...slower-sounding." "You'd make a great journalist," said Koopin sarcastically ribbing, "I'd love to hear you covering the new Tri-Hex albums." "You know what I mean," said James rolling his eyes. "So, which one do you like more then? Breakbeat or dubstep?" "Well I mean I like all electronic music, honestly I used to love electro-rock before dubstep, I guess I just like the FORCE of it, like it just screams in your face." "Most people wouldn't like that." "Well I'm not most people," said FG winking, "honestly if the music makes me wanna bounce around then it's good, I mean it could be some stirring classical piece like Klair normally would do and if it makes me wanna dance then I'll like it." "I still remember when you told her you hated opera. Wow. I mean, wow." James almost felt his heart jump as he pressed his head down nearly against the table with a hand on his skull. "Ohhhhhh jesus I forgot about that, she was so mad." "Hhhehehee, she was not impressed, that was funny." "Funny?! I thought she was gonna shove her flute down my throat, she was getting all frenzied about 'OHHH the kids like you just don't appreciate a good hammer chorus, I mean sure I appreciate a good bit of rock now and again but you have no respect the classics, what about Il Toadatore?!' and I'm like 'jesus Klair PLEASE I just said I don't like the warbling sound they make when a solo part sings, the classical stuff is FINE' I mean jeeeeez." Koopin cackled with his eyes scrunching up over his beak with delight. "Hhhahahahaha, awwww this is gonna be so great to have you meet everyone again. So wanna come to the club?" "Sure, I mean somebody invites me to a club how can I say no? Wasn't that the club where we first met?" "Yeah it was!" Koopin's eyes became slightly misty along with James' as they both reminisced with a tingling through their veins, the younger koopa mumbling: "I was just sitting at the bar nursing on a drink after a long day, then you came walking up to me and said 'hey there, I was on that tour at that fortress a few days back, you're a good guide!' and I was like 'yeah I'm glad you liked it!'" "Then we start ordering some Superstar Cider to just ease into things, I could only focus on the weird shell marks you had that I remembered on you and was like 'hey I know this dude, I'll just say hi' and before you know it, I had you on the sofa right inside your house and we had a pretty good night." "Ohhhh definitely...mmmmmm...you were calling me a good boy, and I...saw how odd your um...body looked compared to most I've seen." "But you liked it in every way." "I really did...I still remember the musk you have, such an earthy spicy scent that just t-tingles me everytime we touch...whenever we get close..." "And you have that warmth...that most perfect warmth and soft smooth body on you I could just squeeze against me..." Their minds briefly crossed each other's wires as they realised it had been many years since they felt each other closely, in the most intimate sense before responsibility took over the reins on both of them as Koopin murmured: "We have plans today though." "Oh yeah definitely," added James clear and nodding, "we have to sort out some things to be sorted out-" "Stuff to do-" "I mean I just got back, I need to get my feet in and wet so I'm not just some freeloader." "Right right of course w-w-we wouldn't want that." "Yanno I think I should go ask at that bar again and see if they still got a position open for me." "And if they don't?" asked Koopin. "Then I'll go someplace else. Seriously it's kinda easy to get a job in this place, that's another thing I love about the Mushroom Kingdom. No matter where you go I almost never see anyone without a job...except when in Rogueport but that's its own series of problems." "Well technically that's not in the Mushroom Kingdom so I think your point still stands, the princess' authority doesn't reach out to those parts." "Wait who rules that place then?" "Different areas have governing mayors basically that meet in something of an autonomous collective, my dad told me about this since he's from Petalburg." "Doesn't the Delfino Mafia run Rogueport?" "Unofficially...there is an actual mayor but he is useless." "You know it's kinda sad the reason I really liked Rogueport was because it reminds me of back home. That's not a good thing." "Not really," said the koopa, "but I didn't wanna look insulting so I let you enjoy yourself. I think it's more you understand Rogueport rather than actually like it." "That's probably it," stated FG, "still, the unemployment rate is practically non-existent in this kingdom, Is it just because people are really good here, or is there some kind of rule from the princess about this?" "Pretty much both."

They soon finished up their breakfast as the koopa washed his plates before they went to enjoy a shower together. Keeping away from their naughty thoughts as they convinced themselves that it would be much more climactic and wondrous if they saved themselves up for a fuller lengthlier night rather than just a quick little fun in the bathroom, it did nothing to stop them turning erect from the ideas that were slowly turning in their heads. But they kept firmly resolved and patient as they washed each other down with sensuous professionalism as soap ran down their smooth backs. The raptor couldn't help but sweep his arms around Koopin and press his oily-slick chest against the sweet yellow-skinned back, cuddling him gently as the koopa cleaned his arms and chest to finish up before they exited together. Rubbing themselves down, they soon had their clothes ready for outdoors and headed out with Charlie safe enough to be on his own in the back garden between sturdy fences. The two kissed as they held hands before opening the front door stepping out into the world again together for the first time in almost five years. James as always was in his self-cleaned jeans and boxers with bare chest, leaving his weapon within the wardrobe at Koopin's house knowing it was far too weak and deprived of strength to commit to any task by itself. Koopin was simply in his shell with the two marks like incomplete triangular points heading upwards well-grooved into the hard texture, his shorts and sleeveless shirt underneath with a cotton patch refitted over his left eye nursed with disinfectant. Both of them waved and smiled at every neighbour that they had in the little town of Koopamuir, despite their bruises still being clear to see especially upon Koopin's face. Luckily they were all aware of this already, but James' return amongst those familiar with him brought strange looks of curiosity and gasps of excitement to see him once again. Most of them he couldn't remember for he never really paid much attention to neighbours in his time with Koopin previous, but the moment they were about to leave the area of the settlement, one koopa guarding the front gate turned with a look of great incredulity. "Wh-wh-wha-...James?! Nooooo waaaaaaay James is that you?!?!" "Heheheh, it is!" replied him. "I-i-i...how did-...I don't remember seeing you arrive, when was this?!" "I think you woulda been given a medal for staying out in that wind, it was crazy." "Wait, the wind?! So you only came back like...two days ago?!?" "He did!" said Koopin. "I can't believe it either but well...he's here Kory!" The raptor smiled nodding with a thankfulness to Koopin for mentioning the guard's name who then replied with a firm shake of James' hand. "Well may I welcome you back James, it is so good to see you I mean...wow you look...just cannot believe-jeez you had a pretty rough day, you and Koopin even!" "Yeaaaaaah um, the way home was pretty rough." "I can tell...you alright? Koopin was so worried about you, I mean all of us were." "I'm sorry to make you all worry, I wouldn't have gone if I didn't have to." "No more apologies," said Koopin, "you said enough to me last night, I know you had good reasons. Let's just enjoy the fact you're here and now." "Exactly," added Kory, "so I guess you're off to get all reacquainted with everybody then." "Mmhmm, we gotta get to the train station and just meet my parents, I know they'll love to see him again." "Agreed, hey you heard that DJ was coming out to 1.2.8?" "Oh yeah I was just telling James, we're gonna go see him." "Great, okay then I won't keep you, you guys have a great day and James? It's great to see you." "Thanks a lot Kory." James shook hands with him once again. "I hope I'll be staying here for real." "Me too, you're always welcome here! See ya later!" "Later!" As they headed down the road towards Toad Town, they met plenty of smiles and waves along the way as they shook hands, nodded and just gave as many greetings as they could to every koopa, toad and goomba that they came across. Koopin was already known by everyone in this rather close-knit community of the kingdom but James was hardly forgettable as a rather unusual creature. The road to the town was longer than he thought it would be, but that was more because they were taking such a leisurely good pace as they stretched out their feet and traipsed through towards a southwest general path. When Toad Town was in sight, the people were bustling on the streets with their usual wares of food, clothing and advertisements for local shops as James felt his sense of direction come back to him swiftly. The great castle of Princess Peach shining white and pink stood north of them with the Forever Forest slightly north and to the east stretching farther out into its own strange area. The area to the west was goomba territory as well as nearing the mountainous regions, whilst the south was their main destination in form of the train station. There were also docks to the southwest as well as the many clubs and bars but Koopin focused on the train station first looking up the times on the schedule. It would be an hour yet before it would come back from the desert region so they decided to wander about reconnecting with everyone. James' first port of call was the gay bar he used to work, known simply as Roy's Place, one of a chain of bars across the kingdom that was managed by Bowser's family branches. The moment he walked in, he felt the same familiarly genteel atmosphere amidst various couples of same-gendered creatures. A shy guy and pirahna were drinking with straws from the same glass, two toads were scribbling down officious-looking notes like they just came from a meeting, the pool table was occupied by four yoshis, a goomba and a koopa were getting rather agitated about one of them being paid more than the other and lastly there was the bartender yoshi still managing the place. With sturdy arms and dark-blue skin, the smile that came on his face was of both surprise and genuine joy upon James making his way back to the bar, his eyes shining clear-blue with crow's feet around the lids. "HEY-HEYYYYYY! Look what the blooper dragged in!" "Hey Yonny, what's up?!" "Hahaha, what's up with you?! Been ages since I last saw you, how ya been?! You alright!?" "I'm great thanks, all my business is sorted, took me a couple of years but...here I am." "That is great." The two shook hands and slapped each other's shoulders heftily with smiles mirrored upon each other's face before Yonny rubbed his neck. "Hey look I'm really sorry about all you had to go through when you left-" "Nah nah, don't...don't sweat it, that was my fault, nothing to do with you. Just wanted to check the old place, get my bearings back, me and Koopin are heading off to see his family but...don't suppose you got a free apron back there or something?" "Well...actually I'm training a few people here but if there's an open spot, I'll be sure to call ya. You uh, still use the same address?" "Yep my boyfriend's place." "OUR place," corrected Koopin. "Might as well start getting used to the pronouns again." "Great," said Yonny, "if I can't find an open spot I at least want you to come round, buy a drink, you were the best person I had, the only one that could name all these drinks without the labels!" "Well my nose was always good," said James softly, "lot of drinks around here are pretty easy for me. Alright we gotta head for the train, I'll see you later Yonny." "Take care James!" Leaving the bar they soon made a walkaround back to the town square in a loop as they browsed general stores, clothing shops and the library. It was the sunniest day possible with the streets shining across the terracotta-coloured streets with yellow houses and red roofs painted soft to the eyes. Eventually after wandering around enough they decided to return to the train station and seat themselves at the waiting stop, taking in the sights of the central town as Koopin turned briefly nostalgic, for the wide open plains that lead towards the desert stretching out beyond the railroad tracks. The two held hands and did not speak just to enjoy the sounds of the people, friendly voices and soft feet fading in and out along with several others joining them to wait for the train. A few toads with braided hair down their cheeks, one mouser wrapped in desert clothes and lastly two goombas with a koopa who were standing around chatting over today's plans. It was around this point that James realised something as he asked Koopin surreptitiously: "Um...what exactly did you tell your parents when I left?" "That you went away to fight in a war, got recalled to do your duty and such." "Well, that's technically true so yeah...but I just...wondered if-" "Yes?" "......should we tell them the truth? About me and where I came from?" "Awww jeez...I-i-i dunno, it seems a pretty big thing to tell them when you just came back." "Yeah you're right...I would want to tell them, I just don't wanna keep any secrets from them anymore, they're good at keeping secrets right?" "Oh yeah totally. Trust me, I know they are...huh?" From across the train station's platform came very clearly once voice that Koopin piped up on hearing. A rather clipped nasal voice with a stern attempt at authority behind it that was clamouring from the train station entrance. "Yes I KNOW to get the right one for you, a number D-Y-fifty-seven toner feeder, I have it memorised. You wouldn't put me out on this if you thought I wasn't going to remember now would you, let's not forget who won the pub quiz hmm?! I think you'll find......yes...alright then, I'll be back before 5pm, goodbye." "Shybert?!"

