Disclaimer: I don't own Mario or any of its characters. Impacto belongs to deviantart's Mloun, I'm just borrowing him (with permission, mind!).

Moley Koopa- Yup, Hollow's a minor antagonist that'll only show up a couple more times whilst Crash (along with Bowser, as a given) is the main villain throughout the story. Plus, Hollow's definitely gonna have a key point further down the line, so don't be too dismissive of him! :D
Virgofox28- Lol! I was thinking of making a cliffhanger on Pip's death, but I figured that'd be too evil, even for me! XD
Jakeroo- Yayz! Thank you for giving another review! *hugs* Bowser doesn't always make sense, but also keep in mind that what Kops said was his opinion on Bowser's intention, not the actual reality (Bowser indeed has a use for Hollow, even if the deranged Dry Bones isn't aware of it) ! :D And in all seriousness though, Hollow only kills those foolish/stupid enough to enter his territory, which isn't much. Body count-wise, Mario is still a much bigger threat.
Elemental Queen- Glad you're better enough to read my story once more! Just be careful, yes? I read what happened and it sounds very unpleasant... And scary, since I'm both nearsighted AND wear glasses! *gulp* I'll definitely take your advice! Anywho...Yayz! Hollow and his story creeped you out! Awesome! Poor Pip with all his enemies, but at least he has friends to balance it all out!


Chapter 11

"Staring is rude, kid," Kops reprimanded the younger Koopa as they sat in their usual hang-out of the Lunch Room. It's been a couple of hours since the incident with Hollow and luckily, the doctors found nothing seriously wrong with the youngster. The bruises on his neck will fade with time and the claw-marks left only needed minor treatment. No real brain or tissue damage from the lack of air and circulation was found, though they emphasized that if he had stayed dead for any longer, it would've been a completely different story. It was a huge relief for everyone involved.

It was very obvious that Kops felt guilty about the whole thing, and why wouldn't he? He had so foolishly assured the Paratroopa that he wouldn't lead him into a deathtrap, and that's exactly what happened. As soon as the Shy Guys gave them the okay to leave, the Koopa Troopa had insisted that Pip rest for the remainder of the day. However, the youngster refused fervently, informing Kops that he'd rather enjoy his first day off despite the major set-back. No doubt his deathly experience have given him a new thirst for living life and what better way to show that than by eating twice his weight in his favorite food: waffles. With extra sugary syrup!

Recently though, Pip has spent the last moment or two watching Rattles with great attention and intent, the Dry Bones staring back calmly. Hearing Kops speak out about it, Pip snapped out of the unofficial staring contest before explaining himself.

"Sorry. I was just wondering something..." he told them, earning a head tilt from Rattles and a curious look from Kops. Deciding to elaborate further, he asked the first of his questions. "Like, why do Dry Bones have teeth? We don't have teeth."

Both Kops and Rattles chuckled before the Koopa Troopa answered with his own question. "Didn't you take Biology in your school?"

"Yeah, but I mostly spent it sleeping." Pip answered honestly before adding emphasis on one point. "Don't get me wrong! I've seen pictures and models of our skeletons, but I never really thought much about the teeth before."

"Well, first of all, it's not teeth." Kops informed him. "It used to be teeth, like a loooong time ago, but now it serves a different function. They're anchors for extra muscle attachments within our cheeks. You know, to make our bite stronger."

"Oh..." Pip nodded in understanding before quickly moving on to his next question. "And why do Dry Bones wear gloves? Or shoes for that matter..."

"Well, fingers and toes are pretty fragile even in life. Now imagine it without the protective skin and flesh." Kops told him, Rattles nodding in confirmation. Before Pip could confirm his comprehension or question it some more, Pyro and Inferno arrived at the table with their trays and drinks at hand.

"Hey, peoples!" Pyro greeted enthusiastically, the other three Koopas greeting back as the duo sat down with them. It took not a second before the two noticed the damage on the Paratroopa's throat and Pyro was quick to voice his concern. "What happened with your neck?"

