Underneath the charred remains of the Golden Koopa were a long stretch of underground tunnels, surrounded by warp pipes and lesser creatures that turned away at the presence of a large company that traversed them. At the front of the company was Bowser Jr, using every bit of his inherited authority as he could. Behind him, his older siblings Wendy O. and Morton Koopa Jr. could only watch and shake their heads at the nearly pathetic display of power. Behind them was a large group of people that had also escaped the collapse of the restaurant. Most were quiet in awe of the royal family and in light of what occurred, although some murmured to themselves as they continued forward.

"Do you have any idea where were going?" asked Wendy, sounding a tad impatient.

"Of course!" boasted Junior with his trademark grin. "When I was made heir to the kingdom, Bowser showed the entire underground blueprints for this area. There is a way out of here, a warp pipe ahead that will take us to the surface and we can be rescued by my troops there."

"That's all nice and lovely." muttered Morton to himself, seemingly bothered by other things. "That still doesn't change the fact--"

"Yes, you've said this a gazillion times already." interrupted Wendy. "Kylie was not with us when we went down this track. She must have turned a corner somewhere. I'm more worried about Lemmy who crashed through that window back there and fell like, 5 stories."

Morton shrugged. "He's the best acrobat in the family, he probably jumped off the chandelier on his way down. I wouldn't worry about him." Morton was silent for a moment. "You know, she was originally on Mario's side. That was always in the back of my mind, but hey, I was hoping. But it looks like her true colors are finally shining."

"What, that she ditched you? That isn't the first time. It's more like the 300th time."

"Shut up! It's not like I had much of a choice anyway."

"Hm?"

"It was just...convenient. That's how it worked out."

"Do I even want to know what's going on?" Junior blurted out.

"Not really, since this has nothing to do with you." said Morton.

"A typical response from one of my block-headed brothers." muttered Junior. He turned around another corner and the surrounding light started to slowly grow brighter.

"At least I don't fuck porn stars, but hey, whatever floats your boat."

"Hey! You're the one to tricked me into this bullshit, buddy. I wouldn't start complaining now because I can just stop right here and make you wish never said a damn thing to me! Fucking black skin doesn't even have the right-"

He never finished as Morton quickly punched him square in the face, sending Junior flying across the floor. "Keep your mouth shut you little prick or you wont see daylight ever again."

Wendy quickly zapped Morton with her wand. "Hey, let's do the fighting outside when we're NOT lost!"

Junior reluctantly got up and threw a glare at Morton before heading off on his own again, with the rest following.

"Well anyway," muttered Morton, "Before that bullshit occurred, I was talking about how Kylie came to me. You apparently haven't heard anything. Aren't you the official gossip lady?"

"Well, yeah. I pretty much know what's going on with who's going out with who. Some people are just too much to themselves though."

"I'll just say this. She was given to me."

"Given?"

"Yeah. It's not like this was supposed to be some arranged marriage or something. But I was told that she wouldn't be with me forever anyways. I was also told to keep all of this a secret, so that's all you're going to know."

Wendy rolled her eyes. "So basically, you and Kylie was all show?"

"...pretty much. If she found was she was supposed to find, then she's not coming back."

"Find what?" asked Wendy, but Morton said nothing as the trio entered what seemed to be a large room with a yellow warp pipe in the center.

"This is it." said Junior. "This leads to the outskirts of the restaurant, about a mile away or so."

Morton fleshed out his cell phone. "I'm going give him a little message." Punching in several digits, he sent off the message with a beep. "Alright. Knowing Roy, he'll be here in about 10 minutes."

"Wonderful." muttered a sarcastic Junior. If there was one person he could not stand more than Morton, it was Roy Koopa. There was a moment of silence.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" blurted an impatient Wendy. She quickly jumped onto the pipe and warped out of the room. Seconds later, she found herself underneath a dark starry sky in what appeared to be nothing but dry flatland's with a great smoldering ruin not far off in one direction.

"Yup, this is the spot!" explained Junior, coming out the warp pipe. "It's only a matter of time before I'm back at the castle again!"

As Morton exited the warp pipe followed by a large number of people, Wendy felt her cell phone vibrate. She opened it and was rather surprised to see that it was a text message from Kylie Koopa.

