Phantina had flown for over 300 miles now, and was beginning to get bored. "How much longer before I get out of the kingdom, I wonder?" Suddenly, a mansion appeared on the horizon. "Ooh, cool! I'd better check it out…" She zoomed up to the mansion's door, and knocked. A Greenie answered the door, but when it saw she was a Boo, it freaked out and crashed into a wall trying to escape and knocked itself out. Phantina couldn't help but laugh at the sight.
"Based on the ghost, I presume this is Evershade Valley. That must mean I'm officially outside of the Boo Kingdom!"
"You got that right, sister."
Phantina froze at the voice, but quickly regained her senses and turned around. There, floating before her, was…
"A red Greenie?"
The apparently female ghost smirked. "I prefer the term 'Reddie'."
"Makes sense. What's your name, Reddie?"
The ghost smiled. "You're the first creature to not tease me for preferring the term Reddie. And my name's Reena."
"No problemo. And it appears we both like the same type of hairdo." Both of them had spiky hairstyles. Phantina winked at Reena. "Anyway, would it be okay if I stayed at your place for an hour or four? I need a place to replenish my magic strength."
"I see no problem with it, but my friends might. They have odd coloring as well, so don't be too surprised."
"Alrighty, then. Show me the way."
"Actually, it's right there." Reena pointed at a runty-looking shack. "The other ghosts won't let us in the mansions, so we're stuck in that heck of a dirty hovel."
"Oh." With that, the two floated up to the door of the shack. "Why won't they let you in the mansions? You seem pretty good."
The edges of Reena's eyes filled up with ectoplasm, the ghost equivalent of being about to cry. "They're jerks. They tease us us just because we have different colors than normal. They call us the Oddballs of Evershade Valley."
"Ouch. That must hurt a lot." Reena nodded in response to her consolation. Then the door opened. A yellow Hider answered the door.
"Hi, Ree- OH! Who's your friend? Please, come in!"
The two entered, and Phantina realized that Reena was right. It was a dirty hovel. Shattered glass littered the floor. Tattered curtains did nothing to stop the cold wind coming in from the broken window. And in the middle of all of the mess was a nervous-looking green Slammer, the yellow Hider from before, and a blue Poltergeist. "Hey, guys! I brought a friend!" Reena yelled to the others, all of whom immediately looked up, save the Slammer, who took a nervous glance at Phantina, before looking back down.
"These are my friends. Mango was the one who answered the door, Cassius is the blue one, and the shy one is Kincho."
"HI!" Mango giggled.
"Yo." Cassius waved.
"U-um… h-hello?" Kincho glanced around, scared.
"Hiya, guys!" Phantina smiled. Hey, why not be friendly? "My name's Phantina!"
"Phantina? King Boo's daughter? THAT Phantina?!" Cassius gasped. "In our house?!" He ran up and grabbed Phantina by the arm. "Princess, I am your biggest fan! May I get your autograph?"
Phantina was confused. "Okay, two things. One, how exactly am I famous? My dad has kept me in my room since birth! And two, how can I give you an autograph without something to sign, or to sign with?"
"Oh, good point! Let me grab a pen. And you can just autograph that slip of paper over there." Cassius dashed off.
"His brain, unlike most Poltergeists', allows him to get visions, and most of the time, it's your escapes." Reena explained.
"Ah. That I can understand. Did he catch my 7th escape?"
"That was his favorite! Speaking of which, how come your father hasn't found you yet? It's a bit odd..."
Phantina was surprised as she remembered. It had been about a day now, and if her father had sent out search parties, they would have found her within an hour. Which could only mean one thing…
"Something's preventing him from sending out searchers." Phantina realized. "That's gotta be bad."
She was unaware that her father was not in control of himself at the moment…
'King Boo' was almost to Bowser's Kingdom now. (Just a little longer,) 'he' thought, (and it will all be yours. Be patient until then.) 'He' arrived at the gates. Two Koopa Troopa guards blocked his path.
"Yo, bub, whatcha doing here?"
"Yeah, your appointment with Lord Bowser isn't 'til next Wednesday."
'King Boo' grinned at them, and then shot two bits of pure darkness into their hearts. They began to crumple, then shot up to their feet.
"ALL HAIL ANARAT!" They said the same words at the same time, their eyes blackened by the darkness.
Anarat smiled in King Boo's body. "This body is exactly what I needed. Now, lead me to Bowser."
The two Koopa Troopas opened the doors, and led Anarat inside. A couple minions tried to stop them, but Anarat just laughed and blasted darkness at them to take them under her control. The noise brought more minions, and the process kept repeating until Anarat had control over most of Bowser's minions. As they neared the throne room, a lone Shy Guy ran up to them.