"Hollow got 'im." Kops muttered the answer. "The kid just about died before we saved him." Sighing, he shook his head as he continued. "And yet, the hard-head refuses to rest."

"That's because I'm okay now! Really!" Pip spoke up impatiently, receiving reluctant looks from the elites. He knew they had every right to be worried, but he didn't want to linger on the subject and would rather it be forgotten altogether. So, in a desperate attempt to accomplish that, he glared at them as he spoke in a firm and snappy tone. "Honestly, I just wanna forget about this whole thing, but you guys keep bringing it back up! I learned my lesson and I'm not going anywhere near that place anymore, so why worry!?"

Crossing his arms and ruffling his wings with a huff, he lowered his glare to his waffles as the others stared at him in silence. Finally, after a long moment, Rattles gave him a pat on the shoulder before Kops spoke up.

"Alright, kid. If that's what you want, we'll drop the issue."

"Thank you!" Pip piped, gathering his composure as he poked his breakfast. Calming himself down eventually, he tried to change the tone of the situation as he put on a small smile, looking to the Fire Bros. "Anyways... Can I ask you guys some questions too?"

"Of course!" Pyro responded, complying with the Paratroopa's wishes so as not to stress him out further.

"What's up, kiddo?" Inferno also asked in a gentle tone. Pip felt his smile grow before starting with the first of his curious inquiries.

"First question: where do Hammer Bros. get all their hammers?" he asked.

"Magic!" both Koopa Bros. answered in equal playfulness before Inferno gave a real answer.

"No, seriously. Magic. Just accept the fact that they can pull 'em out of thin air. It's their talent."

"But we're not Hammer Bros., so yeah, next question." Pyro prompted, actually pleased that the young Paratroopa was so curious of their kind. The Paratroopa thought for a moment before fiddling with his hands in a sudden nervousness.

"Well, this one's kinda sensitive, but..." He cleared his throat. "When one brother is lost, the other usually...well...you know..." Both Fire Bros. nodded somberly before Pip continued. "How do you survive as a species if that's the norm?"

Pyro and Inferno looked at each other before both responded. "How old are you?"

"Thirteen." Pip answered in confusion. Again the Bros. paused before Pyro gave a small smirk.

"We'll tell you when you're older."

"Hey!" Pip objected indignantly. "I'm not a fledgling! I can handle it!"

"If you say so." Pyro muttered with a shrug. "I won't get into the details and we'll keep it mature: Unlike you Paratroopas and Koopa Troopas, our kind isn't particularly monogamous. I know I've had four mates and twins with each, and Inferno too." He nodded to his brother. "When a Koopa Bro. dies, certain instincts in the remaining brother gets stronger, if you know what I mean."

Pip blushed with a nod, Inferno carrying on where his brother left off.

"And since we're hatched as identical twins, the dead sibling's exact genes will still live on in his brother. The longer the survivor lives, the more children he'll have." He shrugged. "That's all there is to it. Combined, Pyro and I have 16 kids, so we're pretty much covered if the unthinkable happens..."

"Oh...okay..." Pip muttered awkwardly. He knew asking that was a bad idea, but curiosity was a powerful thing, especially in a mind as young as his. He was just glad the two Fire Bros. didn't go into anymore detail than they did.

"Anyways!" Pyro interrupted the awkward silence, looking directly at Pip with a huge grin on his face. "You ever tried this before?" He pulled out a bright red pepper with a dented and crumpled appearance. Pip has seen many different types of peppers before, but never this one. He heard Kops give a groan beside him and he shook his head.

"No. What is it?" he asked cautiously, earning a chuckle from both Fire Bros.