"Hey Wendy. You probably noticed that I went away. It was fun while it lasted, but I have a different path to take. I know you can figure all of this out. Good luck in the future. 3 Kylie"

Wendy quickly looked at Morton then back at her phone again. It was becoming apparent that Morton was not lying in his confession from earlier. Indeed, their relationship seemed to be nothing more than a coverup for something even greater. The problem was, Wendy didn't know who Kylie was with before all of this.

"Why didn't I ask her?" she asked herself. "Oh wait...I did."

"What are you mumbling about?" asked Morton.

"Nothing. But, you were right about Kylie. She's not coming back."

Morton looked the other way. "Yeah." was all he could conjure up.

A few moments later, a large ship was seen quickly approaching their location. The flag was purple with an imprint of Roy's head in the center.

"Here comes the world's biggest asshole." muttered Junior under his breath. The ship slowed and hovered above the group, blowing huge gusts of air in their direction. Eventually, a door opened on its side and a ramp was lowered.

"Bowser Junior!" said one guard on the top of the ramp, saluting him. "Wendy O., Morton Jr.! Roy has arrived to rescue you and the party! Please step aboard!"

One by one the Koopalings walked up the ramp, watching their step as the wind of the desert tried its part in returning all to the sand. As Wendy approached the inner cabin of the ship, she couldn't help but look back and wonder if Kylie's disappearance was in any related to Larry's speech from earlier. "I wonder..." she said aloud before she entered the interior bowels of the doomship.

Iggy Koopa awoke with a groan. He was met with the endless starry expanse that he saw before darkness overtook him. A part of him wished he was still dreaming that none of this was real. He felt like going back to sleep and never waking up again. A pleasant as that was, he knew the reality. It was just the simple fact on his mind that he was living within a living dream.

Mental debates aside, he pushed aside his apathy as well as the covers to rise out of bed. He sleepily walked over to the mirror and stared at what the pillows did to his hair that night. They seemed to have a pretty interesting hair styling technique as all of Iggy's hair was curved to the right. Smirking to himself at the sight, Iggy looked about the room for the remedy to his unfortunate debacle, and saw a potential solution in the way of a open door on the other side of the room. He missed it the night before in his walk of over-tiredness. A shower adjacent to his room was very convenient indeed.

But before he walked inside, he noticed a blinking inside of his shell. Reaching into it, he took out his PDA. Iggy looked at the screen, which displayed a new message icon. He opened it to find 3 new messages. He played the first one.

"Hello, this is Luigi. Don't worry, I have no problems with you right now. Actually, I'm calling about the letter I sent to your mailbox. I'm not sure you had the chance to look through it yet considering you've just arrived, but I'll be hosted a meeting about survival during the pole shift. I'm not sure you would be interested in participating or not, but what we do is pick the best leaders in our group and set up survival shelters on the planet's surface. I understand your younger brother Larry has something he's been cooking up for a while now and he's supposed to give many of the details in the next meeting. Well, if you are interested in attending or starting a shelter of your own, then feel free to drop by our meeting room in M69-2635. I look forward to seeing you there! Goodbye!"

"Survival shelter, huh?" Iggy was certainly interested in the idea, but he wasn't too keen on leading a large group of people. He preferred to work alone. Then again, an idea had been rolling around in Iggy's brain for some time now. Perhaps that place could be used as a shelter after all. Iggy skipped to the next message.

"Iggy, call me."

"Penny?" The message ended as soon as it started. "That was weird." He decided to call her back when he was more awake. He skipped to the third message.

"Hello Ignatius, please call me when you are prepared for the second half of the orientation. The council has convened and will remain so for another 2 hours until dinner. It would be disgraceful to have you show up late."

"Blah blah blah..." Iggy muttered to himself. He looked at the time on the PDA and realized that he had slept nearly 14 hours and that it was already late afternoon. Iggy wondered how often he would be able to do that.

Putting his PDA back into his shell, Iggy wandered over to the room he did not see the other night. Walking through the door frame, Iggy saw that it was indeed a shower, a very luxurious one at that. The room was covered in black marble from head to toe, with with a large glass bowl on the right serving as his sink. Various towels were hung up on the left wall to accommodate the more fascinating sight in front of him, something he had dreamed about for some time.

