Welcome to the fourth installment of Super Mario Apocalypse. This book focuses upon life immediately after the apocalypse as each of the remaining Koopalings, each with their own generation of Koopalings try to survive in a rapidly changing environment filled with death and starvation. Old evils still lurk about including one long forgotten. Even then, love may blossom from the pits of despair. This series is more focused upon Bowser's children and grandchildren than the other installments.

This story is in many ways a reflection of what is currently happening in reality (and may possibly happen in the future). This includes climate change, erratic weather, earthquakes, flooding and so forth. Just look up Youtube and see the wacky weather that's been happening all over the world, not to mention the increasing food prices, lack of jobs, increasing selfishness and desperation. This story is my personal message in regards to that.

There are a few sources that I would like to give credit to that also serve as my inspiration. These include ZetaTalk, Immanuel Velikovsky, Zecharia Sitchin, Erich von Daniken and a number of authors dedicated to esoteric study. Separating the wheat from the chaff, or the truth from the lies one arrives at a stranger picture of reality then one would imagine. Again, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the story.


Snow fell upon an apocalyptic landscape of broken buildings, twisted stone and littered corpses. Only one figure trudged through the inches already piled up in the otherwise still Koopa Kingdom, now broken and ruined. There were corpses everywhere, many littered on broken roads where they had tried to run from the inevitable flash freeze that overtook the region. In normal days, extra hands would've cleaned up the destruction by this point, but not now. This was the end of the Koopa Kingdom and he knew it. What happened now largely depended upon the survivors and less to do with the monarchs that "ruled" over them. Most had migrated west before the end came, but despite the warnings some stayed in the path of danger, not fully believing what was to come. There were always people like that, including himself at times which reminded him of his destination. He looked up at John's Castle, formerly Bowser's Castle before it was partially destroyed. The top was now covered with crumbling stones, snow and ice; the place was turning into nothing more than a ruin. He already guessed their fates, and had made peace with himself. Whatever the outcome, it didn't matter: he needed to see them for himself. Plus, the castle pantry may yield up some valuable items before he would be forced to hunt for wild meat, if it was still out there.

Deciding it wise to not break the silence, he took the long way into the castle and climbed up a set of broken stone steps towards the castle's second floor. The door inside was gone and instead the path was littered with bricks and other debris. Inside the hall, he saw that all of the windows had shattered and snow was freely blowing into the hallway. The normally black stone walls were iced over, confirming his suspicions. He already knew what to expect.

Turning right, he headed up an auxiliary stairwell to the next level which was now partially broken. He jumped over the gap, his landing shaking the castle a little too much for his tastes. Nonetheless, nothing seemed to give way and he proceeded through the doorway to the third level. It was the same as the level below: broken windows and iced walls with a layer of snow on the floor. But he stopped walking when he saw the body of a small child lying beneath one window ahead, covered in a layer of ice. He nodded, expecting as much. That was definitely one of them. He expected as much...

At length, his feet moved on their own and he found himself continuing down the hall. They must have huddled in the throne room then. That's what Wendy would've done and why he chose to look there first. Reaching the body, he looked down and stared at the face. It was a girl, wide-eyed and mouth open with a smile. She was about to say something, it looked like. He didn't know her name, but she looked like she would've been a bright and cheerful girl. If he had gotten there earlier...

He shook his head and turned around. The throne room was just ahead to the right. A part of him didn't want to see whatever lay inside, but regretting to look was the bigger punishment and he knew he had no choice. It was only a few steps, but soon he found himself peering into the room and immediately froze in place. Inside, he found Wendy O. Koopa sitting upon the royal throne staring straight at him in death, her body frozen to the stone seat. She may not have been the Queen of the Koopa's, but she did indeed resemble the queen of death. All around her were corpses sprawled across the floor, most seeming to be children. Against the left wall was another adult, sitting with her eyes shut. He looked at her for a long time and wondered, he wondered about a lot of things and what could have been and should have been. But no, that was and this is. His wife, his children and his sister were all dead.

"God, you hate me. I know it." Roy managed to say, "But come on. This is too much." He inhaled. "Too much..." He fought back the tears, telling himself long ago that he would never cry, but this was tough. His family was dead, and with it his dream of unifying the Koopa race. The pole shift took everything away from him. What was there to do now?

A moving stone was then heard and Roy immediately brandished the Earth Wand in defense, thinking that his nemesis, Narec Morello Koopa had returned to the castle. Instead, he saw something fall from the top of the left wall and plummet to the floor. Walking over, Roy saw that it was a bald Koopaling with a red and white shell, the same one he had seen before in his battle with Narec. His face was white and his muscles were visibly shaking, but he was alive. That's all that mattered now. The dream was still alive.

Roy knelt down and helped him up, and the youth stood on his feet and merely looked at him for a moment. Then he cast his gaze around the room and took it all in. Roy was silent as he watched him walk to Diadora and shake her shoulder. "Mom, are you awake?" he asked.

Roy shook his head. "She's not waking up."