"It's a ghost pepper." Pyro continued, noting the confused look on Pip's face. Ah, so the kid never heard of the stuff... The mischievous side of the elite Koopa just had to take advantage. "It's one of the sweetest peppers in the world, and I know how much you Paratroopas love the sweet stuff." He held it to the teenager, who took it carefully.

Sweet peppers wasn't strange news to him, so Pyro's words didn't seem too farfetched. Plus, he had an obvious love for food and there's no harm trying something new. Without another moment's thought, he bit off a large chunk of the pepper, much to everyone's amazement. He didn't really understand their reactions until...

Pip spat the chewed up pepper out immediately with a cry, fanning his mouth as he's never tasted anything so SPICY! Disregarding the laughter from the two Fire Bros., Pip gulped down his drink, and then stole Kops' drink as well. But the spiciness still persisted and he grabbed Pyro's drink in a frenzy. But gulping it down, he was met with a nasty surprise as the spiciness actually got worse! With a shriek, he dropped the cup and tried to spit the flavor out, coughing heavily.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"Jalapeño juice." Pyro answered like it was no big deal, thoroughly enjoying his little prank as Pip threw himself literally onto the table next to them, startling the Koopas sitting there. Without asking for any of their permissions and not even explaining why, he stole their drinks as well, chugging them down before lunging for another table.

"MY MOUTH IS ON FIRE!" he shrieked, finishing the last of their drinks before giving up, falling limp even as he slid off the edge of the table and flopped to the floor. Pawing at his mouth with desperate whimpers, he managed another yell, this one a bit more angry. "PYRO, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

And an enthusiastic "THAT WAS AWESOME!" was his only response...


"This is sooo not awesome..." Frost muttered as he leaned against the castle entrance they were to be guarding. Guard duty was never an exciting job most of the time; only when King Koopa has some plan going on will something actually happen! Now, though, they can only indulge in the bright sunny day and the sun warmed their scales as the morning heat began to build. Too bad the Ice Bros. didn't appreciate the warmth in the least bit...

"Who knows," his brother Frigid replied with a bored yawn. "Maybe Mario will pay a random visit or something."

"Doubt it..." Frost grumbled with a roll of his eyes. "That would be way too entertaining!"

"Hey, at least I'm looking on the bright side!" Frigid grinned, knowing exactly what might relieve the boredom. "And at least I'll have to upper hand this time!"

"What're you-Oof!" Frost grunted as his brother tackled him down, rolling about the ground as they both tried to subdue the other, playful growls coming from the bundle. So engrossed were they in their rough-and-tumble game that they didn't notice someone cross the wooden bridge over the lava moat. They didn't notice that same someone approach them, pausing in its tracks a few paces from the battling brothers.

"You'd think King Koopa would find better guards."

"Huh?" both siblings exclaimed in startlement, freezing (no pun intended, really!) in the middle of their scuffle, Frost having Frigid in a headlock whilst giving him a helmet noogie. Glancing over at the figure, they saw it was none other than Crash. Letting out a breath of relief, Frost tightened his headlock on his brother as emphasis for his dominant status before releasing him, turning to face the Hammer Bro.

And already it was obvious how much of a rough night the other elite Koopa had. Dirt coated his scales and undershell, and it looked like he spent a good chunk of his time crying his eyes out. Unfortunately, this was not a strange or rare sight and the two Ice Bros. felt their sympathy grow within them.

"Hey, you feeling okay now?" Frigid asked in concern.

"As okay as I'll ever be." Crash responded in a mutter largely devoid of emotion, as if his break-down left him completely exhausted. Shaking his head in a daze, he stared off back the way he came, feeling his sense of longing return. He would love to return to the grave-site, but he had work to do here as it was not his day off. Feeling a comforting hand on his shell, he barely managed to shift his eyes away from the horizon onto the ground below.

"Just grab some breakfast and get some rest," Frost told him, smiling softly as he tried to make the grieving Koopa feel better. "Take it easy and you'll be back to yourself in no time." And speaking of which, he put on a beseeching face as he made a certain request. "But please don't try to kill anyone on your way back."

