Disclaimer: I don't own Mario, or any of the other characters and all the other stuff that I obviously don't own.

A/N: King K's Japanese name is indeed Michael, so this shall be his real name. I explained this in the second lot of profiles but it seemed a bit late, so I decided to put it at the beginning as well.

This story got a title change! It was previously known as Shells, Orbs, Shadows and Kings. The group that created what the story is focused upon however I did not think this was a very eye catching title and furthermore the readers would have to actually read the story (chapter 3) to understand the meaning of it. Legend of the nine orbs is MUCH simpler and it's exactly what this story is about.

So let's get started.

King K came to the minor league locker room, yet another glorious loss, his pride, body and spirit had been beaten yet again, he would never get above number 18 on the charts especially since his team mates just vanished not appearing on stage when called, after getting his head beaten in he found a nice letter telling him of their plans. It was hard to decide whether this was for the best, but enough was enough he had come to his decision.

Bandy Andy was surprised to hear this news but knew of King K's problems "Retiring? You aren't vanishing again are you? There isn't some other conspiracy you've accidentally uncovered? I should have heard rumours of it at least"

"Naw dog, everythin' is cool, just had enough of it for the moment" King K sat on the bench. It creaked as it always did, the fighters in the minor league were having bets on when the thing would give up the boo and collapse.

"You know, things are not the same without you, you always give everybody encouragement, you lighten up this damned smelly cheap room"

"Heh thanks man, I just thought you should know before I make it official an' all" King K went for the locker, the thing typically wouldn't open until it was given a hard kick, King K kicked it but he stubbed his toe in the process… "OW DAMN IT" King K shouted out while jumped around the room holding his foot

The fighters in the locker room laughed at King K's displeasure. King K looked down and sighed when he had recovered, a sight not often seen from King K.

"Hey take it easy K" Andy picked up King K's backpack that had fallen on the floor when the locker had opened "It's not always the words and encouragement that lighten people in this room up"

King K took his pack from Andy and checked it to see if anything was missing.

"Give them up Andy man"

"You don't trust me K?" Andy gave an innocent smile that made it seem he had an angelic light around him
"In some ways yeah of course dog, but when it comes my stuff I know what you are like" King K had a big grin knowing he had won this round.

Andy frowned and gave King K a handful of coins…

"All of them" King K continued smiling, much to the annoyance of Andy.

Andy dropped more coins into King K's outstretched hand "Nuts…"

"Well I'll be making it official" King K went over to the computer and Jolene came up on the screen.

"Don't you think you should rest a bit before signing up for another match? I know you are eager to move up the ladder but pushing yourself like that is simply foolish" While Jolene was firm and business like she also cared about those fighting, especially when fighters were disappearing.

King K shook his head "Naw, it's not for a match… can I speak with you for a moment?"

"Make it quick"

King K left the minor league room and headed down the hallway… past the major league locker room and the security guard let him in.

"What is it?" Jolene had an impatient tone, but this was nothing new she was always rushed

"I'm gonna retire…"

Jolene seemed to relax "Oh I see… is there anything wrong, nothing is going on is there"

King K gave a half smile to assure Jolene "Naw, things haven't been goin' well lately… I dunno what else to say"

"Well… it'll be a shame to lose you, the crowd do like you" Jolene stood up from her desk and stood in front of King K giving her undivided attention to him, something that was pretty uncommon for her.

King K was a little shocked to hear this "Why I'm just some low ranked minor leaguer..."

"You're what's known as, no offence but a loveable loser… people like to see you fight, you always stay in there. To be honest though I'm surprised you haven't left us sooner, your team mates going awol mustn't have been very good for your moral, yet you stuck around"

There was a long pause, Jolene figured King K must be really down for him to shut up for this long.

"Anyway consider coming back someday, maybe a break will do you good, I'll keep you on file if you like and send you news and updates" Jolene then sat back down and updated the records and file for King K.

"Alright, maybe... maybe all I need is a bit more training or whatever" King K did like it at the Glitz Pit but it just wasn't profitable for him anymore, economically, physically and mentally.

"Could be, good luck in your future travels then. Anyway sorry but I've got a fight to watch" Jolene then stood back up again and headed for the door, King K opened it for her "Thank you" Jolene effectively power walked to the fighting arena. King K often thought that Jolene had an identical twin sister; she was so busy all the time how did she get it all done.

A/N: Anybody noticed this? Did I miss something on Jolene, because she not only plain disappears, she is in three places at once, her office, the fight arena AND the juice bar.

For about 6 months this was his home but it was time to move on, it still wasn't a good feeling though. He headed to the minor league locker room and stepped inside.

Andy approached him quietly "Hey is it done?"

"Yeah, it's done… I'm outta here" King K spoke a bit louder so the others could hear

The others didn't say much about King K's retirement, but he knew the talk would start the moment he left the place.