"How do you know?" he replied angrily. Roy walked over and checked her wrist, which was lifeless. "Check the wrist. No pulse, no blood. No life."

"Who the hell are you?" he finally asked.

"Roy Koopa." Roy responded flatly. "You?"

"Vincent." said the boy. "Why are you helping me?"

"I'm your dad, that's why." Roy responded.

"You?! Then why didn't you come helps us earlier?" Vincent asked, demanding an answer. "We were all tortured by these guys...and mom said you'd come. We could have gotten out of here before whatever just happened if you came earlier."

Roy sighed. "You don't know the world yet, what it's like. When you see it, you'll know why."

"And if mom wasn't so crazy, the others could have lived!" Vincent continued.

"Don't speak bad about her." Roy warned. "She's the reason you're alive."

"But-" Roy held up his hand and Vincent looked away with an annoyed look. He was too much in shock to cry and could not do anything but stare at it all.

But in reality, Roy wanted silence as he heard another noise that sounded like someone thumping the floor. "How many of you?" he asked.

"Kristin." Vincent started, pointing to the Koopaling lying on the floor next to his dead mother. "She died before this happened, but you wouldn't believe me if I told you how."

Roy said nothing, and instead Vincent continued. "There's...Stevie." He looked around until he saw her body out in the hallway. "That's her." he frowned.

"Saw her." Roy muttered. "Who else?"

"There's me, then Beth and Duke. I thought I heard someone say run. They must have ran down the hall..." Vincent trailed off as he walked to the eastern entrance and looked down it before entering the hall. Roy followed, now realizing the source of the noise. About 20 feet down the hallway were a pair of bodies, one lying on top of the other. But an arm was seen moving underneath, thumping the floor in an apparent attempt to be free.

"Duke!" Vincent ran to his brother and shook him, but stopped short upon seeing his cold lifeless stare. He stood there in remorse, but Roy moved around him and with his arms managed to push Duke's stiff body aside. Underneath him was Beth, who looked very pale and was nearly frozen solid to the floor. Her mouth was chattering, evidently trying to say something. "I...I'm...c-c-c-c-cold...I...what...happened?" she managed to stutter.

Vincent tried to push her up but the ice around her would not give way. Seeing this, Roy took the Earth Wand and slammed its butt end into the floor. Immediately, the ice all around them shattered and flew into the air momentarily before falling back onto the floor. Seeing the ice now broken around her, Vincent helped her up again but found her leaning against him heavily. "I-I can't f-f-f-f-feel m-m-m-m..." Roy saw that her legs were blackened with severe frostbite.

"Carry her." said Roy.

"Where are we going?" Vincent asked.

"Nowhere yet." said Roy. "Need to raid the pantry, get food. Get wands for you two in the magic room. Weapons, knives. Lots of things. Wont get another chance for a long time. Then we...bury them. If not, then the traditional way. Probably the traditional way. Do that last. Smoke leaves a trail, a signal. Tells people we're here. We don't want people bothering us. Let's do the pantry first."

Beth went wide eyed at that last remark, but could not say anything. She was too cold and too much in shock to try. Vincent himself had a hard time accepting what had happened and it felt like he was living inside a nightmare instead. Nonetheless he knew he had to live regardless, and so Beth jumped onto his shell and they slowly followed Roy down the hall towards the pantry.

In time, the trio had raided the kitchen and took what they could and put them in packs for a journey Roy alluded to. The kitchen otherwise being uneventful, they then headed to the magic room which Roy looked over extensively. It seemed the UmNaru remnant had made a home there directly as several black magic scrolls, black paper with gold lettering were still seen laying about. "How much did they teach you?" Roy asked.

"A bit." Vincent said. "They taught us slowly. They always wanted to see us do it in action and we...most of us never wanted to do it."

"Most?" Roy asked.

"Kristin." Beth said, starting to warm up a bit. "She kept hurting me, cause they told her to."

Roy looked at her for a moment, then turned and walked to the corner of the magic room where a door was seen sealed with a bar across it. With a magic blast, the door exploded revealing a small dusty room with minimal damage. Within the walls were nooks housing old scrolls of various sizes, and a part of the wall housed another door, this one sealed with a glowing spell. The back of the room held one more door, this one rustic and medieval in design.

Roy looked through the old scrolls for a moment before walking to the magically sealed door. It was a treasure of the old Magikoopas that wasn't allowed to be seen by other eyes, so he and his siblings learned. Roy was always told not to go into this room, but at the end of the world, that didn't matter. The Earth Wand shattered the magic barrier and the doors opened automatically, revealing a shelf space lined with numerous wands around its perimeter. Most had multiple gems on their ends.

"You're each getting one." said Roy, looking through them. "Oh yeah..." Vincent murmured, remembering something. He took out his dad's wand and handed it to him. "I found this."

"How'd you get this?" Roy asked.

"I used it to knock Narec out the window." Vincent explained, looking back towards the duel room.

"And the gem? There's a gem with dis."

