Quickly following Shake's trail, Mario found the king and two D-Men in an alley. Queen Merelda was nowhere to be seen, she must have already scurried off figured Mario. Picking up a D-Man's speargun, Mario leveled and aimed it. The hook deftly smashed a syringe in the hand of one of the D-Men and the red liquid burned all over the purple man's fingers. Both of them made their way over to Mario, one of them hobbling. In one gesture, Mario grabbed the hobbling one and smashed his skull into a brick wall and in another, did the same to the other D-Man. Walking over the D-Man's collapsed body, Mario made his way for King Shake who extended out his hand.

"Mario," greeted the king. "You certainly live up to your hype. I hope I'm not being immodest in saying this is your finest hour. By saving me you have saved the Toadstool Kingdom." Bustling up behind Shake came Merelda, she was huffing and puffing, clearly not used to the exercise. She was thin and frail, of course she wasn't used to it.

"Good evening, Mario!" she greeted. "I almost didn't believe Peach that you'd arrived! With me in the front and you protecting us from the back we'll make quite a team! Let's get some shots the three of us!" Mario grinned, but no, he had wasted enough time already. As soon as Merelda turned to talk to Shake, Mario had already gone. He had to spend some time with Peach. Although slightly disappointed at Mario's departure, king and queen sauntered through the alley, politely beaming to snapping flashbulbs. Shake shook some more hands and accepted some congratulatory arm squeezes.

"How do you feel, Shake?" asked a woman. Shake turned around to see it was none other than Peach.

"Princess, I just want to curl up with Merelda and forget about this craziness," he laughed. The bystanders and camera crews chuckled as Shake and Merelda marched off towards his limousine. As soon as he entered, his smile dematerialized. "I'm in a bad mood," Shake told Merelda. "Remind me to take it out on everyone." Getting out of the limo in front of the Toadstool Castle, Shake and Merelda walked over an open sewer grate. Screaming, they fell through and out of sight.


The decrepit gates of the staggering, abandoned Wario Castle. It was once the centerpiece of his perverse zoological experiments, but the snow filled cages seemed more terrifying empty than filled with the beasts of the Koopahari. One snake determinedly slithered past the gates, rising as it passed a seedy and dilapidated complex power station, that crackled with frayed wires. It swerved before a rickety rollercoaster that had three shoddy and malignant, animal themed carts puttering up different stages of the ruined track. An aberrant cross section of birds rode on one of them. The snake swung into the light of a cave lined with sparkling snow and ice into the lair where Bowser Jr found his home. It was less dark than Wario's Warehouse, but still dramatic and bizarre. The track of the castle's rickety roller coaster curled through the grotto, full of birds it rumbled through with the winged passengers flying around.

The snake took its place at a large block of ice that served as a conference table. Around the table were bonechilling D-Men, but they all shut up and went into a standing ovation as Bowser Jr rode out of the lair's vast, gaping sewer pipe in a boat. A large D-Man was holding Shake and Merelda in behind them. "We have distinguished guests, make them feel at home," announced Jr. The king and queen were astonished that not only had all of this been done under their watch, but by a young boy! The D-Men booed and jeered King Shake, pelting him with snowballs as well. Shake began to sit down at a chair at one end of the conference table, but when the chair was pulled out under him went crashing into the ground. Moody and freezing, Shake cautiously reseated himself. Merelda remained quiet and standing. The boy snarled at Shake's whose composure had broken down, he was sweating and shivering.

"Up there, Shake, you're the master of the Toadstool Kingdom!" remarked the boy. "Down here, the snake gets a better parking space. I hear you talking about protecting the Toads... but then see you dump toxic waste. You say one thing but always do the other. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against you being a two-faced weasel." This boy, this boy had the command ability of a seasoned military veteran! He spoke as if he were much older than he were! By all accounts at first glance this boy was normal, but then Shake took a better look. His red hair was overgrown, his teeth were unfashionably sharp and pointed and his hands, and probably his covered arms as well, were scaly. Yellow and scaly, like a lizard's skin.

"Oh really, I didn't...," said Shake, trying to lessen the boy's accusations.

"Shut up!" yelled Jr. "It's just... why do you get to be the man of the people! The beloved heir to the beloved Mushroom King when... when... you are the way you are?" The boy stared at Shake for a little bit, hateful and bitter. "You can say I'm jealous or bitter, but in ten seconds you'll be saying a lot of things!" The boy summoned a fireball in his hands... that made Shake sweat even more. "Don't worry Shake, I'm not going to kill you!" The fireball turned into an iceball. "I'm just going to freeze you for two hundred years, you know by then they'll be able to thaw you rich powermongers out!" That seemed unpleasant to Shake. "I'm kidding, I'm going to kill you." Grabbing a sword from a bin, the eleven year old boy picked it up with incredible ease noted Shake. Who was this kid? All the other D-Men pulled out their swords and daggers as well. A large bead of sweat rolled down Shake's face but then he looked at the sword, the boy's sword.

"You're not going to kill me, boy," said Shake with authority.

"Oh, I'm not?" taunted Jr.

"Why fight power, boy, when you can become it?" asked Shake. "You despise the way this city is run. So do I. I may be the face of the city... but the ruling council holds all the power. I thought Princess Peach could be my voice on the council... but she's always had the people in mind... ever since she arrived. I'd like to see a free thinker on there, in place of one of those goons, to tip the odds back in my favor." It was true, there were five seats on the council - Shake, Peach, Merelda, Prince Pine and Lady Timpani. Sure he couldn't touch Peach, but Pine and Timpani were always expendable...

"Me, a member of the ruling council?" laughed Jr. "In case you haven't noticed I'm eleven years old!"

"You haven't learned our history!" laughed Shake. "The Mushroom King's coronation when he was ten! Toadstool has no conception of age, only celebrity! This city loves visuals! Look at the celebration in Princess Peach's name! She rarely ever shows her face but they love the idea of her! Any other city and she would've been forgotten, like, what's her name was of Dinohattan! There's the point though! For thirty-one years we've celebrated her when there's only a handful of photographs and when she walks the streets, nobody even knows it's her. Hell, she asked me a question in front of the press today and tomorrow everyone's going to regret having had not taken a picture!"

Jr considered Shake's words for a second and then dropped his sword, prompting the D-Men to sheath theirs. An aching Merelda took the opportunity to stand strong next to her husband, who was trying to spin and handle the situation to best suit his interests.

"Me, a member of the ruling council?" Jr said again, with consideration this time. "I could get respect... would I have to give up my hobbies?"

"Terrorizing innocent people and committing heinous felonies?" asked Shake. "Not at all. In fact, they'll come in handy."

"Sounds divine," said Jr, not completely buying Shake's offer. Jr knew of the Ruling Council, Jaydes had made him familiarize himself with the history of the Toadstool Kingdom. After the death of the Mushroom King, power was supposed to be divided in between his children: Princess Peach and Princess Merelda. However, in an act to gain power, Lady Timpani had claimed that the people required a representative as well. With pressure mounting, Peach and Merelda agreed to create the Ruling Council. Allowed on were Meralda's husband, Shake, and one of their cousins, Pine, in addition to Timpani. In all truth, the Ruling Council had turned out for the better and Timpani's quest for power actually turned out to benefit the city in the long run. Shake, though, clearly was not satisfied with what little power he actually had - despite what the name 'king' implied.

"We can begin," offered Shake. "Just, anywhere but here. I think it's time you mature past Wario's remnants."