Iggy walked forward to the main shower and looked at it with a sheepishly tired grin. A rectangle hole was cut into the wall just below the ceiling, with several knobs and levers below this. Closing the glass door behind him, he twisted one of the levers and received exactly what he expected: a waterfall torrent that splashed onto his head, immediately destroying his pillow's wonderful hairstyle.

"Ahhh..." Iggy grunted, finally happy to feel something so relaxing. To say that his adventure stressed him out was an understatement. He had been holding out for as long as he could for any kind of relief, whether it be alcohol, a hot tub or perhaps a nice hot waterfall. How the architects of his room even knew of his desire to have one, Iggy did not know. But it didn't really concern him.

Iggy grabbed a bottle of shampoo and lathered his hair with it as a million thoughts and worries flushed out of his mind. There was something nagging at him though. It has been nagging him for many years, or so it felt. Always there on the side and never obvious, but one can feel its presence when noticed. But a thought interrupted his mind.

"Thank you, I appreciate it."

"Hm? I thought I was over that." Iggy thought aloud. He knew that denial was at work on both sides. If he really wanted to, he could probably pursue it. After all, his very father Bowser was undeniably caught in a very dangerous game with Princess Toadstool. But Iggy was no Princess snatcher, nor was he very much of a romantic. At least he thought so.

"Or you just suck." he muttered to himself, washing the shampoo from his head. That was probably true in some ways. Even if they were to get together, how long would it be before some argument would break it up? They argued constantly over the tiniest issues imaginable, which Iggy now realized held very little merit in the future. If he could some stem them from continuing, then perhaps things could look up.

"Perhaps..." Iggy grabbed the soap from a notch in the wall. It was even the right brand. Everything that he wanted was falling into place, even those things that seemed impossible to grasp from before. Everything seemed to be rotating the opposite direction now. Iggy wondered if he would be oppressing too many people with his new found position.

That made him remember something Ludwig told him. The Galaxy was supposedly an entire culture unto itself with no rules, restrictions, biases, racism or prejudice. Iggy knew that was not only influenced by Bowser and Peach, but also that with the current atmosphere of doom and gloom and the civilization of the world reaching its end, the idea of being able to do anything that was imaginable was a very nice prospect. Realizing this fact alone bothered Iggy greatly for many reasons. Most of it was personal. He could still deny it from before, but...

"It's not going to go away." he muttered to himself. With the freedom that he now had, he knew it was best to try to resolve this as soon as he possibly could. He and Penny had been friends for many years, ever since the founding of the Inventor's Board. He knew he was terrible with relationships and despised people in general. But the nagging in his heart wouldn't leave him alone. He needed to fix it.

Turning off the facet to the waterfall, he opened the glass door and grabbed a towel to dry his hair. There was many things he always wanted to do in life. He wanted his own laboratory, which had now occurred when he arrived at the Galaxy. He wanted to be a pioneer in genetics and unlock the hidden abilities he knew lay dormant within the Koopa DNA. He had somewhat of a desire to open a geneticist shop as ordering everything on the Internet was not the fastest option. Looking at himself in the mirror, he knew there were other things he refused to bring to his conscious mind. They could wait for a while. He already brought one heart-aching issue to light and that was enough for one day.

After taking some mouthwash and spitting into the sink, he made his way out of the bathroom and back toward the other side of his room to see what was in the big black and spiky dresser that was underneath his mirror. Sure enough, his favorite pair of boxers lay within, all 20 duplicates of them. He put one on and crawled into his shell that he left on the floor the night previous. He stood up and felt the blood rush through his legs. He had no idea how long he'd been asleep, but for once, it didn't seem to matter him. He felt like he deserved it.

He grabbed his trademark glasses from the bureau next to his bed and put them on. "I'm hungry." he said to himself. Deciding to indulge his stomach, he walked to the giant set of tinted glass doors, which opened automatically. He walked down through the open living room to the table at the opposite end of the room, where he had previously left the instructions to his apartment. But he then remembered Ludwig's message from earlier. Taking out his PDA, he navigated back to the message and hit the reply button on the keypad.

"Yes Ignatius, thank you for responding. I hope you rested well."

"Hi Ludwig." said Iggy. "You said something about the next part of my induction."

"The council was notified that you were prepared to undergo the 2nd half of your initiation. Although I will admit, it could have been a little more timely."

"Larry didn't say a thing to me about being exactly on time, so blame him."