"It blew up when I used a fire spell on it." said Vincent.

"...alright." Roy muttered and took the wand before handing Vincent and Beth a pair of Magikoopa wands. "Take these." They looked like wands that Kamek could carry.

"Never seen this before." Vincent commented.

"It's for high level Magikoopa's." Roy explained. "Works for now." He noticed that the bottom of the shelf opened up, and inside he found a number of ingredients, tools and cut gems stuffed inside pouches. "Nice." Taking one for himself, he handed several pouches to his kids. "Did they show you how to make your own wands?"

"No." Beth replied. "They gave us starters."

"Then I'll show you the basics." said Roy. "Everyone goes through it, everyone in the family. I'll show you after we leave." After pocketing many gems including a black one for his own wand, he took with him an old instructional book and closed the door. "We're done here."

Afterwords, Roy had wandered into the armory to pick out new sets of weapons for himself and his kids, especially for Vincent. Rather uneventful, the solemn moment finally came that none of them looked forward to. It was done quickly and without delay as no one wanted those moments to last.

In short time, the pair had gathered the corpses and had placed them outside in the back of the castle, within what was formally known as the castle gardens. Now it was a mess of rubble, though the Tomb of Claudia still stood largely undamaged in the background save for its upper frame, which had sustained minor damage. Beth watched the two from the doorway, seated with several blankets around her legs. She watched them look through their clothes, presumably for anything valuable. Roy had taken a few things from Diadora, including her wallet. Eventually Roy stomped the ground with his foot, but found the ground already frozen over with a think layer of ice. They could probably do it that way, but it was extra effort not worth the time.

"We're doing it the ol' fashioned way." announced Roy.

"What's that?" Vincent asked, but Roy was already making gestures over the bodies. "May the Creator guide them through the afterlife and heal their souls. The eternal flame burns on." Inhaling, Roy let loose a large swath of flame engulfing his dead loved ones and setting them alight. "The eternal flame burns on." Roy repeated, making a notion with his hand.

"The eternal flame lives on..." Vincent repeated with a sad expression. Beth was crying and could not repeat the pronouncement. In the noise of the fire, Vincent at length heard her sobs and walked over to embrace her. Roy however, looked behind him to the Tomb of Claudia Koopa, his mother and saw the connection to all of this. "Tragedy still flows, mom." Roy said to himself, remembering her sudden death many years ago. It seemed to follow him throughout his life. "But like you said, we still got something. This land doesn't, this land is dead. We gotta go. I probably wont see you again...but thanks for believing." Turning away, he somberly marched past the pile of burning corpses and back to the entrance of the castle.

Vincent had unwrapped Beth's legs and was trying to cast a spell on them with his new wand acquired from the Magikoopa vault. "Red magic." said Roy. "Learn as much as you can. Builds fires and warms the body."

"I'm trying to use white magic." said Vincent.

"How?" Roy asked, curious as no white magic scrolls existed inside the castle.

"Through the ring mom gave me." said Vincent, briefly showing it.

"The ring of Inauro?" Roy knew what it was, but was unsure how powerful it was. It was better used for more subtle influences rather than direct application, so Diadora told him. "It's not used like that." he said eventually.

"Oh." Vincent muttered. With the Earth Wand, Roy cast a low level red spell and a humid warmth spread through Beth's legs. She tensed at the pain.

"Gonna hurt for a while." said Roy. "I'm no doctor, but keep 'em warm and you should be fine. Should get Iggy on dis." But for the first time, Roy noticed that the mind of his crazy brother was missing.

"Iggy?" Vincent asked.

"Your uncle. One of them." Roy replied. "He's not here. Not good." He inhaled. "Alright, we deal with it. Let's get our packs and start heading out. We're going towards the crags over there." He pointed to one of the ranges to his south. "Used to be the west. South now. We need to leave this place quick, going to get a lot colder. I'll teach you how to start fires, hunt and cook enemies. Will teach you how to rely on yourself."

The kids said nothing, already having been through a lot.

"Listen." said Roy. "I had to burn them. Narec would animate them if I didn't. Animate them into undead. Have to burn everything and prevent that, even the bones. It's the only way."

"...like you were?" Vincent asked. "Was that you before, when you were just bones?"

"Yeah. That was me. Spell in my wand kept me together. Your granddad did the same, a lot. But mom didn't have a wand like mine. It's a high level spell. They would've been at their mercy. Had to burn them."

Vincent said nothing.

"Listen! This is important. Don't forget it. Nothing lasts. Nothing you can hold will last. It will fall away, to shadows and dust. Your wand won't last forever. People wont last, they will die. Let it go. Don't hold onto them, don't hold onto anything. Cause its all in your heart already. It'll always be there. No one can touch it unless you let them. Don't hold onto things too long. Let it go..." Roy turned towards the southern range. "Let this place go. It had its time. It's time is done. We're moving out of here, that way." Roy pointed to a range of erupting volcanoes.

"How can we survive that?!" Vincent blurted out.

"You can. I'll show you." Roy said.