When the voice stopped speaking Koopin called out someone's name as he got up and walked over to the entrance seeing a rather stuffy-looking shy guy who wore a green-and-yellow tie over his red-suited body. His face was masked constantly with an o-shaped mouth of surprise as he put away a small cellphone into his pocket before picking up a briefcase that was frankly more of a purse in its size. Upon seeing Koopin, his other arm raised up with a rather eager wave of his flipper-like hand. "O-OH! HELLOOOO KOOPIIIIN!" The two raced up to each other with a hug that Koopin had to squat down to give as the shy guy straightened his tie with one hand. "What are you doing here?! I thought you were still off recovering!" "Yeah I think I'm feeling better soon, I should get back to work pretty easily." "I would rather you wait until your eye stopped swelling, mostly because it looks really bad for business." "I know I know, but I'm off to see my parents back home. I wanna introduce you to someone. James." The raptor stepped up to which Shybert did everything he could to not look fearful of the taller grinning teeth. "This is Shybert, my supervisor and best pal over at work. This is James, my boyfriend." "Oh...y-y-YOU'RE...James, oh goodness hwoh...u-u-um...p-pleased to meet you finally!" "Same to you." "Hwoh um...i-i-it has been sometime um, well, we never met but, it is so...good to see you return to us, I-i-i heard a lot about you from Koopin it's...good to see you are well, um...h-h-hwoh-" James offered his clawed hand which the shy guy shook gingerly, trying not to touch the claws out of fear for being too sharp before Koopin giggled at his nervous sweat. "It's alright Shybert, he's not gonna eat you." "I-i-i-uuuuuh, I would never assume, o-o-of course not, I'm just...c-coming down with something I...I think-hwoh, m-might have a bit of a fever frankly but I must get to on this job. The office needs another printer replacement." "Oh jeez that thing again?!" "Yes, I told them it was unreliable! You never want to buy a FeeDeeEx printer unless you have a reliable maintenance source nearby, which may I add we clearly don't!" "I remember, you got really arguing with them, I never seen you so mad." "I wasn't mad, hwoh, I was simply stern upon my position in the debate, I did not win debate club in Goompey High just so I would get steamrolled by some fussy window-watching buffoon who can't even tell the difference between a FeeDeeEx and a RosterStencer! ......um...h-hwoh, that's just...nothing else, sorry." Koopin giggled at the small tirade which in turn sent James into a chuckling himself asking: "So when did you work in an office Koopin? I thought you were a tour guide." "I am but," started Koopin, "I needed to get my head out of the field for a bit and just get in behind a desk to manage things. I got overwhelmed at one point and well, I got in an office job at the TGA for a bit. It's not bad or anything, I just need something to do until I can get back out in the field." "And until that eye heals up," stated Shybert, "you're not to go out into the field, I'm sorry but I must put my foot down. I know we're friends but-" "No it's...fine, haha, I know this face isn't gonna look great." "I dunno," said FG, "eyepatches are pretty sexy, you might get a couple more people into the tours looking like that, just say you had to fight a ghost pirate inside the place." "Firstly," stressed the shy guy, "the Bob-Omb fortress does not contain any pirates or ghosts, it is strictly a Class-Three settlement which allows neither of which to be. Secondly, it is a land-locked settlement so I think you'll find that there is no fiendish personage of the piratical variety involved, hwoh." "I was...making a joke?" "Yes, well, that may be, but...um...oh. Heheh, s-sorry I'm really tired and sort of cheesed off about this printer malarkey." "It's okay, I know how it is, getting the wrong thing, like the times I was in a bar and had to like reorder some beer because it was the wrong kind." "I've always wanted to ask, what experience is required to work in bartending?" "Usually you get on a course for it, but the way I was trained was through a crash course from my first job, then I worked in a coffee bar and showed I was pretty capable, then onwards I worked at Roy's Place before I had to leave for a few years and now I'm back. Mostly I just get hired because I'm good with money, I know all the drinks, I got a GREAT sense of smell to drinks apart and I'm able to handle any trouble that comes up when somebody gets a bit too rowdy." "Oh," said Shybert relaxing slightly, "so you didn't have to bring in a CV of some sort?" "Nope, they just hired me because I had previous experience and some good skill." "I do love when people get hired more on unique skills, they have a standard that is much more different and particular to them than...just some random student coming in for a job, I mean there's a difference between an extra number on the staff and someone with actual skills, if you know what I mean hwoh." "I guess," said FG. "You're a very officious dude aren't you?" "I just like to be on top form at all times, it's no excuse if I slip up because of a small lapse in judgement, that's what being a supervisor's all about! After work I can let loose but, not when I'm on the clock, speaking of which Koopin...have you told him about...um...the DJ?" "Not yet," said Koopin winking, "I just told him about the DJ coming down to the 1.2.8, we're gonna go when the date's on." "Oh, goodie!" The little shy guy waved his arm about like a toddler in excitement briefly. "I hope I can see you there too long as there's no pressing engagements for me to sort!" "You like the club too?" asked FG. "Absolutely! I love myself some breakbeat, it's very soothing, almost tribal, touches something very deeply in me, hwoh." "Hahaha, I hear that. Alright then we're...I guess we're all going on the train together?" "Indeed I have to go to Dry Dry Outpost where apparently someone does have a D-Y-fifty-seven toner feeder. Honestly it's not my job to do this, I'm not an errand guy but he's off sick so it's muggins here that has to do it." "Hahahokay then, no worries." "Tickets here!" An interruption to their conversation came in the form of a rather officious-looking koopa in a dull faded-looking dark-blue buttoned outfit, his eyes covered by a large visor from his postman-like hat. His hand was outspread as if expecting something before Koopin asked: "Um...d-don't you normally take money when the train gets here?" "Yes, but we get backed up pretty badly on some days so we're taking money in advance, if that's okay by you." "I...um, well, we ARE getting on the train but I would rather wait until-" "If you wait, someone else'll get on before you and we might run out of space, first come first served good sir." "Excuse me!" The shy guy piped up with a little wave. "Excuse me but, can I see your official licence good sir?" "Um...sorry?" "It's just that I am not QUITE certain about your uh new routine, hwoh, and I would like to check-" "You're not an official are you?" "Well, no, I work in a tour guide office." "Then Iiiii don't have to really now do I?" "Well I don't have to pay you because your uniform is CLEARLY a much different type of blue to the standard outfit." "What?!" "This isn't dark blue, it's resolution blue, that is quite clearly not the uniform standard." "We changed them...obviously." "Sorry but, I don't believe you." The littlest office worker crossed his arms tightly with briefcase in hand. "Now are you going to show me your licence or do I have to report you, hwoh?" "Do you want a ticket or do you just want to waste my time short stop?!" "Don't insult me with that sort of language, I won't be taking any attitude from you today!" "Fine then I'll take your briefcase little squirt boy!" "NOOO!" The moment the ticketmaster lunged for Shybert's briefcase Koopin had his fist straight into the other koopa's jaw before a sudden slam of his elbow down into the back of the official's head. Panicked gasps came from the other citizens of the train platform as suddenly there came three other koopas springing out from a tree, behind a fence and even from out of the trashcan next to the entrance that rushed onto the scene that shoved down FG as well as Koopin in a cross-rushing tactic. James almost fell over completely, but he forced his back foot to remain still before throwing one koopa almost straight off the train platform. Koopin took a tumble but he swiftly got back up before he had a chance to be pinned as there stood before them four rather rough-looking koopas with firm sneering looks. Red, green, black and yellow both in shell and bandanna that they wore around their eyes, the black one swiftly taking off his fake ticketmaster outfit as the red one spread his arms giving a chuckle condescendingly. "Weeeeelllll LOOK WHO IT IS!" "...what?" murmured FG. "Almost been what, seven years since I last saw your ugly face around here!" "Wh-wh-what the-" stammered Koopin. "What the...HECK is wrong with you?! What is WITH you guys, what are you doing here?!" "You wouldn't understand, the Koopa Brothers are more than just villains in a half-shell, we're not some run-of-the-mill pickpockets, we're BIGGER than that!" "All I see are four idiots who are so desperate that they're scamming people at a train station!" "It's not desperation, it's being inventive you little fuzz-headed punk!" "DON'T you talk back to my boyfriend!" cried FG. "You know what happened last time we faced off?! I remember you jerkwards now, you got your asses wrecked by both of us so unless you wanna get publicly humilated, now's the time to walk away!" "Oh...sure, sure we'll just...walk away after you DIAL!"

The red koopa swung out his hand in a flash as something went spinning straight towards them, but with both koopa and raptor dodging swiftly enough they both advanced almost simultaneously to swing out their fists as Red jumped back panicking. "WHA-h-h-how did you dodge my Dizzy Dial, I been practicing my ninjitsu fer weeks!" "Then you better start practice on running away, NOW!" Koopin stepped forwards as he launched into his fighting pose, left leg back and swinging out with boots pointing left and forwards like an L-shape whilst James went into a boxing stance without even questioning. The Koopa Brothers did the same, readying themselves to lunge forwards en masse with two on each. Red and Yellow went straight for FG whilst Koopin faced off against Green and Black. "TAKE 'EM DOWN BROS!" "IT'S PARTY TIIIIIME!" The public stepped firmly away from the ensuing chaos backing up to the entrance as they watched with fretful panic wondering if they should do something to help. Koopin blocked both fists coming at him with a crossguard of his arms. Black's arm rebounded off but Green's went slightly off-target enough to scrape past near Koopin's cheek before it was suddenly grabbed with Koopin's left arm and twisted to pull him harshly forwards, slamming his right elbow hard into Green's face. He followed up instantly with a swinging axe kick, smacking his boot hard into Green's chin and knocking him straight back over onto his shell making him panic and not able to get up, like any turtle in its most vulnerable state. Whilst he was struggling to unroll himself from this, Black came forwards with a flying kick unexpectedly forcing Koopin to dodge before his enemy ducked and sweeped his leg viciously knocking Koopin down. Stumbling onto his side, he dodgerolled to avoid a swishing kick to the face and came back up waiting for the next attack. "DON'T WORRY KOOPIN I'M CALLING THE POLICE!" Shybert swiftly began to pull out his phone and did his best to quickly but concisely tap in the emergency phone number. "Oh-one-one-eight, nine-nine-five, eight-eight-no, no no......oh-one-one-eight, nine-nine-nine, eight eight-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-" "SHYBERRRRT!" "I'M DOING IT, JUST WAIT A BIT! ...seven-two-fiiiiive...three. ...hello?! Is this the emergency services?! ...then which island am I talking to?! Hello?! Hello-oh sod it I'll just get them myself, DON'T GO ANYWHERE!" "UM, KAYYY!?" He ran off towards the town whilst Black rushed forwards with two wily haymakers hoping to crack Koopin's face as he aimed for the cotton patch over his right eye. But the koopa waited until the second swing to snap-kick hard into Black's bandanna'd face, rapidly sending a second snap-kick straight up to force his foe to look upwards before there came a smiteful hammerfist. Pounding into one of his eyes, Black fell roaring out with pain as he clutched his face hard and rolled onto his side, but it was enough for Koopin to be distracted when Green came swiping in from his right, taking advantage of Koopin's damaged field of vision. James braced himself against Red and Yellow who charged him with arms wide open for a double haymaker as he jumped straight into the air by a forceful gust of wind, hopping straight over them before grabbing Red by the throat and whamming him straight towards Yellow. Clacking shells hard against each other, they staggered falling over themselves before hopping back up, the crimson-shelled koopa jumping onto the cream-coloured one's shoulders to suddenly duck into his shell and bounce forth like a pinball towards FG. The raptor stood his ground and charged up his fist with rising wind, whirling around his body to give increased momentum like a coiled spring as his right arm shimmered with multi-coloured streaks of light. The red koopa felt a powerful vibration upon contact with a fist as James spun like a tornado from his streaking breeze of nanostrength, combined with a gauntlet full of unbreakable blocks that cracked deep against Red's shell hard enough to send him straight back into Yellow hurtling like a cannonball, slamming across the platform in a constant roll. Koopin was stumbling from Green's assault upon him as a wild fist came sweeping for his cheek, plowing through his face and knocking him down onto his front much to the sound of a gasping audience as he stumbled back up. He rolled onto his side in time to see the viridian-shelled koopa come down upon him ready to stomp, with Koopin sweeping out his leg to smack hard against the enemy's knee enough to stun him with a piercing sting as he got back up. Green stumbled forwards with a thrusting boot kick trying to slam in Koopin's face, but it was easily dodged for how slow it was as Koopin showed him what a real kick was in the form of a roundhouse kick powerfully to Green's face. Slamming across the face like a baseball bat, the force easily sent him down spinning towards a staggering panic with welted thick bruising red like an apple caught in his cheek. But before he could regain his balance properly, Koopin saw the dark-shelled koopa already recovered from his fall to land a straight-up crosspunch right into Koopin's wounded eye. The moment Koopin screamed from the shocking pain that burned through his skull blinding him briefly, the black-bandanna'd koopa would soon regret it when he was suddenly slammed into the fence of the train station by a rushing force of thick brown scale set upon him. The raptor soon beat him black-and-blue choking him with one hand whilst driving his fist into Black's face up to four times to give him the same kind of treatment, an eye for an eye literally with the fourth punch driving all the way through to crush Black against the fence before dropping to the floor. James rushed over towards Koopin's side who was clutching his face with one hand tightly, shivering as he sucked up the pain and nodded silently to show he was still good before Red and Yellow were swiftly upon them. The two combined against the other two went into a duel of dual partners as Red and Yellow synchronised surprisingly well with their fighting, punching straight jabs twice before spinning simultaneously on the spot to slam out their backfists against the raptor and koopa. But none of their punches landed when both James and Koopin dodged back before FG launched forwards with a vicious wild swing that cracked across Yellow's beak, stunning him briefly before Red slammed his knee powerfully into James' stomach. Wheezing as he buckled over, it was the perfect opportunity for Koopin to run straight up onto James' back for just a second without hurting him, landing his boot straight into the red koopa's face right between the eyes as he cried out with a blinding vivid sensation, stars literally bursting across his vision as he fell crumpling onto his side. Koopin swiftly came over to FG who sucked in his breath and staggered onto his feet quickly nodding with a wink at his beloved before they both ganged up on Yellow. He could have chosen to surrender there and then but a fierce look from Red who was down but not yet quite out made him continue on as he ran forwards yelling out the best battle cry he could muster. Koopin knew what he was planning to do and motioned James to get out the way before Yellow swiftly ducked into his shell spinning like a bowling ball. Once he hit the fence at one side of the train platform, he bounced back straight towards the koopa with the cotton patch on his eye who had to dodge once again before rushing over to FG murmuring: "Push me!" "What?!" "Push me with your wind power, like a bullet bill straight at him!" "...right!" The two stood close to each other waiting for Yellow to be as far away as possible from them until it was time to act, with Koopin swiftly popping into his shell easily as James summoned every force of wind he could muster into his fists. Focusing all his energy on Koopin, he shot him with the force of an air cannon blasting straight at the yellow shell with incredible momentum as the two clashed like hockey pucks on an open field of ice. Koopin slammed with such ruthless strength that Yellow bounced out of his shell almost completely with his head showing to be the perfect target. Koopin spun briefly in the air from the clash as he popped out his limbs to deliver a brutal somersaulting kick straight down from above, cracking the heel of his boot down onto Yellow's head to punch him back in before one last spin kick knocked him straight over towards Red's stumbling body. Four wounded completely wiped koopas were coated in bruises across their faces resembling modern art made from rotten fruit, as they moaned in various weakened states. "O-OVER HERE!" Shybert's voice came clamouring from the platform steps as there came a small group of toads armed with spears and slightly more officious-looking outfits of white imperial than the usual citizen, four of them looking towards the scene as one of them asked: "Wh-what the hay?!" "Looks like we got a real brawl on our hands!" "YOU BETTER STOP THIS NOW!" "No worries!" said FG. "This fight is over anyway, I don't think these punks are gonna do anymore for this day." "Wait a minute...those are the Koopa Brothers!" "Wha-AGAIN!? AUGH jeeeez I thought we had 'em arrested!" "We did but somebody got bail for 'em!" "WHO KEEPS DOING THAT?! I swear at some point we have got to find a good reason to keep them locked up." "Well until they do worse than robbery...though I think there might just be enough repeat offences to keep you four busy for a good bit!" "I sure hope so," said Koopin, "not everybody's as smart as Shybert to see through their ruse." "What exactly started all this?" asked one toad. "They put on fake ticketmaster clothes and demanded money in exchange for tickets." "Wha-huh?! But the train's not even here yet!" "Yeah I know, that's just weird isn't it!?" "Well these guys are definitely going down, come on you lot! Don't make me poke you with this!" The toads swiftly began to cuff and pull the Koopa Brothers out of the train station after taking statements from those who had witnessed the fight. Being satisfied that it was an act of self-defence of a failed robbery, the toad guardians took the four brothers away to be presumably jailed once again with Shybert waddling up in haste. "A-a-are you alright Koopin?! Hwoh, goodness you really did not need any of this this week." "I-i-i'm fine thanks...heh, lucky I had James here with me." "I dunno," said FG proudly, "you were pretty much kicking ass all by yourself real good there for a bit without me." "I would have done better if it wasn't for this stupid eye, stupid depth perception letting that green dude sneak up on me." "Considering you aren't fit to be fighting at all I think you done pretty well...even if I had to beat the everloving crap out of that black koopa for-" "I know...heheheh...I'm surprised you really let him keep his face, I mean normally you wouldn't stop at four punches..." James rubbed his neck nervously with a reluctant admittance. "Weeeelllll...I learnt a lot about when enough is enough, both from you and where I've gone to...but that doesn't mean I'm gonna let someone land a hit on you and do nothing about it." "I know...you're always my hero." "And you'll always be mine." Both smooched each other on the lips before FG pulled him close, not too tightly for fear of hurting him and his bruises as soon the train finally came to a complete stop at Toad Town's main junction. They paid the ticketmaster on board as they all began to hop on to their next destination, upon a small three-carriage locomotive not including the main engine itself rumbling with pure red and sweet golden lines glinting in the light of the sun as it snaked its way through the wide open plains of the southeast Mushroom Kingdom.