There was a sigh on the other end. "Very well then. We shall now begin the orientation."

"Can I at least have something to eat first? I'm starving." complained Iggy.

"You will during the ceremony. Now, I recommend not moving any part of your posterior for the next several seconds..."

"Why?" As soon as Iggy said this, he found himself surrounded in a bright blue light that completely blocked his field of vision. When the light dimmed down, he no longer found himself in his room, but in a much, much larger room than before. Surrounding him were many people, as if he were the star of a major performance within a stadium. The lower rows were filled with people largely cram packed together, seemingly the lesser denizens of the Galaxy vying to see the next inductee into their club. The upper levels were much different. Surrounded by various lights encircling the stadium, these levels housed many of the more important members of the planet who now turned their attention to the Koopaling in silence. Iggy immediately identified Wario on the highest level, surrounded by many plates of food and scantly clad servants all under the banner of the great W. He snickered to himself, as if Iggy was expected.

"This is pretty good." said Wario, finally breaking the still silence as he cut into his large plate of chicken parmesan. A servant said something in his ear. "Made by Torte? I wouldn't trust a mushroom chef out of my ass, heh, but I need to give it to him. Say, you hungry?" He pointed his fork at Iggy. Many other faces turned to the Koopaling awaiting a response.

"Considering I haven't eaten a complete meal since my own adventure began, that would be...appreciated."

"Heh heh..." Wario chuckled to himself. The others murmured amongst themselves.

"Tell me, what's your favorite?" said a voice. Iggy turned to the Bowser section to find that it came from Mouser. "You can get anything here."

Iggy thought to himself. "I haven't looked at all the shops yet-"

"Trust me buddy, when I say anything, I mean anything. You can have anything you want."

"I'll just have my usual then." said Iggy. "A pepperoni, bacon and prosciutto pizza."

It was quiet once again for a moment. Iggy was finally able to see Bowser, sitting underneath a massive flag to the Koopa Kingdom, featuring the trademark red Bowser head. With his arms crossed and a growing frown, he seemed frustrated. Iggy had the feeling that things may be pretty now, but they could get ugly very soon. At length, Bowser nodded and almost instantly, a table was raised in front of him with the pizza laying there, along with a glass of water.

"Please sit." said Ludwig Von Koopa, sitting to Bowser's right. Iggy found a large chair behind and promptly sat upon it. As soon as he did, 7 glowing star crystals suddenly floated up from below, encircling his position. They spun around rapidly until a large noise was heard. Iggy saw that he was entrapped within some type of barrier.

"Of course, we fear for our own survival." said Dr. Crygor with his feet propped up.

"It's not much use to trust someone who has selfish intentions. You never know when they will backstab us." said E. Gadd, leaning back in his chair.

"Please excuse the necessary precautions." said Kamek.

"Excused." said Iggy, taking a slice of pizza. "I'm sure many have gone insane knowing what is coming."

There was much talk and murmur after his statement. Iggy realized that he was going to have to watch what he said from that point forward.

"E. Gadd will be our interrogator. He has been voted by the council as the most neutral for this orientation." With this, E. Gadd stood up and floated out of his seat under a special levitating platform. A chair was raised across from Iggy, to which E. Gadd landed upon and sat down.

"Welcome to the Galaxy, Iggy. Hoho." said E. Gadd. "I'm sure you've heard that phrase many a time by now. This is the second half of your orientation. We will be testing you to see if you truly qualify as a member of the Galaxy. Let us begin."

He rubbed his eyes. After an hour of questions, the Council called a half hour recess. Iggy was thankful; the questions were a little more than irritating on his ego. He knew that they were testing his integrity. But he honestly wondered if he deserved such treatment.

"I don't deserve any of this crap." muttered Iggy to himself. Seated in a cafe just outside the council hall, he stared out a window at the endless expanse of stars before him. He wished he could go back home and tell the rest of his siblings what was really going on. He wondered if Larry felt the same way. Knowing him, he would've attempted to do something about rather than sit on his hands.

Iggy suddenly remembered Penny's call. He grabbed his PDA and looked for her number in his contact list.

"Hello. Are you busy?"

Iggy looked up and to his surprise, found Mario next to him with a questionable look. Iggy looked back at his PDA. "Not yet." he quietly said, putting it away. Mario sat down on his chair across from him before ushering over one of the waiters.