"Why can't we just cross the sea?" Beth asked.

"It's freezing up." Roy answered. "We're in the polar circle now."

"The polar circle?!"

"Come on." Roy pulled Vincent up to his feet. "You keep warmer by moving. Walk in place if you have to. We're going through a pass in the southern range. Those who lived here went that way, went to new lands. Much warmer now I bet." Roy walked to the other end of the garden and looked towards the Koopahari Pass, the only "official" road that was built through the southern range. But he was dismayed to find that the road was engulfed with lava flows that crawled down it. His primary plan didn't look so good now.

"What about that path over there?" Vincent pointed to an opening in the mountain range behind the garden.

"You aren't ready for that." said Roy. "That's last resort. Beth wouldn't make it."

"Why not?" Vincent demanded.

"That's the Valley of the Koopas." Roy explained. "All Earth kings buried there...almost all. Place is haunted. Dry bones crawl everywhere. The dead armies of kings crawl the hills, they kill anyone passing through. Only the King of the Koopas can pass. Rest have to fight their way out. Beth can't fight like that. Need to try the southern route and find medical. Keep her legs warm until then." Roy looked back at the fire and saw nothing but bones burning. Heading over, he unleashed another breath of flame which engulfed what was left. He headed back to the doorway. "We're leaving now. Come on." Vincent knelt down and Beth grabbed onto his shoulders before he followed his father back down the hall.


Penny Crygor arose from the flood waters that had entered the lower levels of the Temple of Marthos, her body drenched with water. All around her people were in a frenzy as they recovered from the onslaught of the Destroyer. "Where is he?"

"Where is who?" asked an old man in a now drenched blue robe. In that low light, little else could be made out.

"Where is Iggy?" she replied, looking around for the exit. Iggy was not there in her mind like he usually was, instead he was replaced with darkness. Penny waded to the entrance to the upper floor along with a group of people, climbing over steps built by giants. In her mind, she saw and heard a million voices echo through her, crying for help in distress or out of madness. It was an ability brought to her by the Spirit Wand when she agreed to take up its negative polarity, being the female. But it was far more than she bargained for and she wondered how sane she really was at times.

Penny helped the old man up the steps and with a small group of people made their way to the ground level of the temple, which was mobbed with people. Everyone sat in a clutter amid a loud uproar of voices. The situation called to her, but it was a logistical nightmare. Several already noticed her and began to ask her a variety of questions, many of which she did not have the answer to. She needed to slow her mind down and stay focused.

Penny tried to think of something to say, but her thoughts betrayed her as nothing came to her lips despite her intentions. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. Penny didn't imagine it like this. They were lucky they were even alive, but what about tomorrow? The food in storage was already being used up, at least what survived of it and a large group hovered around the food totes hoping for at least a small bit. Given how fast that was going and what she saw of the plants in the corner, they were going to run out of food fast. Desperation was crawling around their minds, but so it was in Penny's. The garden outside must have been destroyed...was, seeing a few people on the surface looking at things. But the one thing that kept bothering her the most was Iggy. Where was he?

Penny remembered Erzembar and wondered if he could help. Many of the people around her had already moved off, deciding to help themselves instead. The old man remained, looking at her with a studious look. "I need to find Iggy." Penny said, finding the words after a moment. The old man nodded and walked towards the crowd that waited for food. Penny procured the Spirit Wand but found she couldn't cast a teleportation spell correctly. It took her several tries until she found the will power and the spell manifested, sending her into a hidden storage room. There, she saw the globe of Erzembar glowing next to the left wall of the room. "Greetings." it said. "It is well that you survived."

"I need to find Iggy." Penny said, picking up the globe.

"I scan your mind." Erzembar hummed for a moment. "Ah, this is unfortunate. His current location explains your lack of vision as to his whereabouts. However..."

"Where is he?" Penny demanded, starting to lose patience. In response, Penny found herself teleported into a strange room, the ceiling coalescing into the shape of a pyramid above her. The room was empty save for pools of water in the corners and a stone seat to her left, upon which was King Iggy Koopa who was slumped on his side. Directly across from him was a narrow window that only partially illuminated his body.

"Iggy!" Penny ran over to him and looked at his body. His right hand was clutching the other half of the Spirit Wand, otherwise his gaze ahead seemed to be lifeless. She reached for his shoulder.

"Do not touch him." Erzembar warned and Penny pulled away. "He is upon the Seat of the World. You would join him if you make physical contact with his vessel now."

"What does that mean?" Penny asked.

"The seat allows a spirit monarch to witness any portion of the physical illusion upon this planet, without the need of traveling to said illusion." Erzembar explained. "In order to witness a desired location, one must surrender physical control of their vessel to their soul alone. This requires a large amount of advanced discipline to operate properly. Without this, the soul immediately discarnates from the physical vessel and eventually travels to the astral spheres."

"Iggy died?!" Penny's mind went into a panic, and she almost touched Iggy again before she remembered Erzembar's words from before. She walked about the room with a million thoughts going through her head.