The journey went by smoothly as James focused on Koopin, making sure that he was alright which the koopa insisted that he was amidst his several aches and pains throbbing from his head. Shybert sat with them, kindly looking over him as the rocky plains sweeped past them. It wasn't long before they were at the Mt. Rugged train stop which was a lonely little place at the end of the line. With the mountains in the way they had no choice but to work around them to reach the desert. It was always a small adventure whenever James had to go to Dusty Dunes, traipsing along the range of mountains before crossing a large expanse of a desert which, after his time in the wasteland of Illinois, became the easiest thing to do. Shybert followed on behind them as both him and Koopin had bottles of water to prepare themselves with, whilst James bashfully took drinks from Koopin's bottle with thankfulness. He was surprised at how well the shy guy was keeping up with them for his almost-absent legs with his body ending in stubby feet. "You doing alright back there?" "Oh yes," said Shybert, "I do cardio every week just to keep the ol', hwoh, raw muscles going." "I'm glad you're keeping fit," said Koopin, "ever since that whole island trip we went on you REALLY got the feel of exercising." "It was a very...spiritual moment, one could say that I found my spear to pierce the heavens with." "What's that mean?" asked FG. "It means that, hwoh, I found a course in life to thrust myself through and become more determined in what I want to do. I love this job, don't get me wrong but, it doesn't have to always be the one thing I do." "Expanding your horizons. Take off the tie and let loose once in a while." "Oh I could never take off this tie, goodness no, it's too precious to me!" "Why, was it your dad's?" "N-no. It's just...rather special to me." James smiled and said nothing more as they reached Dusty Dunes. The old familiar sight of a desert town had him rather nostalgic for Rabanastre but at the same time in utmost relief to see his beloved's birthplace once again as the market was always open. Bandits, koopas, dryites who resembled toads with cloth wrappings around their entire bodies along with mousers wearing turbans that flowed across their backs. Food was mostly sold here but there were also toys, devices and general accessories from wallets crafted of the finest cotton lining to bo staffs and hammer handles. The sounds of the people bartering and trading was a much more pleasant hue than that of Ivalice's markets, which had been rampant with more racist alacrity ranging from joking jibes to outright hatred. But in this desert town there was nary a slight against anyone from the first hello to a stranger to the last farewell of a good friend. The buildings were not especially tall, sandblocks of a moderate height with no more than three storeys within them. But it was a perfect place to be after everything and soon Shybert took his leave saying: "Right, I have to go, need to grab this flippin' printer part and then back home. I'll see you next week, alright Koopin?" "Okay take care Shybert!" said the koopa. "Later!" "Nice meeting you!" said FG politely. They both waved back to the shy guy who went off into the market with briefcase in tow rather adorably so, as James let Koopin lead him straight back to his family home. It was a sight that made his heart warm up, that humble two-storey house shaped almost like a dome and not too far from the grocery store down the road. It was late enough in the day that the grocery shop had now closed, and Koopin knew with most feverish anticipation things were going to turn out even better as he knocked on the door. A sense of deja vu came upon James as the door opened, showing a koopa female almost a full head shorter than him with brown long hair twisted into a messy bun style on the back of her head whilst wearing a pink apron. Her beak was slightly wrinkled but her eyes remained pure and sweetly blue like always as she put a hand to her lips upon seeing the raptor behind her son. "HHHHH! OH...o-o-o-oh my s-stars it...i-i-is that-" "Hi mom," said Koopin softly, "yes...I wanted to surprise you." "...SHELLDON! SHELLDON LOOK, C-COME QUICK!" "Wh-what the-something happen?!" A male voice studious and soft-hearted came from inside as another head joined Koopin's mother in a look of shock and stuttering gasps. His bifocals glinted sharply in the light of the sun, eyes grey like morning mist with a furrowed brow wrinkled that made him look older than he actually was. "Wh-wh-wh...oh...my goodness it...you came back." "Um...yeah," said James rather awkwardly, "I'm back...and I uh...well...h-hiiii." "P-please, come in, come in. Oh...ohhh my goodness this is-this is wonderful K-klair, put some tea on come in, sit down." Both husband and wife slowly brought both in with James ducking underneath the door upon remembering its height, the inside of the house just the way he remembered it. Rustic with a small door area having a window to the kitchen, the living room to his right that stretched out to have a sofa, a TV in the corner, a dining table and a piano next to it with the kitchen entrance just left of the table itself. The sand-coloured walls gave everything a rosy touch as the raptor sat down gently along with Koopin before Klair soon came back with four cups of tea. "The-e-e-ere we go...h-h-hhhh, goodness I'm sh-shaking i-i-it's just...ohh my goodness we're so happy to see you back!" "I'm real glad to be back too," said FG, "I just...I'm sorry for leaving you all before." "You seem quite exhausted...I don't even know where to start I mean-" "What matters is you're back," said the father, "and that you're alive and well, it must have been a long journey." "It was...much more difficult getting back home than it was being home." "How is your home doing? I remember you saying there was a conflict of some sort." "More or less. But everything's resolved now, my friends are all safe and the world is just a little bit brighter." "That's good." They all started to drink up gently, with Klair looking rather shaken to the point that all three of the males were looking worried before she put down her cup. "S-s-sorry, I'm just...o-overwhelmed I almost could...hhhhh...it is...so, good to see you again James." "Thank you Klair but...are you...okay, you're awful shaky." "O-o-oh I'm fine! J-just...simply fine don't worry! Would you help me with something in the kitchen for a bit?" "Uh sure, okay." Leaving father and son to speak by themselves, James headed into the kitchen before Klair could speak more frankly. The first thing she did as they walked in front of her stove was to suddenly grab him by the waist and hug him tight. He felt her stifling, gasping with wet warmth against his bare skin as he pulled her close to muffle her tears until she let go gingerly wiping her face with the apron as he smiled awkwardly. "Um...a-are you better now?" "Yes...I'm sorry. I'm just...so...glad to see you're okay and everything. And that you came back, I was...so worried that you wouldn't, or...couldn't." "I feel terrible about this. I'm sorry, I just...I wouldn't have left if I had no reason too but-" "No...no I understand. What matters is you're safe, and that you came back because you promised Koopin. He's been doing his best to try and keep up his spirits since you left." "I really want to make up to all of you for the way I had to leave-" "You had your home to consider. I won't judge you." "R-really?" "......no. That's not...true. I can judge you, but I won't." She leaned against the table whilst her food was cooking as she clasped her hands over her apron. "It was a...very hard scene for me to see my son so distressed and in a constant state, I know you did not want to leave and that I sensed your resignation but...but that doesn't mean I wasn't angry or upset by the fact that you left my son very broken-hearted. The fact that you are here again shows that you want to make it right, and for that I very much appreciate it. I know you are a good person James, you have always been so very sweet to me." "I-i-i-i just...I jus-...no. Klair, look, are you angry with me? Because I can tell the difference between a nervous shake and someone holding back." "......do you really want to know?"

He noticed her fist clenching inside her other hand, pressing it against her apron to try and suppress it as her beak began to tighten. Her eyes were turning firm as he saw for a moment the same look of betrayal and upset that he saw Koopin give him years ago. The raptor nodded with understanding as he replied: "I think I already do. Listen. I'm sorry." James held her hands within his as he smiled fondly with a firm grip. "I wasn't always a good person, I told you that before. I wa only a good person when Koopin came to me, I wasn't that great a guy before I met him and then he changed my life, he made me be everything that I want to be nowadays. Leaving Koopin was the worst pain I ever felt, worse than anything I had to deal with back home and the only way that pain was gonna go away was to come back and be with him again. I made a promise, and I came back. But I know that you must be angry, and you have a right to be." "I-i-i...don't, want to cause a scene, I am just thankful that you are here again." "Okay. But I couldn't just forget all of this, or all of you...I love this place. I love you and your cooking and how you smile every day with a song in your heart, I love Shelldon for his calmness and able to keep a level head in almost any situation but most of all I love Koopin more than anything for making me become a better person. Every song I heard out there just reminded me of you...and your family." Klair started to soften her look, and simply nodded with a gentle wipe of her tears before she hugged him tight with James holding her closely in return as he smelt her hair with a constant scent of fresh warm baking that gave him feelings of hunger that he had missed. The sort of hunger that only came from wanting the food of your favourite person or place as she resumed her duties to the cooking. "Okay. That's...all I needed to hear, thank you dear." She smiled at him and dismissed him from the kitchen as Koopin and Shelldon were busily discussing a tournament roster inbetween drinks of tea with Shelldon stating: "No I disagree, Spike could definitely win off against Tidal Crasher." "Why not?!" argued Koopin. "Because he's clearly capable of being in the air, anything Tidal throws at him he's going to dodge and just come straight down onto him." "But he's a PLANT, he can't be THAT good in the air!" "Well when you see him on the show next week, you're going to be eating those words son. That pirahna boy is going places and nothing is going to stop him." "You wanna bet?" The older koopa turned his head slowly in mid-sip. "Are you...trying to pull this again Koopin?" "Yeah, I bet you ten NO...twenty, coins that Tidal Crasher breaks Spike over his knee." "You're serious about this? ...alright." Shelldon pulled out a notebook from his pocket in the shell and wrote down what was essentially a miniature contract concerning the wager. "Tidal wins, you get twenty coins. Spike wins, you give ME twenty coins and also you become my busboy for business cards again." "Aww I hate doing your cards...which is why I'm not gonna lose, deal!" They shook hands as Shelldon chuckled before FG chipped in with a cocky grin. "I never thought you two would be gambling." "Only for the wrestling," said Shelldon, "it's our best expertise." "So what was the biggest bet you guys ever made?" "Hmmmmm...that was probably...I think, seventy coins it was?" "Eighty," said Koopin bluntly, "it was eighty dad." "Woah seriously," replied FG, "damn Shelldon you taking money from your son, you're pretty heartless!" "I call it a lesson in economics," added the father, "to not make bad decisions with too much money." "OH COME ON!" squawked his son. "You had NO IDEA that Yoshitaka was gonna go down in the fourth round with a knee injury, that was dumb luck!" "Is it luck Koopin? If you had been paying attention to the buildup before the fight, you would have noticed that he had a slight limp when he was at the previous interview, he said he had cut his morning jogs short the previous day, and then the day before that he took a fumble during the charity volleyball tournament. And look what happens, he tore his knee ligament because he wouldn't let it rest, that is what we call cause and effect. It's something I have to deal with in business all the time like the ripple effect. A bug outbreak in Petalburg dwindles down all the way here and next thing you know we have no apples to sell because I didn't stock up." "Okay okay I get it...uuuugh." The younger koopa facepalmed himself with a sneer of palpable disgruntlement. "Thanks for bringing this up James, really." "Well maybe you shouldn't gamble," said James smugly, "I never gambled in my life." "He has a point," said Shelldon, "I know we like to have these little games but there's no shame in quitting." "Well you're one to talk dad!" accused Koopin cockily. "Remember when High Roller got completely caned down at the circuit?!" "...that...that was a mistake, we don't talk about that." Shelldon finally hit the small slump in his confidence as he pressed his knuckles to his beak, mumbling slightly as Koopin grinned with swagger before his father started chuckling. "Hhhmhmhmhm...say, son could you give me and James some time to talk, go help your mother out with things." "Uhh okay...sure!" Koopin left as the older male shifted over to where James was sitting until they were right by next to each other. His face was almost always serenely indifferent, a trusting smile with soft eyes that slowly blinked marking him out as the most turtle-like person that James had ever met. "It's very good to see you again James. I see you've had a long journey." "Yeah I'm uh...real glad to be back too, I'm sorry about all this and uhm...Koopin." "It's alright. I understand that you had reasons to leave, Koopin told me that you were being called back to fight for your people in a conflict, is that right?" "Yes. But it's all resolved now, so I have no reason to leave ever again." "Do you have intentions on staying?" "Absolutely. I want to be noplace else but next to Koopin." "That's good." The smile was genuine from the father as he took the last full sip from his cup of tea before clinking it softly back onto the saucer, before he put his hands together with a slight hunch. "I'm not a strong person, physically that is...it's why I became a grocer and put my head into finance knowing that if I was able to wield currency half as good, then it doesn't matter how many muscles you have, so long as you use only two. The heart and the brain. My father always told me that only these two muscles matter in life, for it is no good to be a walking mountain if it cannot think nor feel properly. He never was a fan of wrestling." "Koopin told me that uh...you wanted to be a wrestler." "I always had a head for maths, but I have a great passion for the sport and I tried in high school. I wasn't especially good, and in truth my parents knew and so encouraged me to use my truest skill of maths to pursue the family business." "Did you have problems because your...dad was trying to push you into it?" "At first, I was rebellious and young like any other koopa. But I realised my talent was truly in the skills of finance and no it is not an exciting job...but it is a job I can master and sculpt to my own fulfilling. I know you are very much a warrior, and you have shown yourself to be very capable of fighting plenty out there. But you can't fight everything...which is why I will say this." Shelldon leaned forwards with a blank look on his face before his voice dropped gently. His eyes became sharp peering over his bifocals as he spoke with a quiet contained anger. " If you ever break my son's heart again...I will make you pay for it dearly." "Wh-wh...what? Are you gonna send out a hit on me?!" "What? Nooo that's terrible, I was going to say that I would blacklist you personally from every single shop and toad house across the kingdom so you would never be welcome again." "...you can do that?" "I have made many friends. Across many places." The smile that Shelldon gave was strangely terrifying to see on a koopa. It was the most confident look he had ever seen the father give and the last time James had seen such a look was from the villain in Die Hard. Shelldon even put his fingers together in a tented fashion as a strange persona came off from him concerning the immaculate businessman. "The world of finance is a lonely place James, and the only thing that shall strengthen you is to make friends who all sit at the same table, and not have yourself be on the throne above them. I'm very glad to see you come back...and I hope that since you have returned, you are planning to commit to Koopin completely." "As long as he still wants me-" "Don't." Shelldon raised a finger accusingly as his grey eyes turned bitter briefly like a dead winter's eve. "Don't, you ever use my son as a buffer, this is about YOU James. My patience has its limits, and I have tolerated a lot of things that have been happening in your relationship with him especially concerning the last few months you were here, when you became a moody argumentative confrontational miscreant that my son had to drag you to a consultant to fix your issues. Or have you forgotten?" "No...No I haven't...forgotten." "Good, because I didn't...neither did Klair, and the only way that we are going to forget is when you prove to us that Koopin means as much as you say he does. I have dealt with people who have given me empty words and you will not be one of them. So don't...ever...use my son to justify any sense