Hey guys I feel pretty sick right now so I'm gonna just post this real quick and run off to bed…

Also, in Kamek's conversation with Junior, the incidents mentioned were in the New Super Mario Bros and Mario and Luigi: Partners in time, respectively. I actually haven't played NSMB yet so I'm going by a summary I read… hrm…

Grumble grumble okay posting this now.

Chapter five.

After fleeing the castle, Kamek and the others flew to every fortress and outpost in the Koopa Kingdom's territory, picking up every person they could find. Most of the people at the castle had been lost, but many of the outlying regions were untouched and the people there were unaware of the horrors that had transpired. And so the Koopa Kingdom became like a ghost town; most of the population was already taken by the shadows, and the leftovers were taken by Kamek and his crew.

Once this was done they flew at full speed away from there, away from the shadows. They didn't dare stop until they had reached the ocean, near the Beanbean shore. It was then that they felt that they were far enough away that they could stop and dock the two airships together so Kamek could speak to the entirety of the survivors.

Kamek told the story exactly as it had been told to him—with a few alterations to things such as the time at which he heard the story. After all, he didn't want the rest of them turning on him for having not told them sooner.

Throughout his explanation, he spoke unaided by a microphone or any other such apparatus, his audience silent as they took in what he was telling them. But at the end of his story, the crowd burst out into noise, everyone asking him questions or crying out about the hopelessness of it all and so on. Kamek tried to get everyone to quiet down but, after several unsuccessful attempts, he grabbed a nearby microphone and screamed into it, "Would everyone just quiet down, already?!"

The crowd turned to silence once more, looking up at Kamek expectantly.

"Thank you," Kamek said. He adjusted his glasses. "Listen, I know this sounds bad. I mean—it is bad, I'm not going to lie to you there. This is pretty much the worst thing to ever happen to the world. But we're okay! We haven't been taken, we're still alive and with our wits about us. We can't just admit defeat now, can we?"

Kamek stopped, hoping to get a resounding "No we can't" or something from the crowd, but didn't get any response at all. He sighed. "No, everyone, we can't. We can still do something about all this!"

"Like what?" asked a voice in the crowd.

"Like…," Kamek paused. He really didn't have a plan, he was just trying to sound positive. "Like… We need to find a place to hide. Someplace the shadows aren't going to look and would have a hard time accessing. Someplace bright. Like… the arctic, maybe—it's constant daylight up there. And then we need to round up everyone at the most risk of being captured by this thing. Every villain and evil-doer needs our help, and we need to provide it to them. And then…" he reached, but he couldn't think of anything else. "Then… I don't know. We'll think of something, alright?"

A small, female voice spoke up from somewhere in the mob. "Shouldn't we ask Mario for help?"

Kamek stomped a foot. "Right, who said that?!"

A hundred fingers all pointed to a single point, where Vivian the Shadow Siren stood with her sister, Marilyn.

"Um…," she said.

"How'd she get here?" Kamek asked.

"Er," said a Hammer Bro., "She came with us. She was over at our fortress when you came, so—"

Kamek interrupted him. "Why were you in the Koopa Kingdom, Vivian?"

"W-we were looking for Beldam," she said. "We haven't seen her since she came to the Koopa Kingdom to see you."

"Right. Well give up looking for her, she's with the shadows now and I'm sure she's pretty happy about it," Kamek said. "Now, would you care to repeat your previous question?"

"I said I think we should ask Mario for his help," she said. "You said that those shadowy things were weak to people with pure hearts, right? Who better than Mario to defeat it?"

"Look, you," Kamek said, pointing to her accusingly, "I don't know if you got the wrong idea, but you're among villains, here. We don't like Mario. Our profession is to cause Mario trouble. So how would it look if all of a sudden we come crying, 'oh Mario, please save us!'?"

"Guh! Guh guh guh!" Marilyn said.

"Marilyn's right!" Vivian said. "It doesn't matter how it looks, what matters is your survival, right?"