"Unlike his previous death, Iggy's soul can return on its own volition." said Erzembar.

"He did that the last time." Penny countered.

"Not precisely." corrected Erzembar. "Previously, he required to travel across time space to discover the method used to reincarnate back into his latest vessel. At this time, his soul is still within this time space and he knows the method for reincarnation. He is currently busy with the mass of discarnate spirits that were killed during the pole shift. His return will be delayed."

"Why can't I figure this stuff out?" Penny said to herself before sighing in aggravation. Erzembar remained silent, which told her the truth. From the start of this survival saga, she was a little girl with big dreams, and her dreams were now crumbling all over her. While the idea of hosting a survival shelter was grand it was clear she hadn't internally prepared herself for the worst case scenarios properly. In retrospect, her heart didn't let her think of the worst. Not only that, but Penny wasn't entirely knowledgeable of the wands full abilities, spending most of her time preparing the shelter instead of learning about the wands capabilities. She now saw why Iggy continually pressed her to learn more about the wand.

"How long do you think he'll be gone?" Penny asked, forced to rely upon the ancient computer for now.

"It seems he will be occupied for some time." replied Erzembar. "At least for several days."

"People will be hungry by then." Penny said. "I need to find food now. What about those seeds in your temple?"

"Upon my last inventory analysis, the seeds were safely stored in room AX23B." stated Erzembar. "However, with the Kermillion fault opening, the current state of the temple cannot be known. I would suggest raising the complex from its suspended state, the spell of which is this."

Erzembar sent a command to Penny's mind, and at once she walked and climbed through the window to face where the temple complex would be. Pointing her wand towards the area, she let loose the command in her conscious mind and waited. But nothing happened.

"Nothing." Penny said. Erzembar hummed itself as she climbed back through the window. "I would ask that you attempt this again while I support your efforts."

Breathing in, Penny climbed back through the window, albeit somewhat annoyed and pointed the wand towards the complex again. She uttered the command, and this time a large noise was heard in the desert, something akin to stone grinding against stone. Eventually the ruckus ceased. "This is unprecedented." Erzembar commented.

"It worked every time up until now I bet." Penny said, again climbing back inside the room.

"More or less correct." replied Erzembar. "The Kermillion fault is a recent phenomena brought about by the previous pole shift. It appears that damage to the raising mechanisms have occurred and the temple cannot be entered by normal means. The only method that may be used now is teleportation. I will guide you to the room you seek."

Picking up Erzembar, the two were surrounded by light for a few seconds before it disappeared again. Penny saw herself surrounded by the familiar architecture of Erzembar's hallways, now in a much damaged state. Ahead of her, the hall had collapsed and debris blocked her path.

"This is hall AX." said Erzembar. "It seems AX23B lies buried as I cannot lock onto any free space within that location."

"Of course." Penny muttered. "Listen. Take me to the library in this place. If I can't find any food, then I have to try making it...or conjuring it in magic terms."

"Very well." With another teleport, they arrived inside Erzembar's library which, despite its massive size had minimal damage done to it. A few shelves had ripped from the walls and collapsed onto the floor and debris from the ceiling was littered on the ground in some places, but otherwise it had largely weathered the storm.

Penny set Erzembar down on a table and looked at the large number of books and scrolls, not sure where to start. But upon seeing a color code alongside a long wall of scrolls she headed towards that direction, eying the green section. It's what Iggy would have done being the master of nature magic, or so Penny thought. While she wasn't even close to his skill, she still needed to try and conjure up seeds for the colony.

But Erzembar couldn't help but worry about Penny's delicate mental state. It was inadvisable to allow those mentally fragile to work with magic, but experience taught him to be silent to those who could not reason...


It was the first time that Mona looked outside and what she saw somewhat startled her. The sea had risen much faster than she thought. The rocky plains that once surrounded the Eternal Fortress Genlic were now gone and replaced with the open sea. Only the hill the fortress rested upon remained along with a small area of land below circling its circumference. Waves still sloshed about and the sky was filled with a cloudy turmoil that flew straight across her in a hurry. In the distance, what were the Amadorian mountains were now islands of themselves, with numerous peaks jutting out of the waves. It seemed their original guess was more or less correct.

The voices behind her however reminded her of the situation. Mona turned around and was met with a crowd of people that filled the hall she was in. Everything seemed to be in chaos, despite a number of groups trying to regain control. Some were trying to get into the food production area, others were tending to wounded while others looked for medical aid. Even more just stood around and looked at the chaos in awe, reminding Mona of her duties. She took her radio, which had half battery remaining.

"Have you found Larry anywhere?" Mona asked.

"Negative, we've been working without him." came Kooper's response.

"Hey, are there any medics on floor B3?" asked Bombette.

"I'll try to move some up from 4." came an unfamiliar response. The team had grown larger since their inception and Mona didn't know all of them.

"Can we try to get everyone into the Main Hall so we can get this more organized?" Mona asked.

"Well, everyone can't fit in there." said Kooper. "But there's the auditorium just below it."