of doubt that you have because if there's any in you now...you don't deserve to be near my precious boy. Is that clear?" Even Navarro with a much shorter gait and fiercer temperament had not scared James as much as Shelldon Kennidon did in that moment. He could see the conflict within the father's eyes between relief and anger for his son and James respectively, before the raptor nodded submissively. "...yes, Shelldon." "Good. You came back. That means you are adhering to a promise to my son that you will keep. Because if you hurt my son the way you did when you left, even though I completely understand it was not your intention to...you will not find a place to be welcome in the Mushroom Kingdom ever again. Is that understood?" "Perfectly. Hhhah...hhhahaha-wow...I...never seen you like this." "I'm sorry to be so forceful." The koopa softened his look to an apologetic state. "It's just that when you left, my son was almost completely inconsolable...I care deeply about him, like any good father should and as much as I enjoyed your company and know that I trusted you well enough that you would protect him the way you saved his life before...I found it very hard to forgive you until you returned. So I apologise for having to put my foot down so ruthlessly." "No it...you're right, you don't have to apologise for anything, I won't ask for forgiveness. I would have felt the same if that happened to my son, I mean if I had one. I'm not gonna make excuses Shelldon. I'll just...I'll just prove to you how much I love Koopin, and how much that I'm willing to go through with him by staying along beside him because I love everything about him. I love him, I love this family and this world he lives in, every piece of it. I want to live here, and I want to live with him." "That's all I ask. Thank you." He nodded calmly with a growing smile and shook James' hand in a gentlemanly fashion before Koopin returned with Klair as they began to set up the table for their lunch, a good easygoing meal of fruity hamburgers and apple pie for each of them as they gladly feasted. James and Koopin sat on one side with Klair and Shelldon on the other as they conversed about old strange events of their world that had been occurring the past few years. Mainly things that were unrelated to the actual family but rather general news concerning the princess, the koopa king and of course the great hero known as simply Mario. Stories remained as incredulous to hear but James had no reason to disbelieve as he rampantly ate his fruity burger that mixed a strong steak with a fine tropical mango taste that gave an amazing sweet texture to the beef. After the first few topics passed through the dinner table, any unease that was left amongst them would soon pass after the fateful mention once again of James' inability to cook anything. "IT WAS JUST A SALAD PLEASE KOOPIN!" "BUT IT'S SO FUNNY!" cried Koopin. "YOU WEREN'T LAUGHING AT THE TIME!" "WHO WARMS UP A SALAD WITH OPEN FLAMES I MEAN SERIOUSLY?!" "I'm not even back for TWO DAYS and you already get on my case!" "PFHAHAHAHAHAHA!" cackled Klair. "Ohhhhhhhh you're just like when me and Shelldon were arguing over which lettuce is better, it's so adorable." "Iceberg," murmured Shelldon. "Red leaf, and YOU know it." "No I don't." "What's with this family and salad?!" stammered FG. "I mean seriously I-ugh, you guys take it way too seriously." "Salad is no laughing joke James, it's like engineering. You have to compose the exact ratio concerning the leaves and the condimental value or else everything falls apart." "Like when you choose iceberg," added Klair. "Honey, don't do this." "No no, we're not letting this lie, I'm the one that runs the kitchen!" "And I'm the one that sells you the ingredients." "Yes but you're not the cook of the family." "I can be if you let me." "No, because you choose iceberg lettuce and we're back to square one!" "It has been...twelve years since we started this." "And it's twelve years that you've been wrong." "Ohh jesus." James managed to finish up the last of his apple pie munching away with confusion, despite knowing it was all in mockery as he enjoyed the family banter feeling more relaxed than ever he had been amidst company. Soon lunch was over and they ended up watching a quiz show on TV entitled 64 Questions, which was fun for all the family as they briefly made a small engagement against each other in who could answer the most correct. The raptor, having just returned was middling out at the bottom with 24 questions majoring in vehicles and random facts, Koopin was hitting high at 33 with geography and history whilst Shelldon was managing to barely pip past him on 36 with his advantage on businesses and food. Klair however completely floored them all with her most eclectic of all knowledge ramping up towards 48 questions with a wide variety of topics that they all knew, but was mostly majoring strong in both music and media to charge ahead of their scores.

Eventually they would soon say goodbye as it started to turn towards evening, and so they set out back towards the train station with a hug-and-kiss goodbye and a promise to phone them when they got back to Koopin's house. It would have been faster to take the more dangerous underground pipeway but Koopin was in no mood to find anymore encounters and frankly neither was James. They returned home before it became night fully, Charlie greeting them as always at the door with a barking pant of excitement along with the hopeful promise of food possibly. After feeding their chomp whilst Koopin called back his mom as promised to let him know he was back home safe, they began to make plans for the following few weeks as James explained: "So...like I said, I wanna stay here with you, obviously." "Ah huh." "But I also promised Sarah that I would come back and see her sometime. Now, that's a little bit of a problem because-" "It took you years to get back home, but-" "Now I can go back anytime I want. But what I mean is, I can't go back and forth in the same day like we just did with your parents, I gotta rest a day and then come back. So basically anytime I go to visit someone, I'll be gone for a day or two." "I see." "And obviously I don't wanna leave you all worried and such and I wanna spend as much time with you as possible as well as not waste time looking out for a job here so...you know when you go on your big vacations and longer trips?" "Oh, you wanna go visit friends during then?" "Yeah, I mean...is that okay?" "That depends on your job," said Koopin factually. "Remember you can't just go off work anytime you want." "I know that, but I mean...that's the idea I'm having, I'll explain it to Sarah, she'll understand, she just wants me to come back at least soon just to know that I'm alright. Like she worries too, I'm not leaving for a few weeks though, you had your time to worry and she's got plenty to deal with on her hands that she's not sitting around all worrying about me." "Okay I got it...well, I guess we can work something out. I don't wanna hoard you all to myself but at the same time I don't wanna feel...too apart from you again." "I understand, I'm not gonna do that to you, I'm not planning on big leaving trips for months or something, not anymore. I want to stay here with you, but I also want to...make sure my friends are doing alright?" "No more big adventures?" "Promise." James put his hand firmly upon Koopin's with a tender squeeze. "I'm done with all this adventuring, like for real, I want only just to stay here and hang out with you." "Hehehee...thank you. Yanno um...I wouldn't mind sending Sarah a message through your omni-tool thingy." "Really?! You want to?" "Sure! I mean it'll be fun we can have a sort of...correspondence, like aaaaa maybe-" "A pen pal!" "YEAH!" Koopin became riled with excitement as he nodnodded happily. "You wanna do it now?" asked James. "Yes please! I'm really hyped for it, this'll be so cool to send out a message from me across worlds! And then she can reply back and it'll be awesome I'm like, I could be having friends in other dimensions! Like you..." A tender blush of embarrassment came from the koopa as he let himself get a bit too overconfident before FG smooched him on the face. "Awwwww...okay, I'll have you send a message to my friends like a proper interview. Not just Sarah but maybe Kruz too since you both understand each other...somehow." "And uh all your friends in that...wasteland maybe." "Sure! That sounds great, let's do this." Sitting up on the couch as he faced towards his lover, Koopin rubbed his cheeks slightly to give them a slight rosiness despite the clear purple welt of his eye as James booted up the omni-tool. The sight of the bedroom and clean homely walls framed him perfect as the raptor asked the nervous koopa: "So, tell us about yourself." "Um...h-hi! My name is Koopin Kennidon, and I'm a tour guide in the Mushroom Kingdom. I show people around old ruins, explain the history to them, also make sure that the whole place is structurally firm and stable enough to walk through so nobody gets hurt." "And what do you like to do on your off-time?" "I love going down to the club, listening to music, grab a couple'a drinks. Heheh...g-gosh this feels like a dating video." "He's mine, nobody else touches him." "Wh-woah-woah, what do you mean I'm YOURS, this is MY house." "Hahaha I'm just kidding come on. Anything else you love to do?" "Heheh ummm...I also love to walk, like take really big long hikes, it just makes me feel alive to go wandering all over the place finding somewhere new." "A real traveller at heart aren't you?" "Y-y-yeah...heh." "And what message you got for all the people out there?" "Um, besides hello?! Oh jeez um...sh-should I say something motivational or-" "Just be honest Koopin it's okay." "Alright...well...I really wish I could see all of you, like say hey, how you doing, what's up, whatever kind of greeting you're into. I uh, heard a lot about you from what James told me and it still makes my head spin to think he's gone to all these places and met all these people, and I admit some of you are very strange to me...but you all seem really nice. I know we won't be meeting anytime but, I hope you all live long good happy lives with those you're close with. A-a-and if you wanna become like, a pen pal with me then James here'll gladly set up a correspondence!" "Woah-woah-woah since when did we agree to make me some kinda messenger?" "Bu-...you said-" "I'm not your mailman!" "Jaaaaames! Come oooon I wanna make more pen pals!" "You got like, maybe a dozen of them!" "Yeah but...not from other worlds!" "......you know it's really weird that you collect pen pals instead of playing cards or something." "No it's not, I love meeting new people! I love to hear all the different things that they all see or do, what different relations and life experiences that they have because of where they're from! It's all really interesting to me." "Well...I guess when you put it that way I'll see what I can do." "Thanks hun....u-u-um." Koopin blushed from letting out the pet name as James simpered slightly with a blush of his own behind the camera. He was almost certain Koopin had never called him that before, or at least not enough times to remember it that clearly. "S'no problem...cutie." His smile beamed with his hands squeezing each other between his legs before the omni-tool was turned off, before the raptor slowly cuddled back up to his body with a tender kiss and one arm wrapped round his shoulders. For the most part, the rest of the days would pass on with everyday indifference as James and Koopin kept together for the entirety of the week until Koopin's eye had finally healed up enough to not look so blatant. He was soon returning back to work on his usual mornings and afternoons leaving James trustfully back home. In turn the raptor busied himself by looking out for possible jobs of which there was an unsurprising amount of work always needed. Yonny had no vacancies unfortunately, but he did find one job in particular that seemed very easy, regular to do and he had just the perfect tool to use for it which he explained to Koopin and thought was an excellent idea to pursue as something small and easygoing to contribute to the house. A job that was needed out in the goomba village far beyond the west of Toad Town. It was a quiet place, a small settlement of barely three houses including a local toad house inn for weary travellers nestled within a somewhat-unencumbered forest, with bushes and trees everywhere around him. A peaceful place that was just far enough to be out of civilisation's reach to be a haven of sorts as he knocked on the door of the first house he reached after passing through its white wooden gates. The sound of shuffling feet came to the door as a shoe tapped onto the door handle to open it before FG who did his best to smile politely down at the bushy-moustached brown goomba. "Hi there, I'm uh here for that job you guys put out in the paper?" He looked at James suspiciously, rather hesitant and even potentially frightened by his dominating stature and the giant ruthless-looking blades hanging from his back as he reassured them. "It's cool I brought my own tools so uh...no need for me to take any of yours, I manage it all myself." "You done this before?" said the goomba worryingly. "I've cleared out a mess or two before, it's no problem by me." "Hmmm...lemme test you first, you see them weeds over there by the clearing?" "Yeaaah?" "Clear those out first, let's see how you do it." "Righto." With swift steps he headed over towards the small clearing just a bit west of the village to find a rather sordid little patch of weeds with the goomba following far behind him in hesitation. The raptor unsheathed his blades and began to set to work with a cautious snip as he chuckled to himself. "Time to make yourself useful for once." And so it was on the sixth day of his return back to the Mushroom Kingdom that he found himself cutting weeds with the once-powerful pair of demonic shears, now barely throbbing with but a single iota of energy from its essence. The lethal wicked blades streaked and snatched across the encroaching weeds without any effort needed for their cruel sharpness being more than enough to get the job done as he cleared the patch in a record time. The goomba was so impressed by such efficiency that he allowed James to cut across every single inch of the village's vicinity that required a little cleanup. Weeds were extracted and ripped completely from their moorings in the ground, hedges were trimmed to uniform perfection along with gardens pruned carefully with a surgical precise tact, and branches were cut free from overhanging trees that grew stately above the houses that would dare threaten to invade on other people's property. It was a strangely relaxing affair for the raptor, and he was more than happy to turn the scissors towards being something more beneficial to the world as but a tool instead of being a weapon. Soon it was two weeks later and he was focusing on a particularly troublesome bush with the voice of a goomba from behind him giving instructions. "A li'l more to the left." Snip, snip, snip. "Uhhhh...a bit more off the top." Snip, snip. "Okay uhh...I think maybe we took too much off the left." "I can't glue it back on," said FG chuckling, "that's not really my skill." "Okay n-no...no we can do this, it's just gonna be slightly smaller than we had originally." "You sure the eyes aren't too big?" "No no he's always looked like that, don't you worry. Alright...take two snips off on the right, and then one off from the bottom." Snip, snip. Snip. "WAIT, STOP THASSIT!" James slowly stepped away from the bush to reveal a rather feisty-looking goomba sculpted in green topiary with fierce eyebrows and a toothy-looking smile showing darker spots on his forehead. He turned towards his customer who was beaming a wide grin underneath his moustache. "That is just perfect, my father's gonna love this for his birthday. Thank you for this." "No problem sir...no extra charge by the way since this was all in my working hours." "You sure?! I wasn't being too much of a pain I hope trying to get this right, it's just hard to get some things done around here when you got no arms." "Naaaah it's fine, I'll just take my usual since I got a thing to get to." "Well thank you once again mister Campbell and uh, see you tomorrow?" "Sure, later mister Goompapa." Taking his payment gladly in the form of shiny simple golden coins, the raptor walked his way back to Koopin's home across the length of the countryside, through Toad Town and straight into Koopamuir. The scissors stayed on his back safely tucked into his baldric, and despite having the same getup of jeans and holster, he felt a much greater sense of accomplishment than any other time he had been walking through lands in this particular style of clothing and armament. He rapped on the door to his lover's house who was all ready to go with grey hoodie and a duffle bag on his back. "Hey there cutie," said James leaning on the door, "you ready to have a good time?" "Mmhmm, sure am!" "Lemme just put my gardening tools away and we'll get right to it." "Heeheheheee, okay. OH, um, I put in that request you wanted, up at Star Haven? I know it's gonna...take a few weeks but-" "That's good, soon this'll all be gone with for real and then we-...you alright?" "Huh? Yeah I'm um...I'm fine!" "You sure? You look kinda nervous." "Well I mean, why shouldn't I be, considering..." The raptor placed his hands upon Koopin's shoulders with the most confident smile he could give. "We got this. Alright cutie? Don't worry about it." "I-i won't. Course not, you're right, we...we can do this, just have to wait...until they get back to us." "Alright, now let's go have some fun you sexy boy."