"I'll see you out then" Andy then came with King K back out in the main area of the Glitz Pit. They saw Rawk Hawk being swamped by fans as usual; leaving the area in disgust they kept walking onto the blimp. King K pulled the ticket from his pack.

"By the way, I've always meant to ask you what does the K in King K stand for?"

King K gave a slight laugh "Hah… all this time and you didn't know the truth behind my name? Actually man it's a bit of a long story, but basically I lead the KP Koopas team, so King K but I had the name before the Glitz Pit, it's kinda of a double meanin' if you know what I'm sayin'"

Andy nodded "Well guess this is it K" Andy looked sad, the same face he gave when he failed to steal something from his opponent

"Yeah…" King K took off his shades and put them in his bag. "I might come back, who knows"

"Hey are you on this blimp or not?" The cheep cheep asked impatiently

"In a minute GEEZ what's with you!" King K shouted as he got on the blimp "Well… see ya man, but if I do come back, your butt is gettin' kicked"

"I look forward to it" Andy gave a wave as he headed back into the Glitz pit.

The blimp left into the air and King K let sat down. It didn't take long for it to get to Rougeport, now he just needed to get to the dock, but couldn't resist getting a snack before leaving again. He would buy a mushroom and honey syrup and get Zess T next door to mix it, who according to his friend AJ was an unbelievably good cook and really admired her, but...

"CLOSED… for repairs? You have got to be kiddin' me" King K read the sign irritated. He had hoped he could take his time and eat then catch the boat arriving in an hour, but seeing as there was nothing he could do he ran for the dock that had a ship ready to leave. When he got there he presented his ticket to the Toad standing on the pier.

"Whew, you just made it, although inside is completely packed… so you'll have to take the trip outside the ship" The toad told him standing aside so he could get on the boat.

"It's all right dog" King K shrugged as the Toad checked King K's ticket

The boat was heading to the distant region of Leincart, it used to be a kingdom but the monarchy system was dropped there long ago. Typical of King K's luck the sky started to cloud over and slight drops of rain began to fall.

"… This is NOT my day" King K said aloud again to nobody "Did I break a mirror or somethin'?" King K grumbled as he searched his bag for his white jacket, finding it he slipped off his shell quickly and put it on, then put his shell back into place.

The rain got worse as King K put the hood up and looked downwards. Normally he wouldn't mind getting wet, but it's not usually smart to get soaked when entering Leincart as it's mostly icy and cold there.

Maybe I should have got trained up like AJ, not all these guys are like the guys on the street they mean business

AJ was his long time friend although he hadn't heard from him since he went to that military camp even though he had written to him and mailed him, maybe he just didn't have time. Both wanted to go the Glitz pit but King K was a little more experienced, so the plan was for AJ to get trained up a bit while King K settled in then when he was done he could join King K at the Glitz pit.

When the ship docked at Malsanaro harbour it was still raining. King K got off the ship and headed for the train station to get to his home in Kollwa city… again it would prove another round of poor luck for King K.

"I'm sorry sir, but all trains in that direction are cancelled due to large amounts of snow fall around Kollwa" The Toad politely told King K

Typical. King K thought to himself "I guess I should have known… it's not that far"

"Are you sure you want to walk there, it will not be easy in this weather"

"Relax dog, I'm a local"

"Very well" The Toad then spoke with the next customer in line

King K turned around from the train station, and headed for the path to Kollwa. There was one good thing about the rain; it would keep the paratroopas away since the rainwater would not be good for their wings. However as the rain stopped, one decided to try his luck and came swooping down on King K but his instincts kicked in…

"Listen man, rack off…I'm not in the mood to deal with losers" King K saw the attack from a mile away and stepped out of range.

"Well I don't take orders from you, so if you want to prove who's really the loser bring it" the paratroopa flew around in a loop as if taunting King K, confident that he could never reach him in mid air.

"That's it…" King K jumped into his shell and sped past the paratroopa…

"Missed me! Haha" The paratroopa flew around in another circle "Hey where'd he go?" The paratroopa looked left and right trying to find his target.

However King K jumped from a tree and tackled the paratroopa to the ground.

"I'm right 'ere" King K held the nameless paratroopa by the neck; he took off the paratroopa's shades and threw them aside so he could see the look of fear in his eyes.

"Umm… ow… okay, I take it back…please let me go" The paratroopa flapped his wings pathetically
"Any funny business when I let you up an' Ill clip those wings off, dig?" King K stared directly into the eyes of the paratroopa.

The paratroopa only nodded, King K relaxed his grip and stood up

"Talk about moody…" The paratroopa picked up his shades and flew away while muttering

King K then continued walking; the snow fall that he was hearing about soon came. As much as it wasn't always nice to live with, he did miss seeing it, it was a sign that home wasn't far now… and within 10 minutes he had arrived with very few 'guests' on the road.