"They can't fit there either." came 9-volt's voice. "I've tried before with that one concert."

"So split it between them." Mona suggested. "I'll take the hall and Kooper can get the torium. But we need people to keep an eye on the floors too, so I want the more senior members to look after them."

"So string along the newer ones?" Kooper asked.

"Yeah. I know people, trust me." Mona said. "Let's do this. I'm heading up there now. I'll take floor 2 and up. If I have more room I'll radio in."

"You got it chief." Kooper relayed.

"Send all the auditors to the fields and stockrooms below and do a count on what we have." Mona continued, now making her way through the crowd. "Leave anyone seriously hurt where they are with the medics. I want most of security to guard the food and stores, cause people. The rest, send them to the torium and the hall. If you can, send a small medic group to each if they have enough guys to do it."

"Roger ma'am." Putting the radio away, Mona took out her Wand of the Blood inherited from Larry and successfully teleported to one of the upper balconies of the main hall where people were already seen flooding in. Mona wondered why her teleporting suddenly decided to start working after not working earlier, but chalked it up to her nerves. Watching people enter, she was amazed at how many people were injured from the pole shift despite being within such an impenetrable structure. Mona also noticed the penchant for people not to listen to authority despite being told not to come here while injured. At length, Mona looked away, not liking to be above anyone else like that. In reality, she wished Larry was here to do this speech thing instead, but trying to contact him via telepathy resulted in nothing...again.

She almost didn't see a group of people take residence on the balcony across from her. One pointed and aimed a large weapon which sent Mona into shock for a moment, but she regained her wits and took her wand in defense. A rocket was fired at her and she imagined herself surrounded by a shield. The projectile exploded on target, breaking what order there was below and everyone went every which way in chaos.

But the mutinous were surprised to find Mona intact in the smoke, though she looked visibly shaken by the attack. This didn't stop their determination however and they loaded their next rounds while bringing another launcher in. Mona knew she had to kill them but also knew she wasn't that kind of a person to begin with. Nevertheless, she charged up her wand to defend herself again with a new idea.

But the next round of shots never met their target as they each exploded one by one in mid air. Mona looked around her until she was aware of a noise coming from behind her. Walking upon a crudely shaped crutch was King Larry Koopa who slowly moved towards her with his Blood Wand in the other hand. "Come on assholes!" he shouted, pointing his wand at them. "I will kill all of you right now!"

"Run!" cried the leader, but they became surrounded by a blackish rainbow light. "No no, stay put." Larry said. "I order you to." Taking them up into the air, he slammed them against a wall nearby and they fell to the ground in a heap. One of them did not get up, but the rest tried to run again.

"Anyone who tries to mutiny in my fortress will be killed." said Larry, encircling them again. "And anyone who tries to harm Mona, myself or anyone on the Genlic team will be met with punishment. I don't tolerate any of that bullshit!" He raised them off the ground and watched them struggle. "What's the matter? Can't fight a cripple?"

"Dickless lizard." spat the leader. "You don't deserve this place. We will take back what is ours!"

In response, Larry flipped them upside down and slammed them into the ground head first, breaking most of their necks and killing them instantly. One managed to get up but people had arrived at that level by then and had their way with him. Larry sighed.

"Thanks..." Mona managed to say, still shaken up. Larry nodded in response. "What happened to you?" She looked at him and noticed dried blood on the left side of his body under his crutch which his left arm leaned against.

"I fell onto an elevator." Larry muttered. "I also lost my radio. But I gotta take care of this first." He hobbled over to the edge of the balcony. "Hello! You just got a front row seat to what I had to deal with on a constant basis! And I still do apparently. If you see anyone do this, take it upon yourselves to arrest them if you want, and bring them to us alive. Some of these may be spies from the establishment, the...old world order. The UmNaru. Check their hands. If one of them has a strange symbol on it, then they're an agent. They want the old order to come back to persecute and basically fuck everyone over again. Guess what? That's not happening, at least in this place. And if they kill a single one of you, then I will make sure they are hunted down across the planet until they are extinct! They've tried to kill me ever since I became king, but that's not going to happen. They can't run now that Genlic is an island, so it seems some have come out in a last desperate stand.

"Speaking of that, let's talk about some more pleasant things. We need the boating groups to step up to the plate now and achieve what they've planned. Once they're built, we can start fishing and exploring the other islands once things are under control here. Start as soon as possible on that. As for right now, Mona probably has a better grasp of what's going on." Larry looked at her.

"...I'm just sad that people hate me like that." Mona said, but found herself choking up and couldn't continue. A shout came and the crowd offered applause for her support as she tried to hide the tears.

"No, I can do this." Mona said. "I'm just sad." She straightened herself out after a moment. "Hatred like that needs to stop. There's no reason for it except for your own selfishness. But I'm off track...listen, before I say anything else, if there's anyone you know that is wounded, we have medics at both ends of every hall so please go see them if someone has an injury.