Kamek crossed his arms, sighing. "Okay… let me put it this way. Everyone who's in favor of running to Mario for help, say 'aye'."

Complete silence.

"Well, there you have it," Kamek said. "It's unanimous—your plan is completely unviable."

A Magikoopa leaned over closer to Kamek, and spoke to him in a hushed voice. "Kamek, sir, is it okay for her to be here with us? She's one of Mario's friends, after all."

Kamek thought about it. "No, it's okay, we need to keep her here. If she's one of the good guys, then maybe she can help us keep the shadows at bay. Make sure she doesn't leave, and especially make sure she doesn't contact Mario."

The Magikoopa nodded and returned to the crowd.

Kamek, seeing the matter resolved, returned to addressing the entire group. "Okay everyone, it's settled. The plan is to find people to join us, and then figure out more of a plan. Right? Okay. Helmsmen need to set a course for the arctic, and the rest of you are dismissed."

The crowd started to disperse, some people going to the other airship and others going below deck. Kamek turned and walked off to the railing at the edge of the Koopa Cruiser and leaned against it, looking downward as the ship started to move and the ocean rolled along below him.

It was hard for him to believe that his entire kingdom was now reduced to barely enough to fill two airships. This shadow thing worked fast.

He wondered how long it would be before they, too, would be taken.

He felt a tug on the back of his robe, and he looked back to see Bowser Jr. standing behind him.

"Hey, Junior," he said, forcing a smile. He knelt down to match the small prince's height.

"Hey, Kamek," Junior said. "Can I talk to you about sommin'?"

"Sure," Kamek sat down. "What is it?"

"So you remember how a while ago, King Dad got hurt an' I had to be in charge of tryin' to stop Mario while you an' them made him better again?"

Kamek nodded. "Yeah?"

"Since Dad's gone again, dozzat mean I'm in charge?"

"I guess it does," Kamek said.

"Oh." Bowser Jr. sat down and looked out at the ocean.

"You don't sound very enthusiastic about that," Kamek said, "I thought you liked bossing people around?"

"I do, it's just," Junior toyed with the bandanna around his neck. "I-I'm scared."

"That's okay, Junior," Kamek gave Junior a pat on the back, avoiding the little spikes on his back. "I am too."

"But you still know what to do an' all," Junior said, "When those things attacked you ran in and rescued ev'ryone. All I could do was climb onto a light and just hang there."

"Actually, that was pretty smart. Those things hate lights."

"I didn't know that," Bowser Jr. pouted, "I just freaked out. Dad wouldn't 've done that. How am I s'posed to be in charge if I do stuff like that?"

"Junior…"

"I'm tryin' to say," Junior said, somewhat forcefully, "That I don' have a clue how I'm s'posed to lead ev'ryone, and you're already doin' a good job, so I'm tellin' you that you can be in charge."

"Of the whole Koopa Troop?"

Bowser Jr. nodded. "Just 'til Dad's back."

Kamek grinned, amused. "So does that mean everyone has to call me 'King Kamek'?"

"No," Junior said.

Kamek laughed. "Okay, okay," he paused, then put a hand on Junior's shoulder. "You know, it's funny. You're so much like your dad, but then every once in a while you do things like this. You're so much more responsible than he was at your age."

"Really?"

Kamek nodded. "Oh yeah. At your age, all he could think about was cookies and shiny things."

Bowser Jr. laughed. "Nuh-uh!"

"No, it's true," Kamek insisted. "Aliens attacked and all he wanted was Yoshi cookies. I swear. I had to go sifting through an abandoned Yoshi village for them."

"Wooow," Junior smirked, "I'll hafta make fun of him for that once he's back!"

"Just don't let him know that I was the one who told you," Kamek said. "Now, you run off. I've got some stuff to do."

"Okay," Bowser Jr. started to run off, then stopped and ran back. "Oh yeah. An' I'm still in charge of you, okay? It's jus' ev'ryone else you're in charge of."

"Right, of course."

Bowser Jr. then ran off.

Kamek stayed there for a few minutes more, then went to the bridge to discuss some things with the crew.