"Yes, a bowl of meatballs please." said Mario. The waiter simply nodded and walked off after giving Mario a glass of water. Iggy looked back out the window. He didn't like the prospect of Mario coming to see him personally. He was probably going to express his hatred for the family, as per the usual.

Mario drank from his glass. "I was wrong about you guys. The spawn of Bowser."

"The spawn of Bowser, huh?" Iggy smirked, but did not meet Mario's gaze.

"I figured you were all the same." continued Mario. "Being the same blood of that tyrant. You and the rest always followed his orders, so I figured they must be up to no good again."

"I never follow his orders." said Iggy, eying Mario. "And I never will again."

"That's what I heard from your responses. But what if he decides to imprison you for not following him? What will you do then?"

Iggy snorted. "He can try, but I don't think the council would agree to something so illogical, especially if they're serious about neutrality."

Mario scratched his chin. The waiter returned with a fairly large bowl of meatballs drenched in marinara sauce as well as a mixed drink. "Thank you very much." said Mario and the waiter walked off. Mario wasted no time and dug into the meatballs like a coin digger. Iggy continued to stare out the window, lost in thought.

At length, Mario looked up. "If you became a member, what would you do?"

Finally, Iggy ripped himself away from the window and looked at Mario. "It's not a matter of what I want to do, as to what I should be doing."

"Oh? What do you want to do?"

"Probably the same as everyone else. Tell the world what's going on."

"You know, I tried that once." Mario said, wiping his face with a napkin. "That was before the Galaxy was formed. Merlin the wizard found it one day while he was giving a reading for me. I knew I had to tell the princess this, but when I told her, she wouldn't believe it. Mama mia. None of her servants did, either. Even when I showed her a picture of it, she found it hard to believe. It was not until the Galaxy was built and she came up here herself that she believed it.

Well, here's my point. Even if everyone deserves to know what's happening, that doesn't mean they'll believe what's happening. Do you follow?"

"I suppose." muttered the Koopaling.

"Someone will deny anything that goes against their perfect world. You can't force them to believe something they do not want to believe." Mario ate another meatball in one bite. "Like right now. No one wants to believe that, but that's the way it is. So, knowing that, what should you be doing?"

Iggy was silent for a moment. "Starting a survival group of some kind. We're not going to be up here forever."

"You're right." Mario ate another meatball. "Well, I can definitely say you're getting into the Galaxy."

"Oh, so you do rig the outcome?" asked Iggy.

"No, it's a simple fact. The thing that's most important is how each new member can contribute to the Galaxy. Do they have knowledge others can use? A specific set of skills? If they can be useful in this society and show selfless integrity, then there's a good chance of being accepted. It's the selfish people that have a harder time. Your idea of a survival group may not be new, but it shows selflessness which is valued here."

Iggy was silent.

"Well, we better head back to last half of your interrogation." Mario stood up. "It should not be as bad as the first half with Bowser drilling you for answers. It'll be a more even playing field this time."

"That's good." said Iggy nonchalantly, standing up and following Mario back to the council hall.

The council hall doors opened and a multitude of people flowed forth, conversing amongst each other.

"Are you sure you don't to be beamed back to your room?" came a voice.

Iggy turned and faced the mushroom. "No thanks, Toad. I need to get some air."

"Okay." said Toad, smiling. "Congratulations on your new Galaxy membership."

Iggy looked at him for a moment. "Thank you. I wouldn't be here without you."

Toad shrugged. "I guess that's the way things worked out."

"Yeah."

Turning away, Iggy walked down a massive set of stairs that led to the council courtyard. He had no idea where he was after being beamed to the council chamber earlier. It didn't really matter to him at that moment. He pushed open the double doors to the council chamber and turned right. From his orientation, it became clear to him that many of the people he knew had changed dramatically thanks to the Galaxy. They seemed careless when they should be planning their next moves to survive. The Galaxy was within orbit, yes, but who knows how long it would stay there? Technology was a fragile thing, its so-called strength often times an illusion. Ironically, survival was better on the surface in Iggy's opinion.

