After a several weeks of traveling around the Mushroom World in a Venomian spacecraft, the Koopalings were finally headed to Venom itself. That was a relief to Ludwig. It meant that they were definitely political prisoners and therefore safe for the time being. Well, safe from death anyway, as Ludwig was being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. There had only been four quarters available for the eight Koopalings, so they had had to share. They had been paired eldest with youngest and second-eldest with second-youngest and so on—which meant Ludwig had had to share with Junior! And they still had the same ship with the same arrangement to take to Venom.

Ludwig's arch-nemesis had already claimed top bunk when they got there and kept Ludwig up every night by bouncing on it. Needless to say, staying awake until the wee hours of the morning and sleeping until the afternoon had thrown Ludwig's bio-rhythms out of whack since becoming a prisoner. Tonight he decided he was going to at least make use of his sleepless hours.

"Woo-hoo! Yay!" Junior exclaimed in happiness as he bounced. He stopped though when he saw Ludwig turn on the lamp next to the lower bunk. He looked down and said, "Hey, Luddy, I can't sleep with the light on!"

"And I can't sleep with your infernal bouncing! If you want to bounce, then fine, but I'm writing in my journal." Ludwig got out of bed and walked to the cabinet where he had been allowed to store his journal and pen. Bringing these materials back to the bed, he sat upright, legs beneath the covers, pillow behind his shell. He clicked his pen and was about to bring the tip to paper when Junior called down to him making his grip falter and smudging the page.

"Luddy, what are you writing about?"

Ludwig just now realized that Junior had been quiet since he had started to get his writing materials. That earned Junior a polite response.

"I'm going to write about what our lives have been like on the ship."

"Okay. I've been wondering about something." Junior sounded genuinely curious.

Ludwig, enjoying the opportunity to expand his little brother's mind, said, "Okay. What?"

"You know how we're on a spaceship? I was wondering when you go the toilet, where does it come out? There's not like a sewer or anything."

Ludwig palmed himself in the face. "Poop" was Junior's favorite topic.

"There's a holding tank that stores waste matter until it can be unloaded at a waste treatment facility," Ludwig explained unenthusiastically.

"So all the poop from everyone on this ship is still here from since we first boarded?" Junior said with a hint of amazement.

So this is who you want to succeed you, Dad?

Ludwig realized it could very well be. The reign of Bowser III was characterized as one long knee-jerk decision/emotional roller coaster after another. He had a child's self-control. Ludwig returned his attention to the other Bowser.

"No!" he snapped. "We have landed several times on the flight around Mushroom World. More than enough time to unload the ship's sewage treatment to sewage treatment plants."

"Okay, Luddy," Junior yawned and said, "Good night."

Within two seconds Ludwig heard snoring. Had Junior just completely missed that Ludwig was irritated with him? Sometimes it was more his indifference to the problems he caused than those problems themselves that riled Ludwig.


The same evening in Star Haven, far above the Mushroom Kingdom, the Seven Star Spirits hovered over their posts in the Star Sanctuary. A serious issue that they had debated, tried to ignore, and re-debated, was coming to a head. They had been receiving wishes over the last few weeks that quite frankly, they could not determine were selfish, or worth granting.

The Kremling/SharpClaw hybrid, General Scales, had killed his "father", King K. Rool, and now ruled all of the Kremling Empire in his own right, and made Bowser, King of the Darklands, his vassal by taking his children hostage. Most people on Mushroom Planet thought that Scales would stop there. His main power base was in another solar system, after all.

Many Toads in the Mushroom Kingdom wished that the SharpClaw occupation of the Darklands would never end, and considered the fact that Scales had attacked there instead of the Mushroom Kingdom as proof he had no designs on the Mushroom Kingdom. There were also those who saw Scales as a threat to the entire planet—Princess Peach among them. Further complicating the issue, many Toads couldn't distinguish wishing hardship on Bowser from wishing it on all the inhabitants of the Darklands.

Another dilemma for the Star Spirits was Bowser's sudden change of what he wished for. Gone were all the old wishes of beating Mario and getting Peach to like him. While the Darklands were under SharpClaw and Kremling siege, Bowser had asked to keep his kingdom. When his kingdom fell, he asked that his children remained safe. This was the first unselfish wish in Bowser's entire life. Muskular, was of the opinion to deny the Dragon Koopa.

"He's caused the Mushroom Kingdom enough trouble! Let him have some of his own."

Eldstar and the others wanted to help, but they sensed that the Koopalings had just left the planet's orbit, beyond the Stars' power. The people on Mushroom Planet had exaggerated ideas about the Stars' powers. They were indeed powerful and influential, but they were not omnipotent or omniscient. If they had been, Bowser would never have succeeded in taking the Star Rod a few years ago.

"My fellow Star Spirits," Eldstar began, "The events of the last several weeks have troubled us all greatly. There is nothing we can do about Venom in the Lylat System, but we can grant Princess Peach's wish and work against Scales' activities here."

"Why should we? It's not like he's any worse than Bowser was?" Muskular said.

"Bowser didn't have an entire space navy to attack the Mushroom Kingdom with," Mamar pointed out.

"Point taken."

"Besides, there are thousands of Koopas, Goombas, Thwomps, Chained Chomps, and Bob-ombs, both inside the Darklands, and in other Kingdoms who want Scales gone. We can't just ignore their wishes," Klevar said. "He is running the Darklands like a well-organized army camp. Bowser was cruel to other kingdoms, but in the Darklands he was bound by Koopa tradition. Scales has no such restraint."