"Okay, next thing. Right now, we're auditing what we have left of the fields and in storage, and we know we have lost at least 2 of those fields. So to make sure we don't starve, we're going to be rationing in place until we know how much we really have. It's not going to be that bad, the only change in the routine will be eating two meals a day instead of three. People from the Genlic team will mark your name off a list and check to see how many times you've eaten food from the stores per day. Once you've had two meals, that's it. We don't think we lost a whole lot, but for starvation reasons this needs to be done as overeating is the last thing we want. Once we get the reports back from the auditors, then we'll decide what to do next. Well, that's my portion of it." Mona stepped back and looked at Larry.

"A few more things." said Larry. "I ask the DX group to get into full gear and start rigging up the antennas they brought down not too long ago. We're an island now so we should have amazing range, but at the same time, there's few other ways to talk to the mainland so this is one of the best ways to do so-" A strong aftershock shook at that moment and Larry nearly fell off of his feet. "And of course these quakes wont go away any time soon either. Be vigilant when they happen. Also, if there are any Magikoopa's in the crowd right now then I'd like to see you as soon as possible. That's it for now. If you have any ideas, then let one of us know. Thank you for your patience."

The group began to disperse, but before Mona could say anything a trio of Magikoopas appeared in front of Larry. "Yes, how can we be of assistance?" one of them asked.

"We need a defensive perimeter set up around the circumference of Genlic." Larry explained. "This should alert us to any more spies of the UmNaru that might still be here, and we can take care of them easily once they are found after that."

"I believe that this may be done." said one. "However, we will first need to obtain a crystal sufficient for what you ask. While we do have a collection currently, it will take some time before we can determine which will be most useful for the job. Once we have discovered the best method possible, we shall inform you right away."

"Also, do you require healing?" another Magikoopa asked.

"It's a little unfair, but...I do need to be in better shape right now." Larry said. "That's fine."

"Very well, we shall meet you in our chambers when you are ready." said the last and the trio disappeared in swirling shapes and colors.

"I would hug you right now for what you did, but I don't want to break anything else." smiled Mona.

"Save it when I'm in better shape." Larry said, adjusting his position. "The shift might be over, but we're still running a marathon. And even though it's very unfair compared to everyone else, I'm about to be healed up by the magic users."

"Hey, you're the leader, you need it." Mona pointed out. "And I doubt you can run far with a crutch, but that was pretty impressive."

"I'm a wounded warrior, that's how I'm gonna react." Larry said.

"Only in body I hope." Mona said, looking at his damaged side.

"Yeah." Larry smiled. "I'm still on fire. And I won't be put out that easily."

"Come on, I'll teleport you there." Mona said, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. She then cast a teleportation spell and they both disappeared in a flash.


With a groan, Ludwig Von Koopa awoke from sleep with pain rippling through his head. It was dark, though he could hear voices of children around him. His vision refocusing, he saw that he was under a pile of hospital beds...but how? That's not what occurred to him earlier, when atmospheric turbulence launched him through the corridor and into the back wall, knocking him out. Now he was slumped against a wall of a slanted room.

"I can't get it off!" came a cry.

"Hold still, I'll push up!" came another. Amongst all this were the sounds of crying which prompted Ludwig to action. He pushed the hospital bed aside and slowly stood up and a near silence fell in the room. The former monarch looked around him and realized what had happened. He was clearly in the escape pod, which now lay at an angle with the now broken hospital beds in the corner. They all stared at him, clearly not expecting his revival so soon.

"The pole shift has occurred then." he said to himself, unsure to count himself as lucky for not bring conscious for the event, or unlucky for not being there for his family. But the sight of Samantha's leg wedged between pieces of metal made him put the dilemma off for later. As he walked over, Xavier, his oldest child with long thin navy blue hair backed away from his sister as Ludwig almost without effort lifted the metallic fragment from her, revealing a bloody leg.

"Again?" Xavier exclaimed.

"What do you mean "again?"" asked Ludwig.

"That was the same leg that was broken earlier!" Xavier explained.

"Earlier? How long was my person unconscious for?" Ludwig asked. The children looked at each other.

"I have no idea." Elizabeth said at last, the second oldest with long green hair with multiple braids. "Everything moved too fast."

"Considering the end of civilization that most likely occurred, that is forgivable." said Ludwig. "But you must inform me what has transpired since my temporary departure from conscious reality when our situation is more...secure." He looked at the rest of his offspring. Trent Koopa, his youngest and mute son with spiked golden hair had been dragged into one of the seats it seemed, but he was unconscious and not buckled in. Walking over, he checked his wrist and found a pulse.

"Both you guys went flying into the wall." said Elizabeth. "Trent hasn't woken up yet."

"There are only five of you." said Ludwig. "Where is Tommy and Amy?"

"They got trapped in a room back on the castle." said Elizabeth. "All the doors closed for some reason."