Iggy turned another corner and walked into an escalator heading down from the very top of the Galaxy. Luigi's suggestion of a survival group kept propping up in his mind. Iggy's idea for a location was excellent and the best he could think of, but it was a bit inaccessible at the moment. Thoughts of various pieces of machinery clouded his mind, trying to think of the best ways to uncover the behemoth in a short period of time. More than likely, he needed to design most of the excavation machines himself. Perhaps he could create a construction company for this purpose?

With these thoughts in mind, Iggy got off the escalator and walked in another random direction, creating a new future for himself. It became evident that he was going to need a notebook to jot the engine design that was now forming in his mind. Reaching for his PDA, he tried out the find feature by punching in the word "notebook." The screen flashed and the closest store was seen, only around the corner. He quickly darted into it and gained a planning pad and a pencil, scanned his PDA for the cashier, then walked quickly out the store.

He kept walking until it became evident that he had walked from the Koopa column into the Yoshi column. Lush trees dotted the walls with vines and other leafy things covered everything else, practically making it an artificial jungle. Different colored Yoshi's were mostly seen, with some Koopa's and Toad's roaming about. Many of them seemed to enjoy eating red fruit off some of the trees while talking to each other. One of the shops was a Yoshi grill, where a cook used unhatched Yoshi eggs to make omelets.

But Iggy kept walking, not interested. An idea of a molecularizer ran across his mind and he tried to find the best way to power it. Solar? Perhaps, but the power may not be enough to support the torque it would have to go through. He could lower the height of the machine, but that would reduce production output. Batteries would be nice if he wasn't working in the middle of nowhere where infrastructure was too thin.

He tried to think of a solution, but found his thoughts were cut off by what sounded like tribal music. He looked ahead and saw a parade of Yoshi's marching towards him. He darted to the side and watched as they slowly marched past him. The larger Yoshi's were beating upon war drums while the smaller Yoshi children were all blowing through kazoo's. Iggy thought it almost sounded ridiculous. He did admire the banner they hoisted, which showed two dots surrounded by a long oval line, one of the ancient symbols of the Great Destroyer.

Iggy continued to walk along, moving past the parade. "Didn't even let me eat a slice," he muttered to himself. The council's questioning was ruthless and unrelenting to the extent that he didn't have much of the pizza in the end. He felt like eating somewhere to finish his appetite. He saw ahead of him a nice looking restaurant, filled with plants and waterfalls. He wondered how much of the menu was vegetarian.

Walking to the front of the restaurant, he looked at the sign posted at the front. Most of it was berry specials.

"Your family really hates you."

Iggy turned around and saw that it was Penny Crygor. "Yeah? Most of my siblings don't care what I do. Bowser is the one who hates my guts. You went to orientation?"

Penny nodded. "Bowser wouldn't stop asking questions about how I got into the Galaxy. What did you tell him about that?"

Iggy smirked. "That it was my business and not his. The whole chamber went into an uproar." He walked inside the restaurant. "How did you find me?"

"There's a people finder on it you can use after you add someone to your contact list."

"Oh." Iggy walked up to one of the Yoshi's. "Yeah, table for two please."

"Yoshi!" it said, walking around the corner. The two followed it until it stopped next to a table, which was near the edge of a large circular waterfall, falling into a pool below. It made funny Yoshi noises as it gave Iggy and Penny the menus. After the two sat down, it bowed before them in service.

"Yoshi yoshi yoshi." said Iggy, almost humorously. The Yoshi nodded and walked away.

"Were you actually talking to them in their language?" asked Penny.

"No."

"That's mean." She opened her menu and scanned the pages.

"Actually, not really. To completely understand their one worded grunt language, one must understand how even slight variations in the pitch and tones of the word Yoshi can mean completely different things. I don't have the time or the patience for that." He put his notebook down and glanced through the menu.

Penny glanced at it. "But you have the patience to invent whatever it is you're inventing right now."

"That's far more important." He closed the menu and began to make a sketch. "It's for a survival group Luigi invited me to."

"You got that too? I've been trying to think of a good spot that hasn't been taken yet, but can only think of one place."

"Oh?" mused Iggy. "Where would that be?"

"Why would I tell an idea stealer?"

Iggy rolled his eyes. "I did not steal your engine design. But anyway, I can guarantee you, my location is one of the best places in the world for a pole shift shelter. Well, if I can get to it that is." He completed several sets of squares and rectangles on his notepad. "I can think of one other place, but Ludwig is probably hoarding that one."