Putting up the scissors in his wardrobe he was soon out once again with Charlie being let out to the back garden to enjoy himself, James walked down the road towards the 1.2.8 with a blushing Koopin at his side holding hands with delightful merriment. It was still the same place as when he had last been to it, the same screaming red, yellow and blue lights upon each number above the door, the same queue of various heights waiting to get into the club, and not so same were the new bouncers replaced by two incredibly burly thick-chested hammer brothers with black helmets. While they were not armed, they were most definitely dangerous. The one thing he found odd however was the fact there was no music coming from the club just yet like there normally would. Koopin soon parted ways with him whilst still a good distance away from the queue. "Okay time for me to work," said the koopa, "I gotta head round the back and help fix on some technical issues for the DJ." "Oh, okay but, you are coming down to dance with me right?" "Oh yeah I'll be there, totally. I just gotta help with the sound stuff but uh, look out for me. I'll be wearing purple." "Uh...why aren't you wearing purple now?" "Work clothes dude, come on. Shybert is coming too I think but he's gonna be late for a bit and uh, just one other thing. Don't call me Koopin while in there I...sorta go by a different name." "Ahhhh right...I gotcha, different jobs of course, okay I'll see you inside." "See ya!" The two kissed sweetly upon the lips as James walked up into the queue whilst Koopin went round the back of the club with duffle bag in tow rustling with several tools inside of it. In the darkness of the rear entrance, he swiftly unpacked but only pulled one thing from it. A small cloth rag painted chocolate-brown with thick pale strands of beige. "Hhhhfffff...alright, let's do this." James paid his money dutifully of five coins charge and walked into the place, the crowd starting to file out onto the dance floor before dispersing over towards their tables and seats. A central grand floor that was ready to light up in every single colour of the rainbow, a well-lit bar to the far left with all the drinks one needed to lose themselves in euphoria of sound and vision, and of course the DJ's grand podium at the front of the dancefloor standing above all in deep indigo colouring as James went over to the bar. "Hey can I have some Rainbow Rum?" "You got it." The toad behind the bar dutifully stirred up his requested drink, a bright oily-looking cocktail that went down smoothly with a culmination of fruity flavours that made it much more easy to drink, to the point it would become quite addictive if one wasn't too careful on it. Small alcoves in isolated rooms allowed people to hide from the lights and music whenever they wanted to become more intimate, one of such places that James easily remembered as being where he first fully spoke with Koopin. It was around fifteen minutes later that the show would begin, as people began falling in towards the dance floor which lit up much to their excitement as he saw various tech assistants moving back and forth to set things up. The lights began fading as James stepped himself up in turn waiting to see who was on having not seen any advertisements on the front. The mixed array of goombas, toads, yoshis, koopas and shy guys along with the odd lakitu, pirahna plant and even a few bob-ombs amongst the seething crowd as the heat began rising from their bodies. Everyone's focus went up towards the suddenly-lit podium standing twelve feet above them where a lone shadow stood to the sound of dozens screaming with frantic joy at its appearance. Not toad nor goomba as it stood between the spotlights before reaching out its hands towards the DJ's main deck. Were they able to see it, it would have appeared to be a symmetrical-looking silver board of six buttons, a slider and two small dials on each side with two even greater turning spindials at the very centre of the deck. The voice spoke into the mic before it, clearly male and swaggering with confidence. "I see a lotta faces already sweatin'...to break down on some beats." The crowd started to turn insane with anticipation as his hands swept out into the spotlights, revealing special green gloves with a protective fibre to make them soft and pliable. "I feel a lotta love in this room...you know why? I bet you do. Heheh...lot of people out there think that nothing can save you when all is about to break loose, when day and night stops making sense but I say...that something can save you no matter what may happen, no matter what may come and no matter how dark the days and nights get. You all ready to hear what I wanna tell you?!" The crowd shrieked with unanimous vote. "You wanna know what I think can save you?!" Screams like the dead risen came forth. "ARE YOU READY, TO FEEL THE NOISE!?" James' voice came through screeching with excitement. "THEN IT'S TIME!" The lights turned onto the DJ. "TO DROP THIS!" "Wha-K-KOOPIN!?!" The raptor's eyes widened as he clasped his mouth desperately tight with an internal screaming whisper of shock. Standing above the crowd was a koopa in a dark purple hoodie with a brown rag across his face, painted with a beige blooper of dark fiendish eyes and long tentacles that wrapped towards the koopa's cheeks. But his eyes were unmistakeable, blue and shining with a sudden rage and ferocity as the beat suddenly kicked down deep. With intense focus, the koopa sweeped his gloves across the deck as a voice began echoing into a song. A song that slowly began building up with a new instrument with every ten seconds until electronic blurs started flickering both across the walls and inside their ears. Booming deeper, the main melody suddenly threw itself in with a brass tremble signalling its charge. The crowd would become incensed, bouncing their heads and cheering, raising their hands in an almost fanatical zealotry as the DJ himself threw his hands up in turn. His voice, or rather the voice of his deck began to chant as he sang along with it into the microphone, warping and resonating into something resembling auto-tune to James' ears as he couldn't help himself. His hands were in the air and he simply did not care as the music pulled him in, the pulse of adrenaline incensed by the technophilia became evermore addictive upon the captive audience. By the time the song had hit towards two minutes, the entire club was thumping as a catastrophic array of sound and colour twisted and melded across their minds along the walls. Red, blue, yellow, pink, green, all beguiling and bewitching every single creature including the DJ himself, trapped within an automatic stance of his hands flowing back and forth as he hammered on buttons, twisted dials and flicked across sliders. His body constantly was in motion, slowly moving up and down into an unconscious rhythm. Occasionally, like a banshee trembling across the airwaves, there came another song of the voice underneath the melody as synthetic drums and electronic beats warbled between beeps and shivers. Or perhaps it was the DJ's deck itself trying to imitate a living voice, rising and lowering pitch softly amidst the constant unending, unceasing and unrelenting beat of the percussive noise. The koopa's eyes closed in a silent shudder as if he had just hit the high of morphine, a drug-like state as he stared upon the ceiling, colours flickering and pulsing across his sweet pure blue eyes. His head only came back down to face the crowd, mouthing out the words of his song beneath his facial rag which, whilst were not fully understandable from the constant alteration of electronica, was still enough of a message that they all understood the main title of it. It had only been three minutes but to the raptor it felt as if an entire life had come and gone beyond him. Only once did the song drop its melody, wilting into a vicious synthesised bass that never stopped even once on its assault upon every single pair of ears across the audience. The crowd were lost at sea, a synaesthesiac sea that beat something primal within every creature's heart, the urge to let go, to release, to drop down and disconnect from the mind within shrieking frenzy, an audiovisual maelstrom that tore through the waves of their minds. Interrupting thoughts, intercepting worries and stresses, shutting down fear and dragging pure joy into the light kicking and screaming. In those six minutes of a song that felt like it would never end, nobody remembered who they were, what they did, or even where they had come from. All that existed in that moment was dance. Their bodies streaked with sweat underneath the pulsating lights, toads with slickening mushroom caps, goombas with panting mouths and worn shoes, yoshis with shining skin like sun-kissed fruit amongst koopas, bob-ombs and shy guys that never ever stopped bouncing, never stopped moving. To stop moving was to stop living, like a fish in the sea. Only once the song ended, and the voice of the DJ's instruments began fading finally, was the spell released over the people that were left dazed and confused briefly before erupting into an ocean of cheer. James had missed this feeling of blissful forgetfulness in the darkness of the club rave. His hands were up before he even knew where he was clapping and shrieking with excitement at the DJ who put his hands up with palms showing in a soft attempt to try and calm his ecstatic listeners. The koopa looked at James briefly and gave him a small wink as he said nothing in return, cheering on until the audience began to quieten out. Except for one pair of hands that kept clapping slowly onwards at the very back of the hall.