"I saw what you did to my friends! Give them back!"
Anarat blasted darkness at the Shy Guy, but he surprisingly stood his ground, even though he was in pain from the force of the attack.
"Your… darkness attacks… have no power over me," wheezed the Shy Guy. "My family… has been immune… to darkness damage… through centuries. You can't… hurt me through… that attack, King Boo."
(Hmm…) Anarat thought. (This might be tricky… I know!)
Using King Boo's magical abilities, she took the Shy Guy's voice from him. The poor creature tried to yell a warning to Bowser, but was stunned to find out he couldn't even whisper.
"Your 'King Boo' friend is not in control right now," warned Anarat, "and won't ever be again. I am Anarat, and soon, I shall rule your kingdom. I suggest you flee, before you die a horrible death."
The Shy Guy stared at her in shock for about half a second, then turned on his heels and ran. Anarat smiled. (Now for Bowser himself. Oh, this is going to be fun…)
Bowser was relaxing on his throne, eating a chicken drumstick.
"Man, this thing is drier than a Dry Bone in a desert. RONALD! Bring me some barbecue sauce!"
No one came. Bowser paused, then yelled again.
"RONALD!"
Still no one. "Geez, what does it take to get some service around here?!" Bowser mumbled, as he got up off his throne. But as soon as he did, a black, shadowy tentacle grabbed his leg, pulled him off his feet, and left him hanging upside down, five feet off the ground.
"GAAAAAAAHHHH!" Bowser tried to break free, but more tentacles shot up out of the ground and curled around his body, preventing escape.
"WHO IS DOING THIS?! UNHAND ME THIS INSTANT!" Bowser yelled so loud, all seven of the Koopalings and Bowser Jr. came running into the room. When Roy tried to free him, he was captured by the black appendages. Soon, everyone was suspended upside down, wrapped in shadowy tentacles.
Then the source of all the trouble came into the throne room.
"King Boo?!" Ludwig gasped.
"Your appointment with my dad isn't until next Wednesday!" Junior fumed.
King Boo grinned. "Your friend is not in this body, and will not be again. I am Anarat, and I will rule all of you." His voice had a weird echo to it, like he was being controlled.
"Well, 'Anarat'," smirked Bowser, "I highly doubt you can fight off all of my minions…" His smirk disappeared as he saw his army standing behind King Boo, under his control.
Now King Boo was the one who was smirking. "You were saying?"
"Well, you may have all our minions, but you can't stop me!" Roy yelled, as he used a pocket knife that came seemingly out of nowhere to cut away the shadowy tentacles, and approached King Boo.
King Boo laughed, and shot a black ball of something at Roy, who crumpled.
"NO! Roy!" Now Ludwig had slipped out of the tentacles, and rushed to his sibling's side. He pulled Roy to his feet.
"You alright, Roy?" Ludwig asked as Roy pulled off his shades, his eyes closed.
Then he opened them. The room went silent.
Roy's eyes had turned pitch black, with white pupils that burned as bright as the sun. He gripped Ludwig's wrist as hard as he could, and flung him at the ground in front of King Boo, who blasted another black ball at Ludwig. Soon, Lud's eyes matched Roy's.
"Hey! Give back Luddy!" Iggy roared. King Boo laughed, and stared deep into Iggy's eyes.
"Be quiet, mortal." Iggy immediately quieted down, and when King Boo flew towards Morton, Bowser quickly saw why.
A dazed smile was spread across Iggy's face, and his eyes were glazed over. King Boo had hypnotized him!
"IIIIGGGYYY!" Lemmy started to cry. But Iggy remained in a blissful trance. After Morton had been turned as well, King Boo flew towards Lemmy.
"I'm immune to shadow attacks and hypnosis, sucker! Now, let Iggy go!" Lemmy struggled against the bonds that held him, but no luck.
"Your resilience impresses, me, you spiky-shelled turtles. But I cannot let anyone interfere with my ruling, so…" Suddenly, Lemmy started to glow. "Now I can track you anywhere you are. And if you come in my kingdom even once… I will make sure you never go anywhere again. Now, begone." Lemmy was enveloped in darkness. When it cleared, Lemmy was gone. King Boo then took Wendy's voice when she started yelling at him. Then she disappeared as well. Then Larry. Now the only creatures in the room not under King Boo's control were Bowser and Junior.
"I swear, if you lay a finger on my son…" Bowser tried to sound as brave as he could, but he was shaking so hard, the words barely escaped his mouth.
"Don't worry, I will not hurt him... if you comply." A malicious grin formed on King Boo's face.
"Alright, alright. What are your demands?" Bowser hated to compromise, but he needed to make sure his son would be okay.
"I will need just a minute of your time."