"Emergency drop procedure." Ludwig muttered before he climbed up to the exit door of the escape pod. From the windows, he saw that the pod was half buried in the ground. "Please keep to the sides of the pod." said Ludwig. "And please move Trent to a closer position to the exit." Without questioning, Elizabeth did just that with Shirley, her younger sister with spiky pink hair who after a long state of shock decided to help her. When this was done, Ludwig opened the door and a small river of dirt flowed into the pod before ceasing just as fast. Ludwig poked his head out momentarily before coming back inside.

"If you have stored any supplies here, then please bring them along." he explained. "The castle is a bit distant."

One by one the second generation took one of the packs they had placed earlier in the central compartment and climbed out of the pod. "Please take turns holding...ah, you have awakened." Ludwig corrected himself, as Trent nodded in response. "The castle has crashed some distance from our location. Please bring some supplies with your person before we begin the trek."

Following his siblings lead, Trent took a pack for himself before climbing out last and looking at the landscape around him. Everywhere, the ground was crumbled up and heaved in piles that lay scattered across the landscape. The sky had grown darker, covered with a thick volcanic gloom that stretched in all directions. To their north was the former mountainous western border of the Old Kingdom, now a range of volcanoes belching out a wall of fire and ash towards the north and hence to the sea. The Koopahari Pass was now covered with lava flows that spread into the valley.

"What's over those mountains?" Shirley asked, always liking to see new things.

"The Old Kingdom." Ludwig said. "The kingdom of your grandfather, Bowser. I suspect it now lies in a snowy and ashen ruin. It will soon become inhospitable as the new north pole is now located within that region." The sound of distant voices however made him turn to the south. Far off, Ludwig could see a large band of people making their way northwest towards the now southwestern crags. He guessed they were from the Bambesh Valley looking for a new home, but that served to remind him of the danger he and his children were now in, remembering his previous stint as monarch and the people's hatred of him.

"Trent." Ludwig called, making a motion with his claw. Trent took off his backpack, which had a small wand sticking out of the top. Unzipping it, he took out a handful of standard Magikoopa wands and handed a few to his father. "Here." Ludwig gave a wand to each of his daughters. "You will need those more than your brothers."

"Why's that? I could fight better!" Xavier claimed.

"Because those lesser Koopa's of this world will go to great lengths to achieve what they desire." Ludwig explained. "This includes the ravaging of young female Koopas." Xavier fell quiet after that.

"Eww! No way! That's never going to happen!" Shirley exclaimed.

"I hope this is the case." said Ludwig. "It is regrettable that I have not taught the proper magic disciplines previously, but upon our trek back to the castle I shall review a few core principles that should suffice for your protection. Migrants are beginning to approach from the southwest and I have left a negative legacy amongst my former peoples, one that none of you should carry but may have to defend yourselves against nonetheless." He gave the remaining wands to his sons before zipping up the pack and giving it back to Trent.

A light went off around Ludwig, and he promptly took out his wand to find his gem blinking. After a moment, it went still and an image of Queen Kylie Koopa emerged above it.

"Holy crap you're awake!" she exclaimed. "Virtual hugs!"

"Mommy!" The kids all went off at once. Ludwig smiled. "Quite pleased to see you in good condition, Queen Kylie."

"You guys are my everything, thank you so much for being okay." smiled Kylie. "Wait...where's Tommy and Amy?"

"They were in a storage when all the doors closed." Elizabeth replied. "I couldn't get them out."

"The one I told you to take the supplies out of?" Kylie asked.

"Yeah, the door thing said something like 'override' when I tried to open it." Elizabeth said.

"It seems the emergency altitude protection system was activated." said Ludwig. "Is the power currently available to your person now?"

"Um, no." Kylie replied.

"Then the doors must be opened manually." said Ludwig. "Under the door's touchpad is a panel outlined within the walls construction. Remove this panel to find a crank, which then may be used to open the space. I must advise however that the torque may be somewhat...tight."

Kylie sighed. "Thanks in advance. I just hope they're alright. Are you guys headed to the castle?"

"We were about to set off towards it, yes." Ludwig confirmed.

"Well, be careful because I spotted a big wave of migrants headed northwest." Kylie warned. "I think they're heading to Lemmy's Castle."

"It seems the Bambesh Valley is in turmoil." Ludwig guessed. "Have you heard from Morton Junior?"

"No I haven't." replied Kylie. "I tried to reach him and I got nothing, so I don't know what's going on down there."

Ludwig hummed. "In any event, we must begin our journey. I will contact you if we must halt for the evening, but this shouldn't be necessary. Until then." They smiled at each other.

"I'll see you later guys!" Kylie said before the image disappeared and the gem went silent.

"Now then, it is best to avoid the migrants as much as possible. Therefore, we must set out immediately and keep a quickened pace in order to keep ahead of the first pack. We shall then double back to the castle from the north at a distance." Ludwig explained. "I ask that you each take turns caring for Samantha and to help her walk. Are each of you ready?" No vocal responses came, but there were several nods. "Then let us be off." With that, Ludwig put his wand away, turned and started off towards the west northwest and his children followed him one by one, some eying the people far to their south.