Eldstar nodded, "That is true. We do have their wishes to con—

Eldstar never finished that sentence as a great crashing sound interrupted him. The entire Star Sanctuary shook as the laser of a Venomian Fighter blew a gaping hole into the back wall.

While the other Stars were trying to figure out what was happening, Eldstar jumped to the conclusion that, "Scales is after the Star Rod!" It was a jump, albeit a credible one.

The Star Spirits gathered around the Star Rod in the center of the room. They would pour all their energies into creating a shield around it. That was a fatal mistake, as there were many Venomian fighters outside, and they were now reading an energy they had been instructed to look for. More blasts came, but the Stars held firm. The ceiling caved in but, the Star-powered shield kept the Star Spirits and the Star Rod safe. They poured all their mental energy on maintaining the shield. They knew that their sanctuary was being reduced to rubble, but each realized that they could not focus on that. The shield had to be their priority. The first to buckle was the elderly Eldstar.

"I'm weakening!"

"Keep focus!" Mamar said. It was just beginning to dawn on her that the Venomian ships had stopped firing when she too began to weaken. So too, did all of the Star Spirits.

They forced their collective will into keeping the shield up, but within minutes Eldstar stopped contributing and gently glided to the ground face first. It broke the Stars' concentration and for a moment the Stars starred in terror at a Venomian Battlecruiser directly above them.

Then fighters locked on to Muskular and Kalmar, the strongest Star Spirits. Laser blasts put them out of commission. With only four Stars left the shield was weakening.

"We have to leave, lead them away from Star Haven," Klevar said.

"We can't leave the others!" Misstar said.

"As long as we're here they're in danger!"

"We have bigger issues!" Mamar demanded.

"Bowser didn't just leave us alone when he got the Star Rod. He trapped us in cards, do you think Scales will see us as any less of a threat?!" Skolar shoved his opinion in Klevar's face.

Mamar was the only one who noticed what was really going on. The more concentration that went into their argument, the weaker the shield was getting.

"Everyone listen to me!" She shouted just in time for a Venomian laser to take down her three companions.

Then suddenly all the Venomians stopped. One fighter, piloted by an orange-scaled Sharpclaw, landed. He jumped from the cockpit, pulled out a blaster and Mamar was out cold.


Scales sat in the rotating chair of his observation room in solitude. His attacks had damaged virtually every building in Star Haven, and he had seen that the Sharp Claw soldier he had handpicked for the task took the Star Rod. His fighter was docking in Scales' battle cruiser just now. It was probably a fifteen minute walk from the docking bay to the observation room, but Scales had given the warrior orders to bring the object directly back to him as soon as possible. He could disregard orders of superiors if anyone got in his way.

With the Star Rod in his possession, Scales held the glue that bound all the other "items" he was collecting together, "items" that would make him invincible. Bowser had tried to use the Star Rod to become invincible before but had failed miserably. Scales, however, had studied the object in more detail. The Star Rod could grant its wielder all their wishes (provided they did not involve leaving its current planet's orbit), but simply wishing for invincibility was not enough. The Star Rod could be countered by the combined strength of the Seven Star Spirits. No, Scales's wish would center on transferring energy from powerful sources into his own body. His thoughts were already returning to the completed Triforce attached to the main laser. It had raised Crocodile Isle from the sea, and it held the power to open the portal wide enough for Scales to send his armies into other dimensions on a large scale. Concerning the damage it could do in Lylat, Scales could level cities with the force of a four megaton nuclear missile, but, most importantly, with none of the fallout.

Scales was musing on his plans when the warrior with the Star Rod arrived. Dropping to one knee and bowing his head, he said, "Hàr-konungur! I have it!" The Star Rod lay horizontally across his upturned palms.

Scales spun his chair around to face the minion, got up and slowly approached.

"And it is a beautiful thing you have, Erikr," Scales said, slowly picking the object up from his minion. Erikr felt gladdened whenever his Chieftain had called him by name.

The SharpClaw had a three-tiered caste system. The lowest, þralls, could be bought or sold and had no rights. The middle caste, to which Erikr belonged, karls, could not be bought or sold, but had no real political power. The highest caste, to which Ivar Krasjason belonged, the jarls, held all political power. While virtually all SharpClaw in an army were karls, the army's leaders would always be jarls. Chieftains would always be jarls. Ivar Krasjason was known to rule the SharpClaw by intimidation, and had real loyalty only with those attached his mother's clan, the House of Bluescale, named after a famous pirate who had established a short-lived kingdom in the Cape Claw region in southern Sauria. Sharpclaw attached to one house were always resentful of rule by an outsider. As a Bluescale insider, Erikr, on rare occasion got to see the little bit of a soft side his Chieftain actually possessed. The terror tactics that Ivar Krasjason used on other houses were necessary, but he also knew the Chieftain well enough to know that he already possessed something of a sadistic streak on his own: something his Kremling father had nurtured. He saw that streak surface in the Chieftain's eyes as he held the Star Rod. The Sharpclaw legend of the Daroganson or "Son of Destiny" foretold a leader who would be a great conqueror, who would bow to no Sharpclaw and to whom all Sharpclaw would bow. He would rule them as one nation and lead them to conquer Sauria. Surely Ivar wouldn't need to be so brutal once his mission here was complete and he ruled all of Lylat. He wouldn't have to, but that look in his eyes told just how eagerly he'd look for an excuse.