People turned their heads gently to see a strange-looking entourage of up to four people, one of whom was cloaked in a large black hoodie that seemed too big to be any species James could think of. Two toads with rough-looking grimaces and stubbled cheeks along with one yoshi that was pink like the inside of a grapefruit and dark red hair, but with the muscles of a first-class sailor rippling across his left arm to give a large yet wiry look whilst wearing jeans and heavy boots. His right arm however was replaced entirely by a weighty hook pulley that normally one used for lifting small crates. "Not bad, not bad at all...fer a shellboy." The cloaked creature's voice oozed of the street life, but not the kind that James was familiar with. The kind that was considered glamorous on TV where everybody wore half a jewellery department whilst spouting of the common people. He despised this voice and so did Koopin as the cloaked being approached. "Ah see that the people of Toad Town are all good an' easy with this little love fest. But maybe they wanna hear sumthin' more...Delfeaning?" "What are you doing here?" said the DJ snarling. "What's yo' prob-lem? Last ah heard this place weren't invite-only." "Sorry but I got a rule in my crib. No backstabbers allowed." "AHAH...hhhaaah...well, you certainly come out swingin' don't you Bloopa-boy?" "Least I can actually come out swingin', unlike you." "Now is that any way to treat an ol' friend? Tut-tu-tut...you musta picked up some naaaaasty influence back in Rogueport, Koopa-Bloopa." "No nastier than you, fuzz-face." The crowd gasped at this as the pianta simply shrugged with his hands at his side. "Whut you call me?" "That why you wear that hood on your head? Howsit feel bein' out in the sunlight for once, or are you touchin' fuzzy a li'l TOO often an' now you can't tell the sun from that limp piece of fruit you call your face?" "You better watch yo'self wit' that mouth of yours shell-head, now step off else or amma tell you-" "NO YOU STEP OFF!" roared Koopin. "You walk into my turf, you dance to MY beat an' if you don't like whut I'm playin', then the door's over there you walking palm-freak!" What the hell, thought FG, is he...is he acting like some kinda street punk or something, what the hell's happening to him?! "Hahahaha...cute," said the intruder. "Think you can scare me, only thing you good at is poppin' that head o' yours back inside yo' shell, after ah beat it back in." "You couldn't even pop a collar, D-Mob." "Ohhhh hohoho...look at you." D-Mob's cronies laughed along with him for a few seconds before shutting up by a hand gesture. "Lissen to you, you know who you dealin' with? Ah wuz born on the streets of Rogueport." He slipped off his hoodie finally and unzipped, revealing a pianta underneath that was slightly taller than James. Yellow dusty skin like a banana just before it rots to brown with a pendulous thick nose hanging downwards beneath a pair of black shady sunglasses. His hair resembled the leaves of a carrot but coloured black instead of green with the ring of leaves around his waist that all piantas had being coloured pure white. He wore two huge golden knuckle dusters with one on each fist shouting D-MOB with imprinted stamping, as well as a thick white B-ball shirt that upon closer examination was not some run-of-the-mill cotton, but instead of a much richer fabric. "Ah ain't sum sand-blower from Gelato Beach." "Pfft, right, an' I'm the prince of Pi'llo Island." James smirked not knowing what that meant whilst the rest of the audience chuckled knowingly before the pianta stepped closer leering. "You think you funny, Bloopa?" "I know I am, whereas you can barely think up a good lyric." "Kid like you wouldn't last a night in Rogueport." "I think I could...because I DID, unlike you runnin' away with your palm leaves between your legs." "Whutchoo talkin' about?" "That why you here?" replied the DJ cockily. "Tryin' to escape the mob who got a noose in their hands ready for your fat neck now they got all wise up on you?" "Heh...hhhheheheh, whut is this?" The slight look of hesitation was clear that Koopin had hit on the money as D-Mob looked towards his posse with disbelief. "Whut would this little half-shell freak know about anythin' involving the Pianta Syndicate?" "I know a lotta things D-Mob, don' get fresh with me. Not on my turf. You're so toxic a yoshi would melt standin' next to you, which explains your ugly little parade coming up here thinkin' they'll make you look prettier." "At least ah HAVE a posse, whut do you got?!" "My fists. Koopa-Bloopa flies solo, the only friend I got here is music an' it's telling me that you're flatter than a shadow." The sound of teeth being sucked in gave eminence that the smackdown was about to occur. James decided to listen to his better half and stepped back to wait and see as D-Mob responded: "Flat ain't in mah dictionary, buttsucker. Except when ah first met you." "Oh, you actually can read and DON'T have somebody write your trash for you?" "At least ah can bring a beat with words unlike YOU with yo' baby's first keyboard, you got nuthin' on me." "I know they ran you out of town six months ago, an' that you ran off hidin' like a little bandit allll the way to the back of some rotten ol' warehouse where you went hijackin' a boat with whatever you stole from the mob pretendin' to be one of them. But you couldn't even do that, could you?" The pianta turned pale, eyes wide behind his sunglasses as he shook his fist with panic and fury. "Whut. The heck. Do YOU know about that, crackalack!?" "Who do you think sabotaged your boat?" Even with a bandanna around his face, Koopin's smile was just like his father's and became just as terrifying to James as D-Mob almost snapped his shades from his piercing stare. "...wh-...y-y-y-...YOU!? YOU were that little PUNK?!" "Pfft I dunno, didn't you say you can't tell one koopa from another? I mean, not like you ever knew who really broke into your warehouse...neither did any of yer guards. But then, I was the one who got a 'special tour' of your little backroom, didn't I Yoshua? Speakin' of which, how's that eye of yers?!" "SHUDDUP YOU FREAK!" cried the yoshi. "I'LL BUST YER FACE IN 'TIL YO' MOMMA WON'T LOVE YOU!" "Heh, looks like your momma already did with that face, what happen to you? Lost a fight with a paperclip?" "YOU SON OF A SNITCH YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID! YOU DID THIS TO MEEE!" Shrieking with one finger pointing at his own left eye, James finally had the chance to see the yoshi's face revealing a huge burnt scar scoring down the yoshi's closed left socket whilst Koopin simply shrugged with a disturbing lack of empathy. "Yeah well, it's called an eye for an eye. You ever heard of karma, well guess what? I don't really take kindly to being your punching bag, so I hope you enjoy having an eyepatch because that's the only thing the girls are ever gonna like about you melon boy." "THASSIT! YOU WANNA FIGHT, YOU'LL GET ONE YOU LITTLE- _" "_CRAMMIT!" D-Mob quieted his henchman who glowered burning with rage up at the koopa, his arms crossed over like a lord in his domain smugly before hearing the pianta reply with one finger pointing hard: "You messed up with me fo' the last time you fuzzed-up FREAK! You wanna settle this once an' fer all, why don't we settle it here an' now?" "Fine by me. I been waitin' to kick your pineapple face back to the kerb where it belongs, D-Mob." "Alrigh'...let's spin ourselves up a notch, get a real duel goin' on here whuddaya say?" "Heh...I say you already lost, but sure, why not. Lemme savour your tears whilst I feel 'em rubbin' all over my deck." James had to recheck his hearing from Koopin's strangely aggressive words. The moment he had that facial rag on he was someone else entirely, the sweet kindly koopa almost unrecognisable with such dominance of the club turf. He started wondering if he had corrupted him in his own way, but whatever had caused it, he could only watch as D-Mob clicked his fingers as one of his toad toadies switched out a turntable for him, a collapsible sleekly black beauty that folded into a case. The Delfinian strided his way up onto the stage by a stairway left of the podium before he flipped down his turntable set, ready for a battle beside Koopin. "You got a beat?" snarled D-Mob. "I always do, what say we go with a classic, something easy for you like saaaaay...this one?" "Heheh, sure...why not." Koopin pulled out a vinyl record from presumably a drawer in the podium as D-Mob approved taking it from Koopin's hand before planting it in his deck. The pianta had two large spinning dials and two sliders on each side of his own turntable with a small variety of buttons. The audience waited with ripe anticipation for an exciting battle of maestros whilst the yoshi in pink walked over towards the bar to grab himself a drink and to wait for anything to happen. But before the music could jump in, the pianta slowly reached into his vest that James knew immediately what he was up to. "LOOK OUT HE'S PACKING HEAT!"

The koopa turned just in time to see D-Mob whip out a fire flower, sealed in a fire-retardant bag he ripped free and pointed straight towards Koopin's face. The audience screamed with fright before the DJ dodged beneath the first blast of a fireball, sending his fist straight up into the pianta's chin with a cracking blow and knocking him hard almost fully off from the podium itself. The following roundhouse kick however sent D-Mob falling completely back onto the dancefloor before Koopin jumped down following with a hard stomp as he grabbed the fire flower off of him. "You really thought I was gonna fall for the same trick twice?" He said this whilst crushing the burning plant between his glove-coated fingers. "I'm not one of YOUR dumb idiot crew." "You...y-you th-think that you can bring the noise to ME?!" D-Mob staggered up with frenzy as his fists tightened up. The audience backed off completely knowing that a fight was imminent seeing his shades being taken off showing beady black eyes of purest rage. "You gonna wish you ain't NEVER crossed with me!" "I already am. But now you're in my domain, an' I ain't never lost my beat on this stage. So BRING IT FAT BOY!" "RAAAAAAAARGH!" The pianta swung with a huge fist coated in gold bling of his brand as Koopin dodged underneath before slamming an uppercut once again straight into D-Mob's nose. The gangster cared little and countered back with a sudden cross jab straight across the koopa's cheek knocking him backwards before Koopin regained his footing in time to dodge the furious overhead swing from the larger opponent. Strafing left of the hammerfist from above, Koopin struck with a scissor-kick making a small hop and slamming both feet one after the other in a one-two hit into D-Mob's upper body. Stumbling back from the double-hit, the pianta made a spinning backhand trying to bitchslap Koopin fierce but he ducked underneath moving fast to his left, balancing on one foot briefly before shooting out his other leg in a piercing side kick. The striking gut kick to D-Mob pummelled him hard enough he nearly buckled over wheezing before he ran forwards into a ruthless bull charge, crushing Koopin against the podium. "YOU WAN' THIS?! _" His fists came down upon the koopa in a violent combo, slamming left, right, left, right with a final crunching blow deep enough to imprint his name into Koopin's cheek as he screeched from the throbbing agony in his skull. James couldn't stand by and watch but the moment he rushed forwards to leap into the fray something warm and wet latched tightly around his arm and pulled him back hard. "WH-WHAT THE-GAAAH!" Stumbling back hard and falling next to the bar, he stared up at the face of the pink yoshi chuckling wickedly with his hook pulley hand pointing towards the raptor. "Private party only, unless you wanna dance with me." "Heh...maybe I DO!" Punching the ground with a sudden gust of wind from both hands, he launched himself upwards high enough to somersault and kick both feet viciously into Yoshua's face, sending him back stumbling against the bar. The yoshi came out swinging with hook pulley at his front, whirling like a club before unclicking the lockswitch on its side to send it out by a short rope cracking the side of FG's head with the steel hook. James stumbled groaning from the stars exploding in his head before the thug shot out his tongue to pull him back in again, following up with the ropehook lashing itself around his arm to pull him even harder. The moment James felt the pulling motion of his tongue, he focused a gust of wind behind him from his hands to shoot much faster towards the yoshi than he anticipated, following up with a burning fist that crushed brutally against Yoshua's bulbous cheek sending both of them into the wall. Koopin took another three blows to the face, the bling scraping across his cheeks to send deeper scars across them as he cried out with fury before grabbing one of the arms by the bicep to block D-Mob's next punch. Without even thinking the koopa spat hard into the pianta's face who suddenly backed off with a yelp of disgust trying to clean his eyes out before Koopin launched himself into a flying leap with one single crushing axe kick, slamming the heel of his boot hard into the back of the gangster's head. "_LETS-A GO! _" "_GAAAAAAAARGH!" His face went down straight into the dancefloor squashing his nose against it as he staggered upwards shaking his head clear and rolling across to bring himself back up quickly. D-Mob rushed forwards without even thinking to let his fists fly with two haymakers from the left and right, the koopa dodging the first and blocking the second with his arm before coming in hard with a one-two punch straight into the face. The brief stun forcing D-Mob to close his eyes was followed by a roundhouse kick slamming the side of his head that forced him to bow straight into Koopin's screaming gutpunch. "BULLET BILL REMIX! _" " GHK-GUUUUUH! " Coughing violently sharp with the air punched from his lungs, D-Mob staggered with hands to the floor to keep himself from faceplanting hard as he stumbled back up slowly. Koopin allowed him to stand to take another shot before the pianta suddenly began spinning with a double lariat, his white palm leaves around the waist fluttering like oxtail daisies in the summer breeze. It was a deceptive move for it looked like he was going to topple, but the rival had every bit of control on his cumbersome body waiting for Koopin to dodge underneath the whirling fists. But it was a perfect ruse to distract him as D-Mob quickly stomped his foot to briefly stop his momentum, before suddenly swinging his foot powerfully in the opposite direction straight into Koopin's stomach following with a striking double lariat of two severely strong punches right that sent Koopin flying above his head. Crying out from the triple-blow to his shell-bellied gut, which despite his natural armour was still damnably bruising, he fell down to earth but not before the pianta landed a final roundhouse kick into Koopin's chest sending him powerfully across the hall. "_SUNSHINE SLAMMER! _" "_HHHHHH!" Koopin gasped wheezing as his lungs felt they had just been crushed against the floor, whimpering as he rolled along the dancefloor groaning to try and suppress the urge to vomit. Shaking his head free he got up slowly whilst clutching his stomach, waiting for the next attack as D-Mob cautiously approached with fist slamming into his other hand cockily, despite the many bruises on his face and arms looking more and more like an overripe banana.

