It was a long journey, which was to be expected, considering it was a straight shot through the eight worlds. Or at least, it felt like a long time, with nothing but darkness around him. The exhilaration soon wore off and he impatiently swished his tail as he travelled, with Jarrod and Ishmael clearly much further ahead.

But thankfully, he soon spotted the light at the end of the tunnel, and expertly shot out of the pipe, doing a few front flips and landing perfectly on his feet.

"Show offs, the lot of ya." Jarrod turned his back to the prince, brushing dirt from his cloak. The dragon-koopa couldn't help but smirk at the obvious indentations on the ground that indicated a faceplant, and a painful one at that.

Junior took a moment to look around as the pipe sunk back into the earth. They were at the top of a dirt-covered hill, and overlooking the town of Darkville, a small locale where Troop members and their families lived – with a few additional, regular Darklanders sprinkled here and there.

It was a lot brighter here than in the Mushroom Kingdom, the normally thick, grey clouds replaced by dirty, light brown ones. He could see a few Goombas and Koopa Troopas milling about, and everything was seemingly normal. The wooden shacks the townsfolk called homes weren't ravaged by fire, like the ones in Toad Town, and at least looked to be somewhat functional.

The three of them made their way towards the village. The wide main street was made of dirt packed down by hundreds of thousands of feet over decades of travelling. He had only been here once before, with some of his brothers, and remembered the bustling atmosphere, the vendors selling wares, the Koopa confidence and camaraderie.

None of that was here now. It was replaced by timidity and quietness, nervous glances over their shoulders, and sticking close to the buildings in case something bad should happen. He earned quite a few glances as they entered the town, walking down the centre of the street, but most of them were either pity or nervousness. Junior couldn't tell what exactly was going on, but one thing was for certain.

It. Was. HOT.

The heat was incredible, even by Dragon-Koopa standards, and he automatically moved to pull his bandana outwards to give his neck a little bit more breathing room.

"Man… what is with this heat? It's never even this hot near the lava rivers!"

"Fireboy directed tons of lava under the town and towards his home base. It's basically like livin' on a volcano. But you get used to it."

"Okay, seriously, what is going on? And who's this 'Fireboy' you keep yacking about?"

As expected, no reply. He followed them into a dark alley, going through so many twists and turns he easily lost his way. He was really getting sick of the same song and dance, and held his ground near an open manhole.

"Hey! I ASKED you a question!"

Jarrod motioned for him to be quiet, and responded in a hushed whisper. "We're gonna let the boss explain, keep your scarf on!"

He let out a moan of frustration as Ishmael took the lead and descended into the depths.

Jarrod looked around a corner to make sure they hadn't been followed. "Hurry up, kid, before the fuzz finds us!"

"No! I'm done with not knowing anything!"

"That's where we're taking you!"

"I don't care! You can say it right here!"

"There's no time for this!"

"Then you better talk fast because I'm not-" He was cut off as Jarrod pulled him close to the corner and smacked a hand over the prince's mouth. Junior was about ready to chomp down on the white glove in indignation when he heard the sound of slithering and the crackling of fire coming from around the bend.

"Watchdogs. Lookin' for the base… Get in the manhole or we're both toast. Literally."

The panic in his voice lead to no argument, and Junior finally conceded, following after Ishmael, with Jarrod close behind.

He slid the manhole cover back over the entrance. Junior heard a faint scrapping sound, and all overhead light was eliminated. Only sparse, red emergency lights lit the way, just barely. No one spoke until they reached the bottom of the grime-covered ladder.

Jarrod rubbed the back of his hood. "Sorry, BJ, but we had to scram. You'll thank me later."

Ishmael led them down a long hallway, a string of lights guiding their way to a small door, and performed a very complicated series of knocks on the surface.

There was a pause, followed by a click.

"Enter."

And enter they did, the door swinging shut and locking behind them.

The room was dark and fairly small, the only light coming from a few monitors behind a wooden desk. Each of them was divided into nine smaller fragments, with various scenes playing out.

The monitors then folded back into the wall and some light bulbs switched on, revealing a large, tattered office chair turned away from the trio. A strikingly familiar tuft of blue hair peeked out from behind the black leather, and Junior blinked in confusion.

What was going on?!

Jarrod was the first to move, pulling off his hood to reveal a blue bandit's face. A sparkle of gold hung below the mask, but Junior was unable to make out what it was. He had an easygoing expression on his face and a thick pair of purple and black headphones pressed against his bandit's hood.

Ishmael followed suit, and Junior had to do a double take. Large, yellow hands that resembled his own slipped out from under the cloak and pulled his hood back, revealing a dragon-koopa's face. Ishmael's cloak slid back into his shell as he moved and Junior was able to fully see the mass of this unknown Koopa. His hair was a lighter shade of blue that got darker at the roots, and had brownish blue highlights running the length of it. It was slicked into a forward Mohawk – similar to Lemmy's hairstyle but taller and without the multiple colours and fragments. There was a brown star birthmark on the right side of his green face, a sharp contrast to his bright, blue-gray eyes, and four fangs poked out of his standard-shaped mouth, resembling Iggy's in a way. His shell was a familiar shade of light blue with brown shell rings surrounding his many spikes. The tip of his tail had four spikes jutting out around it in a ring. Unlike his father, he had more of a humanoid appearance; the shell was simply placed on his back, almost like an afterthought. He also seemed to be well-built, as though he trained even more intensely than Roy.

Now that was a scary thought…

But the most notable thing about him was the large mass of spiked cuffs he wore: Four on each arm, two on each leg, one around his neck, and three on his tail. His longer limbs probably assisted in him being able to wear so many, and Junior couldn't help but take a small step back. This guy looks like he could seriously mess some plumbers up if he wanted to… I just hope he's on our side!

The two of them looked expectantly to the person sitting in the chair… who didn't turn around, initially.

"I must be honest… I didn't expect to see you, of all Koopas, after all this time. We all thought you were gone for good."

He didn't quite recognize the voice, but there was still a familiar hitch to it…

"You're the boss, then?"

"That I am."

"Then can you PLEASE tell me what's going on?!" Junior practically shouted.

"I see your impatience hasn't changed, though you must truly be frustrated to be willing to use your manners for once. Very well. I can understand your confusion." And then the boss turned around. "And I can only assume that this will add to it."

Junior was floored. With everything that had happened, this was the last thing he expected.

Sitting before him, hands calmly folded against his plastron, a serious look on his face, was none other than Larry Koopa in Bowser form. Same eyes, same hair, but with an adult's body and clear signs of aging and fatigue evident on his face.

"L… LARRY?!"

XXXXXXX

Aaaaand the last chapter of today! If you want to see what Ishmael looks like, I'll be posting his bio in a few hours on my deviantart page - same username, so no need to worry about that! I hope you enjoyed these latest chapters, and brace yourselves - things are about to get INTENSE! Thanks for reading!