For although the brothers and the rest of the Koopa Bro. elites felt absolutely no threat from Crash, they were very much aware of how he treated the other Koopas. Some brush it off as it didn't concern or affect them in any way, whilst others were more than a little bothered. Frost and Frigid themselves were a bit dismissive of the lower-ranked Koopas, yes, but they still found the frequent brutality cruel and unnecessary. However, one comes to accept that it's Crash's job and that nothing can change it.

The comment certainly brought some amount of spark back to the Hammer Bro.'s eyes and he huffed. "I make no promises on that." Unwilling to continue on, the Hammer Bro. pushed the door of the castle open before disappearing into the darkness within. Sighing with a shake of his head, Frost closed the door again before he and his brother resumed their guard duty. After a long moment of silence, Frigid muttered softly.

"If there's anything talking to that guy accomplishes, it's making me appreciate my bossy ass of a brother even more."

At this, Frost felt a smile creep across his beak as he gave his sibling a rough nudge. "Same to you, bro. Same to you."


"That was horrible..." Pip muttered as he settled back in his chair, a chocolate milkshake easing the spiciness but unfortunately not getting rid of it entirely. The edges of his beak were still feeling the burn no matter how much of a milkshake-moustache he gave himself. Glaring at the laughing Fire Bros., only one exclamation came to his mind and out his mouth. "And who the hell drinks jalapeño juice?!"

"We do!" Both Pyro and Inferno declared cheerfully.

"Another lesson learned, kid," Kops pointed out, obviously keeping back his own smile. "Don't be so gullible with anything these two tell you."

"I'll keep that in mind..." Pip grumbled, taking another sip from his milkshake, thankful that a Beetle has come to the rescue before he drank an entire ocean! Sitting quietly for a while, the Paratroopa allowed his drink to soothe his tongue as he allowed his eyes to wander the lunchroom as Kops reprimanded the elite duo for their immature prank. Catching sight of a certain Hammer Bro. as he entered the room, Pip automatically froze before he took note of the dirt-covered scales. What the...?

"Looks like Crash had another rough night..." Kops mutter, apparently spotting the assassin as well.

"Poor dude." Inferno muttered, much to Pip's astonishment.

"'Poor dude'? He's a monster!"

"There's no such thing as monsters, kid." Pyro stated firmly, for once serious. "Nobody's born evil, they're made that way." At this reprimand, Pip lowered his eyes back to his waffles, knowing that what the older Koopa said was true. Shaking his head softly, Pyro returned his attention to Crash as said Koopa skipped everyone in line to get his food. Nobody in the line spoke out against such a move, cowed into submission by the elite's mere presence. When the Hammer Bro. received his plate, Pyro decided to add another point to his comment. "Anyway, he's not that bad towards us Koopa Bros. Watch."

Raising his hand in a wave, the Fire Bro. called out to Crash and Pip felt himself panic. Yes, he acknowledges that Crash wasn't naturally an evil cold-blooded murderer, but that didn't change the fact that he was an evil cold-blooded murderer. Hearing his name through the din, Crash turned his gaze to the table and seeing Pyro and Inferno, he did something Pip never thought he'd see: he smiled in a friendly manner! He didn't even know that was possible! But it was short-lived for as soon as Crash saw the lower-ranking trio, his smile was immediately replaced with a scowl and he walked off without further acknowledgement.

Sighing dejectedly, Pyro had nonetheless made his point as his brother carried on.

"It's stuff like that that has me believing the old Crash is still in there somewhere. He only comes out when he's in Koopa Bro. company, is all."

"Well, then," Pip muttered, feeling a spark of hopefulness. After all, if the old Crash really was in there, then that means... "Can't we fix him?"

Immediately, Kops made no hesitation in speaking out in a no-nonsense tone. "I already know what you're thinking, kid, and don't even DARE try it! I know you function of reverse psychology, but I mean it. Crash's beyond help, especially if such help is coming from you!"