James was having his own problems with Yoshua, quickly pushing himself off from the wall and trying to run over to the fight between the DJs until a rope swung out to snatch him by the throat. Briefly suffocating by a strangled yelp, the raptor felt the sudden tug backwards as he half-turned to meet the yoshi's left fist, driving straight through his head like a truck as the pink rippling muscles snaked past his blurring vision. Falling flat onto his back, the rope still remained on his neck as Yoshua choked him pulling harder against. Squeezing like the coils of a python, James struggled not to cry out with pain and save his breath before blasting a fireball straight into the yoshi's face, causing him to shriek and recoil covering his scalding face. Grappling for the hook-arm, the raptor unclicked the pulley's switch and swiftly unravelled it from his throat before punching Yoshua square in the eye. "A-AAAAAAAH DAMMIT MY EYE, YOU LITTLE SNITCH I'M GONNA- GLRRKK! _" "You got a foul mouth for a yoshi, lemme just wash that out for ya huh?!" Grabbing his tongue the moment he saw it, he dragged the yoshi straight into a set of double doors that lead into the bathrooms and squirted a healthy dose of handwash across it. The retching sound that followed was expected, enough to stifle any urge to fight from Yoshua briefly as he gagged and stumbled trying to reach his fist out towards FG. The bathroom was too small to use his hook-arm for its full capacity as James punched him again in the eye to stun him harder, before slamming the yoshi's head into the nearest toilet bowl. "BE GLAD IT'S CLEAN MELON BOY!" "_GHHR-BLRLRHHRRRRRGH!" He had never known a bathroom that was unclean in the Mushroom Kingdom, and a part of him was thankful for it as he flushed and gave Yoshua the most forceful swirly he ever gave, drenching the yoshi's hair and briefly suffocating him with the taste of detergent and handwash scraping across his inner mouth lining. It was enough to keep him out of action for a bit as he coughed and sputtered almost vomiting dryly as the raptor closed the door with a nearby broom, jamming the handle before he turned to see two rough-looking toads snarling at him with knuckles cracking. James simply grinned for the fact they looked nowhere near as threatening. "Alright, fine, you wanna dance fungus puff, let's dance." Back on the dancefloor, D-Mob swung forwards with a rippling haymaker that Koopin almost barely dodged, before meeting the pianta's stubby knee slamming up into his face and the foot that followed it. Pounded backwards into a staggering gait, he retreated back into his shell popping all his limbs to bounce onto the floor like a grenade before suddenly rippling across the floor in a spinning strike attack. Cracking against D-Mob's knees like a baseball bat, the gangster roared as he fell down hard and stumbling right in front of the koopa re-emerging from the shell spinning off of him vertically. "D-D-D-DROP THE BEAT! _" His fist came flying from overhead with the momentum of his shell spin adding greater force behind it, crushing down upon the head of palm leaves in front of him with a heavy thud against the floor. It was right at this moment that Koopin almost ducked once he had his feet back onto the floor from seeing and indeed hearing a toad that went flying straight past them across the room with a whining sound, almost like a jet engine. The second one followed after having being hurled by FG from nearby slapping his hands together satisfactory. James walked over thinking the fight was done, but they soon saw the pianta staggering up with thickening welts turning his head near-purple with vile hatred as he heaved furious towards Koopin. The raptor readied himself into fighting stance but not before the koopa next to him shouted: "HEY, this ain't a duet pal!" "What?" "You wanna fight, go walk to Glitzville I'm sure they'll pay you for it." "I just thought you needed some help." "Koopa-Bloopa don't NEED no help, I ain't your boy!" "You wanna bet?" The raptor pointed over at the restroom doors flying apart with a sudden crack as the broom handle snapped wide open from the lock, showing a burly pink yoshi now sneering with boiling rage that practically off his wet dripping head. The koopa simply rolled his eyes and relented saying: "Fine, you take out the fruitsucker, I'll handle the fat ball of sunshine over here." "_WHO YOU CALLIN' FAT?!" roared D-Mob, "I'M GONNA BREAK YO' FACE!" "TRY ME!" Koopin rushed in to surprise D-Mob as the gangster swung too quick in his frustration, causing him to be wide open for the koopa to bodyslam him with three punches to the kidneys along with a sudden knee strike to kick the breath out of his pianta lungs. James waited until he saw Yoshua charge and swing out his arm hook like a fishing rod to catch him with it, before he dodged once to avoid the rope and jumped over the tongue that followed trying to snatch at his foot. With his furious charge stumbling at having caught nothing, he was also exposed in turn as the raptor lunged forwards with a burst of wind to crack his clawed fist straight into the yoshi's shoulder. Rippling pain stifled through his arm as he cried out, forgetting to retract his rope which Koopin grabbed and latched onto D-Mob's shirt causing the yoshi to accidentally sling back his boss and barrel them into each other like a poor circus act. Staggering up with each other's help, both went roaring towards James and Koopin who ended up switching each other's opponents. Quickly swapping their focus on the fly to confuse both intruders, James went straight for the pianta with burning fist bashing his jaw straight upwards with his other fist pounding much more powerfully than Koopin could into D-Mob's stomach, whilst Koopin himself made a flying kick sending his boot straight into Yoshua's cheek. The sound of crunching teeth forced against each other painfully tight as the yoshi fell hard onto the floor trying to shoot his tongue out to hit the koopa, but the DJ dodged and grabbed it with one hand before yanking it violently to drag Yoshua back on his feet faster. The yoshi charged forwards trying to get the drop on Koopin who swiftly let him rush run right past him straight into the raptor's face who headbutted him powerfully sending a blinding headache into Yoshua's cranium. He stumbled trembling in his legs before Koopin turned on his foot with a side piercing kick smacking straight in the snout and sending him down out for the count. He then saw the pianta rise up behind James breathing heavily as he shouted: "DUCK!" James ducked down out of the way as fast as he could before D-Mob could slam his fists straight down into the back of his head as he overbalanced hard, stuttering fast with his guard open for the DJ's last beat. A single two steps forward before he grabbed him by the neck in a clothesline punch and threw him judo-style over his shoulder, crushing his back downwards onto the floor in a Sandstorm Snapmare move that James smiled at gladly. The battle was over, both of them panting harshly as the audience simply stared for a few moments wondering what would be appropriate after this. They decided to hit the roof with a rousing cheer of excitement at their DJ trouncing the rude intruders as the koopa smiled half-heartedly, nodding with a wave of confidence as he took a breather with heavy breaths. James was a little less out of it but still took a bit of time out to gulp back some air before watching Koopin stride over towards the almost-unconscious D-Mob with his eyes flickering up towards the DJ who grabbed his palm-leaf hair with a harsh painful tug upwards. "The next time you wake up, you're gonna be in a cell. Have fun." He slammed his face down back into the ground to fully concuss him before security arrived finally, the two hammer brothers looking rather surprised at the scene before Koopin shouted: "HEY! WHAT IS THIS?!" "U-bu-whu-" "YOU!" The DJ stomped over marching towards the bouncers with alacrity in his voice. "What the heck is this?! You were supposed to be watching the DOOR, KOOPADORIAN!" "I-i-i, sir, m-mister Bloopa, I jus-" "WHAT!? WHAT EXCUSE YOU GOT FOR ME HUH?!" "Th-th-they knocked us out, they offered us sum cookies but we didn' notice they were uh...s-sleepy sheep 'uns." "Sleepy sheep 'uns? Your boss told me, that you two were the biggest brick houses to put in front of this place and you...YOU-...you, were supposed, to be watching the door. THIS is why you do not accept anything other than-WHAT DID YOUR BOSS TELL YOU!?" "...not to accept anythin' other than coins." "RIGHT, EXACTLY, DO YOU KNOW WHAT JUST TRANSPIRED HERE?!?! WE NEARLY HAD A WHOLE RICCO HARBOUR SITUATION GOIN' ON DOWN HERE, I'M STANDIN' HERE LOOKIN' LIKE A PUNI IN A FOREST FIRE AN' THANK THE STARS NOBODY ELSE GOT HURT, IS EVERYBODY ELSE OKAY?!" The crowd murmured nodding agreement with nobody out of shape. "Good, because be glad that THIS chucklehead isn't gonna hafta pay any hospital bills RIGHT!?" Despite the fact the hammer brother towered over Koopin, he was clearly balking away from the DJ with a tense-looking shame before he crossed his arms glowering with blue eyes until he pointed fiercely. "Call the guards, get them down here and then YOU can tell them about how you let a gangster run into this club! There's a lotta people's dreams down here tonight that almost got shattered and YOU coulda ended up disappointing everybody, this might be some club beat to you, but to us this is a world of escape, and YOU'RE the people that keep it safe!" "I-i-i'm sorry. Sorry mister Bloopa. Won't happen again." "It better not. You slip up again, an' I'm the one that's gonna be dragging both of you by the skull to your boss. Ladies an' gentlemen!" Koopin turned firmly towards the audience. "I'm sorry for our performance being almost ruined by these punks...but that don't gotta stop any of us from partyin' out the rest of the night right?! RIGHT?!" The mood passed away from awkwardness as slowly the audience started to get back into shape, the burning sense of adrenaline from the fight incensing Koopin which started to infect everyone else with his enthusiasm. "LET'S KICK THIS BEAT UP AGAIN, CLEAR THE FLOOR AN' LET'S GET THUMPIN'! HEY, YOU!" He pointed over towards FG before walking up to him. "Thanks for the help, appreciate it." "N-no...problem?" said FG still feeling off-kilter. "You better put on a good show for your boyfriend when he shows up, alrighty? He'll probably be waitin' outside round the back after the show. You got me?" A soft wink from the koopa made James feel slightly weak at the knees to see such dominance surprisingly from his lover's guise as he nodded firmly. The rest of the night went on unabated as the staff members took away the pianta, his turntable, the yoshi and two toads to tie them up for the guards to deal with once they arrived. Once they did, Shybert had also managed to appear in the mix of the people waddling up towards James with a tap on his thigh around the same time D-Mob and his friends were being taken into custody. "HOO! S-sorry I'm late, hwoh, did I miss any sweet tunes?" "Nahhhh not really. Well, maybe one but there was a lot more going on than that." "Really? ...wait...what the-wait, what is HE doing here?!" "What, delfino boy over there?" "Y-y-y-YES him, what is he even-I mean, jus-...woah, wowie, what is HE I mean, oh my stars this...this is OUTRAGEOUS I mean do you even KNOW how much he-no wait, you don't...actually know him at all, do you?" "Uhhhhmmm, yes I don't know who he is?! The DJ got in a fight with him and well let's just say I'm gonna be asking mister DJ a few questions afterwards." "Oh...you uh...you figured it all out haven't you? H-hwoh, dang, I was really hoping to see the look on your face." "You knew about this?" "I'll just let HIM explain about it, right now I want to lose myself in a sweet euphoria of synaesthesiac impossibility, with an endless backbeat now if you don't mind clear the floor because I'm about to BUST some moves." The little shy guy bravely unstraightened his tie into a daring messy knot before he went straight to the dancefloor as the club went on without incident, as Koopin commanded the deck to keep people bouncing across the floor for a solid two hours with little interruption. James found himself usually hanging around with Shybert who was breaking every move he had out on the floor, of which he perhaps knew at best only four kinds. His tie fluttered all over the place as he awkwardly swished and swivelled his hands into a little dance, turning clumsily to try and simulate a soft-shuffle dance that James could only smirk and struggle not to laugh at. Eventually people started to leave the club in small groups as the rave began dying down with the DJ reaching the end of his night in turn as soon the place turned empty with Shybert taking his leave in turn. He waved his goodbye to the DJ with but a single embarrassed whoop of excitement before heading back home as the raptor went outside to wait behind the club and see Koopin sneak out from the building's rear exit, wearing a grey hoodie and duffle bag once again with his old familiarly humble smile reappearing on his beak. "There you are! You ready to go home?" "Um...yeah, totally." "Come on then...I'll tell you about it when we get home." "Okay."

James was still rather confused by all that had just been happening for the night but once they arrived home with Charlie panting up at them, they petted him on the head and fed him before retreating to the bedroom with strangely feisty energy still in both of them. The adrenaline was still thinning out of their system from both the fight and the music but that didn't stop FG from asking his boyfriend: "So...when were you gonna tell me that you're firstly a successful frickin' DJ and secondly, you got involved in some kinda gang war?!" "Welllll I wasn't gonna tell you." Koopin put down his duffle bag into his closet on his side of the bedroom, after emptying the hoodie and face rag out of it to put into the wash. "I was gonna SHOW you which I just did because it's that more fun. Secondly, that I was gonna explain but eventually." "Well now you have to tell me I-i-i-i mean...what the hell was that all about?! That guy was seriously up in your face about something." "He's just a punk wannabe gangster that tried to schmooze his way into the Pianta Syndicate, kinda stepped into the wrong side of them. Because he's a pianta, he thought he could just wear the shades and look like he was some kinda endorsed jerk representing them, trying to get their brand to be part of his and taking a cut of their profits for himself. I told the syndicate about it, remembering what you said about respecting them like businessmen and well...they weren't happy about it." "...you...you snitched on a dude like him?" "Yes. Yes I did." "......jesus Koopin." James had a sense of panic fluttering in his chest as Koopin slipped off his grey hoodie to put in the laundry, nowhear near as sweating as James was but still rather slick on his skin. "I knew you were honest but christ that's a serious thing to get caught up in." "He was pushing fuzzy on people, he was a jerk! The guy's not even a good musician, that's more like a hobby to him, using his whole little music business as a front to set up a kinda business to sell stuff out on his shows, you know all he does is say like five syllables every four-four beat, I mean that's just LAZY!" "Ah huh...still, it's not uh...everyday I hear my boyfriend ended up with a rival who's also a drug dealer...I take it he's the one that gave you the black eye." "And all the bruises...I'll admit that was stupid of me." "What the hell did he do to you?" "We had a fight in the underground ring in Rogueport, just to prove each other who was best...shoulda known he would play a dirty trick and slampunch me with a dizzy dial right when I was whupping his butt. Then he took me to his hiding place, tied me up and beat me 'til I looked like a sack of grapes." The raptor walked forwards with a strange stiffness in his step that Koopin became fearful at seeing before he felt James' hands on his shoulders. "......if it wasn't for the fact you already beat his face in I would be...very angry right now." "I know. That's why I didn't tell you." Feeling his arms wrap smoothly around him, Koopin sighed at James' firm embrace to reassure them both, the feeling of their sweat on each other adding an extra warmth before FG softly asked: "Soooo...I'm a little confused on all this, how did you become this successful enough to get on the wrong side of a dealer? And speaking of successful, what the hell was all this mask stuff and Koopa-Bloopa thing you're all getting up in, you were like a different person!" "It started out as just a stupid project, mom wanted me to make music as a sorta venting thing, to get out all my pain and frustration about you leaving. Eventually someone heard it, mom loved it first but I wanted to keep it secret but then Shybert heard it whilst I was at work and listening to my own stuff on my music player. He loved it, he thought it was great and asked who the artist was and I sorta...made this huge lie about stuff because it sorta came to me." "Wait why would you lie about it? Wouldn't you want people to know who you were?" "No." Koopin became adamant with a stern look in his eyes. "I talked this over with my dad, mom and him both know about all this and so does Shybert after he found out when I made a little mistake in my disguises so it just...hhhhnnnnngh..." He rubbed his arm gently with a sudden awkwardness overcoming him, with all his dominance as the DJ disappearing out of him. "I needed to make another persona, someone that could say the things I wasn't allowed to say." "What do you mean not allowed to say?" "All those words when I was getting up in D-Mob's face, all this aggression and fierceness I could never have, because I'm this sweet nice tour guide that everybody likes, it's why I was hired to be out on the field. Nobody's gonna want to be around me if I get all moody and frustrated every single day, so I force it all into this." He held up the face rag of the dark blooper. "He lets me become something different, something that allows me to scream at the world and just beat down everyone's ears with what I have to say, it may not be exactly truthful but it's helping me out a lot. I was so miserable, I just couldn't focus on anything a-a-and I wanted to just move on with stuff but I COULDN'T! So I realised, thinking back on how lots of wrestlers have their own personas to keep apart their lives from the whole experience of the ring, I should do the same thing too. So I did. I put my stuff onto Bandkoop, made up a few details and made Koopa-Bloopa a thing." "Damn...I guess it worked?" "It definitely worked...almost...a little too well it worked." "Considering the trouble you got into yeah, I say it worked too well. Heheh...not gonna lie but, when you were kicking ass and getting your swagger on I found it pretty sexy." "You...y-y-you're not...mad or anything?" "Koopin come ooooon." James smooched him with a squeezing hug of reassurance. "I've done worse than you, I mean I'm surprised yeah and I'm kind of...a little mixed on the fact that you got involved in some pretty shady business, not YOU directly but rather just being a part of it even as someone who shuts it down, but...you'll always be my Koopin no matter what disguise you take, still the same cute...adorable ball of love I first knew back all those years ago." "Okay now I'm REALLY glad you did not tell me this back in the club, hhhheeheheheee!" Koopin giggled bashfully as his face turned into the widest smirk with reddened cheeks of pure embarrassment, further inciting his cuteness to FG who grabbed his face gently to gaze into his sweet blue pupils. "You know regardless of what stuff you get involved with, you always have a certain...I dunno. It's like, you're not innocent or naive like I once thought but you have a certain something about that you always kept that makes you still the same person I love. That's something I always admired about you, the fact that you never lost that whether you're stopping this D-Mob or, fighting Scissoraptor or even listening to me tell you all these stories about awful things." "I-i-i dunno what...to tell you I mean I just try to be who I am but...sometimes I wanna be somebody different so I can...vent my feelings. Feelings I don't want to be a part of me." "And I understand completely. I'm really proud of you Koopin. You finally got to live your dream." "That's...not my dream anymore." "No?" "My dream now is...to live with you. James." Smirking at his beloved, the two kissed once again gently before noting each other's trembling bodies pulsing with exhilaration from the night in the club. A brief stare into their eyes said everything they wanted as their soft kiss became a much deeper embrace of passion between thickening tongues. Moaning before they even knew what they were doing, the scent, taste and touch of each other's masculine energy was giving rise to a much greater need as they breathed through their nostrils, closing their eyes as tongues twisted and sucked pulling each other closer, fingers creeping along each other's heads. James shuddered deep into Koopin's breathless whimpering throat as they struggled to even try to stop, slithering tongues of wet suckling sounds upon the inside of each other's cheeks. They only released each other once their breath was running short as they panted with risen excitement, their bodies throbbing with both soreness from wounds but also something further downwards as James asked kindly: "You...you wanna...y-you wanna-" "Yes. Please." It was a now-or-never moment. They had not felt this lust for each other in all of the two weeks since James' return, what with all that had been happening along with their constant state of thankfulness and relief of being together again. But now that they felt even but a taste of it, it was struggling to be held back as the raptor softly licked across Koopin's cheek causing him to shudder hotly. In turn Koopin pressed his face against James' musky chest, whimpering to breathe in his thick scent and almost hyperventilating because of it. "H-h-hhhhhhhh...hhhhhohhh...l-let's...shower first, then we can-" "Okay."