Penny frowned. "...better than the temple of Inauro?"

"Yes, I was there actually, past and present. It has a good underground capacity for several thousand people, but once the entrance is sealed off, there's no way out of there. It becomes a tomb."

"I know that! I was thinking about making two more exits..."

"Yoshi!" said another yoshi, walking over to the two.

"I think we need to order." Penny looked at her menu again. "I'll have the red berry salad. Oh, and a bowl of guarana juice." The Yoshi made several noises in response.

Iggy tapped the pencil on his notepad. "A Caesar salad, scrambled yoshi egg pizza, a glass of pineapple and coconut juice and another glass of spiced rum on the rocks."

The yoshi slowly nodded before making another grunt and heading off. Iggy scribbled a set of random numbers in the corner and drew an arrow to an empty space on the page, circling the area south of the complex of squares.

"Best if I help you with that." said Iggy.

"Why? I can just get my grandad to make something."

"Because your survival site is in the middle of a huge complex that I'll be digging up. That entire area is almost entirely buried under sand. I knew something was there the whole time, but getting the funding to dig it all up was a problem."

"I thought the temple of Inauro and the surrounding ruin were the only things there."

Iggy shook his head. "For a long time, the tomb of Marthos, 'The Hammer' he was called, has eluded me. He was one of the legendary kings, the kings thought to exist only as a myth and not in reality. Despite that, I kept looking. I sent a high frequency wave across portions of the desert, hoping to get a counter signal of some kind. Most of the complex was said to be encased entirely in titanium, so such a signal would most definitely bounce back. But the desert is a huge place and it wasn't until recently that I stumbled onto something." He tapped his finger in the circle. "That was the first signal bounce and it's been bouncing ever since. Another strong signal appeared just north of the complex." He drew another circle.

"Iggy, why didn't this get published?" said Penny. "If the existence of one of those can be proven, then it means the early history of the Koopa's aren't just a mere legend."

"Lack of funding failed to show any results to prove my point," explained Iggy. "That was thanks to that tyrant's lasting hatred of me. The whole project got shelved as a result and we all continued with our lives. I ended up forgetting about it. The dig would have been more costly than the dig at Birabuto."

"With the Galaxy, you have more than enough to dig this up now."

"Exactly." Iggy glared at Penny. "That's why this must never go public. If Bowser finds out about a shelter far better than his small-minded plans, then I'm done for. Not everyone can be allowed into these places."

Penny sighed.

"I want a group that I can trust. The idea of saving everybody is grand and all that, but if one person can destroy all of it through greed, pride or whatnot, then the whole thing is a failure in the end."

The Yoshi brought the previously ordered drinks for the two, then quickly walked off. Iggy sipped his pineapple and coconut drink and leaned back. "Ahh, this always tastes good."

"Okay," Penny began, "So basically, your survival site is a complex that's mostly underground, but that includes the temple of Inauro, right?"

"Pretty much," said Iggy. "I mean, you can still keep your site, if you want. It's not a big deal to me."

Penny did not reply. She stared at the raging waterfall in front of her, lost in thought. Iggy made a face then went back to his notebook with an idea he just had. "28Hz..." he muttered to himself. That was the frequency which was shot at the south side of the complex. What still puzzled him was that at the time, the complex reflected a signal of 29Hz at him in response. If anything, the bounce should have been weaker, and it was on the northern side, which reflected at a frequency of 14Hz. It made Iggy wonder what the thing was really made of.

Iggy drank from his glass of spiced rum. He had a hard time remembering, but he also recalled that the 29Hz was also not composed of the same wave matter that was sent there. "I don't think I figured that out..." he muttered to himself. He scribbled a note to himself to figure out that dilemma later.

"So, you didn't steal my design.." Penny asked suddenly.

Iggy almost laughed. "You weren't listening, were you? You want me to draw a copy of my design so you'll finally be convinced?"

"Well, no--"

"Then I'll just briefly explain the differences. The hydrogen injectors are a completely different design. Mine is a bottle-nose while yours is more of a straightedge. You also use about 20% more hydrogen than I do, but my recycling system which turns it into a liquid and back is more efficient. There's also the basic differences in shell construction, such as me using Cadmium while you use Aluminum. But here's the biggest difference. Mine doesn't work at all."