"Wow, King K… good to see you again" The gatekeeper came to King K

King K rubbed his hands as he entered "Thanks enzy… cold as usual huh?" The gatekeeper was really named Koopenze, but since almost every Koopa had Koop at the start of their name, nicknames were sometimes given to avoid confusion.

"Nah, not really, I guess you're not used to it yet from being at the Glitz pit and all. Oh wait, there is something you'll want to hear… AJ came back about a day ago… not in good shape at all" Koopenze shook his head

King K gave more attention to the conversation as opposed to the mindless small talk "Really? What happened E-dog?"

"I'm not exactly sure, I only saw the end of it as he entered from the east gate, the poor Koopa was so frozen. Anyway from what I heard he collapsed in front of the east gate late yesterday. So of course he's got a really bad cold now, but he'd be really pleased to see you" Koopenze stepped aside to let King K in

"Thanks man"

King K walked through the streets it was quiet generally with one or two Koopas about doing their daily business. He gave a wave and a polite hello and they returned it before he went inside, he just opened the door to his place.

"ACHOOO!" Was the sound that greeted King K when he walked in "Hey… sniff what are you doing back here?"

"Never mind that… your nose is redder then your shell. What happened to you"

"Long story…" AJ gave another sneeze and sniffle session as he put a tissue up to his nose.

AJ was a red Koopa, but his shell was lighter shade of red then the usual red Koopas that hung out on the roads, but to be truthful red Koopa's were unfairly stereotyped by these few Koopas who spread out among the lands and beat on innocent travellers in the streets. He had been good friends with King K since they were young, even though they had parted ways many times. He was in bed lying down on his side and still shivering somewhat.

"You could take your shell off and relax a bit… trust me it's hard sleepin' with a shell on your back especially when you don't have to" King K stepped closer, remembering all those nights where practical jokes involving shell nappings were common at the Glitz Pit, so much so that King K would sleep with his shell if he had to, if he believed the minor league lockers weren't enough to hide it, but it wasn't very comfortable to do so as lying on your back was simply impossible and sleeping inside was not comfortable at all.

AJ's calm facial expression suddenly changed "No, nobody touches the shell" AJ sat up defensively

"AJ dog, what's gotten into you?" King K looked at him strangely. AJ was usually pretty easy going

"… I'm sorry…" AJ snuffled again "it's just after a few experiences you know, just a reflex action" AJ then took off his shell and handed it to King K and slid back underneath the sheets.

"Man, this shell is still freezing…" King K nearly dropped the shell when AJ handed it to him, it was like handling ice; King K put it down on the table that was in front of the fireplace. "So, what happened up at the camp?"

"I bet the entire town is wondering, but you know as I said the story is kinda long, and I'm not exactly in the mood to tell it. In short, I had enough of the place well it was more the people you know and got out the first chance I got, but that meant walking the entire way here in the snowstorm and stuff"

"But, I sent you a letter and an email through the Mailbox SP, how come you didn't reply. Not like you at all to keep me in the dark man" King K shook his head

"I didn't get it. They were cutting off the mail from people that weren't parents or guardians and took our Mailbox SP's. I kinda found this out as well as a few other things and got targeted" AJ went for another tissue and blew his nose loudly.

"Now that's simply uncool, so I bet at least partly because of that was why you had to get out right?"

"Spot on. How'd you go at the Glitz Pit?"

It could have just been King K, but he sensed AJ was trying to change the subject.

"Not so hot… it was good hangin' with people, but it wasn't all too successful, man do serious conspiracies go on there… I just saw our fight promoter go into some machine thing an' then next thing I know I find myself Ko'ed in a some dusty room, felt as if my energy had been drained for ages after that. I would have been a goner if it wasn't for Mario"

"You mean the Super Mario?"

"Yeah him… he needed some crystal star thing that was there"

"Your energy drained? It seems we both had close calls" AJ sneezed again, although he was admittedly warmer since he'd removed his freezing cold shell. "So you stopped fighting after that?"

"I went on a little longer, but I just wasn't getting anywhere. I had a few peeps on my team but they were gettin' discouraged an' soon I was on my own again. So I retired… for the moment, I was hoping you'd have a move or two to show me"

"Nah… they said they wanted to toughen us up first, so didn't teach us anything. Oh while I remember, we got a few letters but this one we are supposed to open together"

Why's he changin' the subject for? Still seems shaken I guess, give him time K man, he'll spill eventually.

"My guess is that it's Koopol's and Koopinse's will, you know how it had to go through the legal process and all, they weren't around much but I still miss them"

"Yeah… they were two cool guys" King K looked through the letters on the table and found the one AJ referred to, he opened it and scanned down the page.

What was inside shocked him…

"No way…" King K looked at it with surprise rereading to see if he had made a mistake.
"What is it?" AJ sat up

"I can't believe this man" King K shook his head in disbelief