They wordlessly stripped down to nothing and put their clothes away to be cleaned in the laundry later on, with James' jeans and underwear in a separate pile to self-clean as they walked into the shower together. Hot water drizzling across each other's bodies, the brown pebble-smooth scale pressed firmly against smooth buttery yellow skin as the raptor stood behind Koopin to caress his body before they washed. Fresh new wounds made him slightly wince, but that did nothing to assuage their arousal throbbing forth in the form of two thickening erections, one of which was hidden behind Koopin. Their bodies were dappled in reddening marks and bruises that slightly darkened but only further gave an intense feel of sensitivity that encouraged them to continue. James slid his claws down towards the slightly pudgy chest, kissing along the neck and shoulder which he bit into slightly, not enough to leave a mark but firm enough to feel the pressure of it as he stroked into Koopin's thighs. His tongue snaked briefly across the tender cheek, tasting the bruise as he felt his beloved shudder in both arousal and a slight stinging pain that his mind became confused with. He felt his little tail brushing minutely back and forth against James' stiffening length which grinded teasingly between his rumpcheeks, whimpering louder as the moment he opened his mouth fully, it was consumed by his lover's tongue from above him in the briefest kiss as James inhaled deep trying to suck every bit of Koopin's quivering voice from inside. "A-AH! Mm-mmmph...h-h-hh-hhh-hmmmhhhh...J-j-james." "Mmmmmhhhh...yes Koopin?" "D-d-don't...not yet...not, until we're in bed-" "I won't...I know." With one hand sleekly caressing the koopa's belly, his other slid down even further to squeeze and fondle the plumpening erection, a yellow sweetness that James stroked teasingly to keep the fires stoked within his loins. But not too much as promised as they began to clean each other more fully with soap. The raptor lathered his hands across Koopin's flesh as if sculpting him, kissing him from behind upon the neck and beak until suckling on the throat itself, making the koopa gasp with a stuttering moan as he felt his lover's voice rumbling deep inside his own body. Sliding his hands of soap along the gentle fingers, warm waist, throbbing arousal and down the entirety of his back, he soon finished and let Koopin take his turn to clean him as he felt the slick pudgy fingers caress his battered skin. Old wounds and scars ridged like valleys across his body, giving an edge of sadness to the smaller creature which made his hands start to tremble as he traced along the aching rifts. James made not a sound smiling always to show that there was nothing to fear, nothing to be sorry for, as Koopin kissed each and every little wound that he saw. No matter how deep, or how aged they looked, he gave every part of James' history his loving kiss, blessing the marks of hatred with his love and purity, the raptor moaning with eyes fluttering at such softness upon his scaled skin as he stroked Koopin's head. Down his back was the same story, a tender smooch for every line unnatural made upon him, purifying his accursed stains as he stroked his fingers down along to the lengthly tail that he squeezed and caressed in its attempt to slightly wrap round him, but not by much. They were soon finished and stepped out from the shower with towels ready to dry themselves off with, before making their way to the bed holding hands nakedly. The younger koopa gently climbed up first after pulling the duvet covers back, showing for a teasing instant his sweet darkened pucker beneath the wiggling little triangular tail that James bit his lip from seeing with a bestial sound from his throat. He made no move until Koopin showed that he was ready, lying on his back on the covers of his bed before he clambered up on top of him. In a mutual look between them they ignored their pulsing malehood, focusing on each other's eyes of soft ocean blue against dark forest green. The raptor pressed his body against Koopin as his heart felt it was about to burst, panting hot breaths between them as they struggled to find the words to offer each other. James supported his upper body by his arms on either side of Koopin's head, but it wasn't hesitation that stopped them. It was simply to savour the blissful heat of each other's passion before James softly caressed a clawed finger upon Koopin's beak whilst whispering faintly: "I missed you...I missed your touch...your taste...your voice next to me when we sleep...your laugh making me smile." "I missed...your heart beating against me at night...I missed your eyes, so strong and fierce...until you look at me..." His hand slowly reached towards James' cheek. "They always look gentle, whenever you look at me...hhhhh...hhhoh James..." "...Koopin...hhhhh-" It was all they could say before they submitted themselves, as James pressed his head down against Koopin's before he felt his entire body embrace him, arms and legs wrapped round James' back with the raptor's tail twitching and shivering with a hot sweetening excitement. The grinding heat turning sensitive between their bellies only further incensed them to feel a wettening upon their stomachs, a trickling salivating desire that painted across their flesh. Their tongues would dance but an eternity wrapped within each other's vices, tasting their passion with eyes barely able to look past the haze of lust and love into the other's face. Their hands cradled each other's cheeks to feel every sound they made trepidant from their throats, movingly only downwards to stroke along their heaving chests. Breathless sounds deafened their ears as their senses became locked inside each other's wondrous needs. The scent of their fresh skin trickling with arousal was only matched by the taste as their tongues slithered from their mouths to grace each other's bodies.

Tender kisses gave way to deep suckling sounds and gentle teeth, biting firmly enough to send a quivering stiflement of almost-painful twinge down their bodies as their fresher wounds cried out softly with a new sensitivity. They planted lips upon their bruises, dragged their tongues along the scars of their beloved until suckling upon each other's fingers. Sliding tongue along the black claws, Koopin feared nothing from them as they stroked his face, closing his eyes with a deepened trust to slide one into his mouth. Deeper. Deeper. He moved to the next claw, then the third before James returned the favour on the soft smaller digits of the koopa, smooching along the fingertips before sliding his tongue between them. Flickering across the slight webbing between each finger, the hand was soon glistening of James' saliva with hot panting breaths upon them until Koopin pulled it away from him. Without a word he pulled his lover close and gently pulled himself slowly upwards, making James press his head against the softer yellow belly. James understood and kissed it, sucking the warmer flesh as he moved downwards. Further he went, the scent of his lover turning stronger as he shifted himself lower towards the trembling loins pressing lips against the right thigh he lifted with his hand. Suckling nurturing sounds came trickling down towards the thicker feet, the raptor rubbing his snout against the clean padded sole before dragging his tongue longfully across before taking each toe into his mouth. They wiggled sweetly amidst Koopin's stifling panting, whimpering from such sensitivity before James went to the left leg. Second verse, his tongue sang the first. Soon he was at his prize between them as he buried his nose deep. Koopin's belly turned more slick with his eager desire as he watched James' head move downwards, feeling something slip within his body. Warm, wet, thickening with a sudden sensation of a grazing smoothness, the koopa cried out with spasming hands and tears in his eyes at something he had long missed. But not as much as what he would be feeling next as the short slithering depth of his most intimate region kissed against James' lips, breathing hot quenching air inside Koopin who shuddered with a quivering moan as he begged: "P-p-please...Ja-a-ames...I need you...I-i-i need you!" "Nnnnmmmhhh...alright." He ceased his beginning for the main event as he gently moved his body back up towards Koopin's face, seeing the eyes bright and blue staring at him with an eager nod of consent. He slowly pressed his body against him harder, and soon they felt it. The moment they had missed when they briefly became one voice as the raptor penetrated his lover's warmth. "A-AAAH!" "O-OHHH!" Nothing could stop him, James began to sink himself deeper within to the sound of their own sweet longful needs trembling from their throats. He was patient, struggling to resist the urge to fully invade him, wanting to savour every inch just as Koopin wanted the same. Every inch, there came a tear from their eyes in disbelief and purest bliss. The raptor stained his lover's cheeks with tears of joy, trickling minute drops before he bent down and whispered: "I never want anything else...but you, ever again." "H-hhhh! I-...I-i-i...ohh James..." "My heart is yours Koopin...everything...I'm not having you wake to an empty bed again." "I-i-i love you...ohhh...s-s-stars...thank you...th-thank you for keeping my wish true." "I love you too...you'll always be my star." His body stopped, finding its limit inside of Koopin as he heard a sharp gasp at feeling their hips meet, pressing thick scale against softer skin. Their bodies united only briefly before they parted just for James to line himself up and hilt inside his lover again, a slow firm push as the moment Koopin's body raised up in a wondrous moan against James' belly they kissed deeply once again. The slowest dance they could commit, the greatest passion that they could give as he grinded himself against the younger koopa. The taste of their own tears dripped into each other's mouths slightly with every thrust that he made. Time was lost between them and the world beyond their bodies undulating, sweat trickling off from their arms and bellies to become but a canvas of carnal sensations. Every speck upon their tongues they would taste and memorise, every flicker of their eyes never went unseen by the other amidst the raptor's engaging thrusts which became ever faster and faster. He tried to hold himself back to keep some sort of gentle rhythm but it was impossible. He was too deep within his lust and Koopin followed with him into the darkest warmth, feeling each other blindly with only mouths and fingers to caress each other's shape. The scent of passion tingled in their nostrils, hot and spicy thickening across the air between their breaths as a new sound came to their ears amidst panting whimpers and moaning grunts. The sound of James' hips smacking effortlessly, another kiss between entire bodies as Koopin felt a shudder inside himself with every rippling of being filled once again. Again, and again until he lost count, lost any sense of when it first began or when it would ever end of which he never wanted it to. Neither did James. Their thoughts rendered blank, buried within the open sea of desire that wholly consumed their beings. It took every ounce of strength inside of James' body not to release himself, burning thickly within his loins that coated Koopin's lower body, both inside and out with his fluid love, trickling down the little tail of the koopa and onto the sheets without a single care. He was salivating desperate, his eyes rolling upwards with his head as a beastly groan emanated from inside that sent Koopin's heart aflutter, suddenly feeling the raptor become more powerful in his thrusts. Singular. Firm. Pounding, forcing Koopin to feel every single pulse inside his lover's body, every flickering muscle that came together with his strength. He lowered his head to look down upon Koopin, his body being pushed against the pillows with every smack of his hips sending the koopa's eyes to start twitching with his beak turned agape in silent ecstasy. They knew it would soon end, their dance, as the music of their breaths and bodies combined into a last climactic symphony, the resounding clash of the final thrust sending their screams united. "A-A-AAAAAAAH! OHHHHHH! J-JAAAAAMES!" "NNNGUUUUHHH! NNNNGH! HHhhhh! Ohhhhhh..." "H-h-hhhhhh...h-hhhhhh...ohh...h-hhhoh I missed you." "I...g-guh...I-i missed you too...Koopin." Their lungs felt burning, struggling to speak as the raptor kept himself within, gently laying on top of his lover's heaving filling body. The flooding heat thickening inside Koopin was a pure blistering sensation that robbed them of their strength as they both made their last sigh of the evening before James gently pulled the duvet cover over their bodies. They couldn't even remember their words to each other before they fell asleep, but they knew from their hearts beating in unison that it was everything they wanted. All they ever needed in life, was this.