She laughed. "Neither does mine." Iggy chuckled with her for a moment. But Penny had to wipe tears from her eyes. "Sorry."

Iggy frowned. He took a sip from his pineapple and coconut juice and tried to calm himself. "It was the whole 'all Koopa's are evil' thing, I know. It would be nice for people to get over that one day."

Penny did not reply. She tried to recompose herself amid sniffles. Iggy looked over at the waterfall in silence, its relaxing ambiance helping him concentrate. It was certainly possible, but...

"You know," Penny started, sitting back up in her seat, "You know I didn't mean all of that."

Iggy smiled. "Yeah. Don't worry, I'm used to it. We had it beat into us when we were kids thanks to Mario's rhetoric."

Penny smiled. She drank from her small bowl of guarana juice. "Good, because I'll be working with you on this."

"That makes things so much easier." Iggy said.

"You think so? I have high expectations of the temple and will probably be nitpicking you the whole time about it."

"Only if you don't agree with my own plans for it."

"Here we go again. The temple is still my site and I already know what I'm doing with it. You better have good suggestions."

"Oh, I do. And I know they will be implemented regardless."

Penny huffed. "Boy, are you overconfident."

Iggy crossed his arms with a smirk. He had a plan.

"Yoshi yoshi!" 2 Yoshi waiters arrived with their meals.

"Thanks guys, but there's been a change of plans. Could you send our entire order to my room?"

"What!?"

"Yoshi!" The Yoshi's nodded.

"I'm sure you guys have my room address."

The Yoshi's waved and walked off. Iggy stood up and stretched. He then noticed Penny staring at him.

"Oh, I figured I could show you what I had planned for the temple. Thing is, the layout for the temple is on one of my laptops. Plus, since you're surrounded by my entire complex, it'd probably be good to learn what I have in store for the area."

"Who said I'd agree to that?" argued Penny.

"I didn't." Iggy admitted. "But you could have rejected my offer just now, but you didn't. If you don't come, I guess I'll just end up eating your food at some point."

Penny made a face.

"Well, hope to see you there." And with that, Iggy walked away, leaving a very irritated Penny sitting alone. "What an asshole." She put her head in her hand and tried to calm herself down, but she found herself more and more unable to sit still. It was a sneaky move for sure, but she was interested what Iggy had in store for her project. There was also the simple fact that he had her food now. And plus...

"Give me a break..." she said to herself, finally getting up and chasing after Iggy.

After shutting the door, Roy Koopa plopped himself down upon his big leather seat and leaned back.

"I hate that punk." he muttered to himself, staring at the ceiling. In the old days when he was younger, he would've simply knocked Bowser Junior into an unconscious mess. That was before he and the rest of his siblings were forced to act a little more civil due to the coming of age. Playing politics was fun and trolling others was even better, but trolling other trolls was something he tended to stray away from.

Something bigger was on his mind. He turned on the monitor to his computer and plugged in his phone with a cable. Typing for a bit, he gained access to one of the Koopa Space Agency's satellites, designed to discover any close asteroids, or so they say. He plugged in the coordinates he had received earlier on his phone. He hesitated for a second, then pressed enter on his keyboard. Immediately, the satellite repositioned itself to his ascribed position and took a photograph. Seconds later, the result presented itself on Roy's monitor.

"No kiddin'." Why pops didn't tell him about this place was beyond him. It had to be for a good reason, or so he thought. Larry's information spooked him though. Classifying this as top secret made enough sense, but why wasn't he told about something as massive as this? That meant it couldn't be military.

Regardless, Roy knew it didn't matter. He had exposed himself to the information and he'd be collected like Larry was in short time. But he couldn't help but smile to himself. He never liked things to be that easy. With a few more keystrokes, he placed the picture and the coordinates on his phone and disconnected it from his computer. He began to write a text message on his phone. He knew how the game played, but he was stubborn. He couldn't back away from his words at the Golden Koopa, especially not now.

Simultaneously, he opened his fridge and took out a Heineken. Placing it on the counter he grabbed his bottle opener just as he finished the title of his text, "Here it is." He opened the bottle in one swift stroke and took a quick chug. "Only for da weak." he said to himself as he selected the recipients of the message, which included most of his siblings. "Only for da weak..." He clicked send and chugged down his beer. This was going to be one hell of a ride.