Pip cringed at the harshness of the reprimand, lowering his head instinctively as he muttered in his defense. "I helped Rattles..."

"Yeah, but keep in mind: Rattles ISN'T Crash! Rattles doesn't hate us; he doesn't hate anything! He's not motivated by murderous rage! They're both broken Koopas, no offense to you, Rattles," -At this, Rattles merely gave a small shrug, showing he wasn't offended by what was basically the truth- "but they're broken in completely different ways."

"Fine," Pip seemed to have complied, only to continue on with another point. "Then why not get him real help? Don't you guys have therapists or something?"

"Yes," Kops answered. "Big problem: they're Lakitus and we both know what happened to the last Lakitu Crash came across." At this, Pip lowered his gaze, his wings drooping. Knowing he's hit a sensitive chord, Kops saddened a bit before calming his tone to a gentler one. "Besides, several times in the past, the Lakitus have asked King Bowser if they could help Crash with his problems. Unsurprisingly, they were turned down in a heartbeat."

"Why?!" Pip exclaimed in confusion.

"Isn't it obvious? He wants Crash to remain his attack dog. And for that, he has to keep him insane with grief and fuelled with rage." His expression grew even more saddened. "There are times I believe that even Crash is aware that there's something wrong in his head, but I also believe that he's too far gone to be saved. At least when it comes to accepting our kind again..."

Rattles in particular gave a long-held in whimper as he hung his head and Pip knew that this was a difficult topic for the Dry Bones. However, he still had questions and he can't help but think that if he knew more, he can probably help.

"What was he like? Before the incident?"

"Fun." Kops responded without hesitation, Rattles giving a nod of confirmation. "I mean, he was a bit more pompous and distant than his brother, but fun nonetheless. With Striker's prompting, he would hang out with us 'lower' Koopas, especially at parties and sports. They were such pleasant Koopas to spend time with that they even had an adorable little fanboy following them around."

"Yeah," Inferno muttered. "I remember Flap. Poor little fella..."

"What happened?" Pip couldn't help but ask and Kops took a moment to answer.

"Remember when I told you that Crash has killed Koopas far younger than you before?" Hesitantly, the teenager nodded and the Koopa Troopa continued. "Flap was a fledgling Paratroopa, half your size and half your age. And man, was he a devoted little imp that made it no secret that he idolized Hammer Bros., Striker and Crash in particular. But then the incident happened. There's several accounts on what occurred within that throneroom, but they all have one thing in common: that Crash was ordered by Bowser to kill Flap and he did so in the cruelest way imaginable."

"I swear, I think I can still hear those screams..." Inferno muttered with a wince as his memories went back to that terrible day.

"All the more emphasis for you to forget about helping him in any way, shape, or form. He WILL kill you if given even the slightest chance." Kops emphasized. "So, promise me, kid: You won't, and I repeat, WON'T try to 'fix' him."

Pip hesitated before weighing his options. Yes, he was utterly terrified of the Hammer Bro. and would love to keep as much distance from him as possible. But he also knew that if he could find some way to change that broken Koopa, then everything will be alright and nobody would have to live in fear again. Plus, it'll certainly piss Bowser off to lose his precious hitman and such a thought would bring a smile to his beak if the situation wasn't so serious. It would be the riskiest stunt he's ever pulled, but he's already faced the pain and fear of death once. Did he really want to go through that again? Taking a deep breath, he came to his decision and nodded.

"I promise."


Sorry this took longer than usual; I've been busy lately. It's just a filler chapter to answer some questions and share some of my fan-theories on some species. Plus, I got to introduce Frost and Frigid! Yayz! Hope you guys enjoyed and will be patient in waiting for the next chapter! :D

P.S. That ghost pepper scene was based on a real-life incident...unfortunately... I never trusted my mama again! Lol!