As chaos slowly unfurls in the known parts of the Mushroom World, Yoshi is gathering friends and allies, to stop the growing menace. Although for now, they have escaped trouble, but still, need to hurry up if they want to rescue the pirate Johnny. Hopefully this phase of the plan is successful; they need to find whatever clues they can about the enemy faction, or the four missing heroes (Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad).

-o-

Requiem's Prelude

Location: Kingdom of Desert Hill, Prison Complex, in a not-so-secret corridor

"Hey, Hitatsu. Uh… I can't shake off this weird feeling in my gut that this whole business with the Koopalings is… awkward, to say the least," whispers Draco to Hitatsu.

They are walking along a corridor of subterranean maze located underneath the prison, a dusty map of it in their hands. They are approximately underneath the passageway leading to Johnny's confinement near the vice-warden's office. The guard supposedly accompanying them is nowhere in sight.

The shirtless Fire Bro. leader sighs, a cool flame exhaling from his mouth, and immediately he punches Draco's stomach, leaving the other Fire Brother squirming on the maze's gritty brick floor, gasping for air. The part of the map he was holding plops on the floor along with him.

"Draco, dude," snaps Hitatsu intently, but is still whisper quiet, "We already got this far getting that shark, and now we need that blasted fruit, dude. As long as these jail fools don't suspect us at all, I don't care why they be doing this, dude. All I want is to get the she-bang, the booty." He does the money gesture with his free hand.

Draco gasps and trembles as he tries to stand upright by leaning on his legs. "Materialistic... jerk. Money isn't... everything..."

"Well, tough! I love it, dude. And frankly, you're tagging along too, dude. That makes my question your true motives, dude."

"But, but, if it was for the money, why not just turn that shark in, and bam, we find a new gig? Why use this jail?" Draco falls on his right knee as he grasps his aching abdomen.

Hitatsu scoffs and gives his partner a knowing look. "To get money from the government too, dude. Duh! Besides, I agreed to the fruit job, so we kinda need to do this job. And those Koopalings…"

He holds up three fingers. "Three! Just three smacks to the head; all it takes, dude. We can even loot them. Seriously, what can go wrong, dude? It's not like some ninja and his dudes are busting the pirate out of here and foiling our plans."

Draco's heavy breathing has eased to a calmer pace, and as soon as he almost fully recovers, he picks up his part of the map and stands again. Both Fire Bros. resume walking to a passage leading to a lower level. Draco's last words are "Hope you're right…" before his voice and the echoing taps of their walking blend into the distance of the hollow underground cavern.

From a secret passage hidden in the veil of shadows, the shape of Slyklyde's tar clone, the Tootankoopa clone, peeks into the dimly lit maze passage, staring at the pair of bounty hunters that passed by, having heard their conversation…

...

Location: Kingdom of Desert Hill, en route to the prison

After about two hours of leaving the city on their newly acquired cart, the four heroes are now about 20 minutes away from the mountain blocking the main path toward the III shaped lake dubbed San Lake, and the high security prison. A cold, evening desert breeze whistles throughout and the full moon glistens brightly, clearly illuminating the desert. Daisy is done removing the remaining green face paint from a sleeping Morton, Geno pulls some dark clothes from inside his hat, and Yoshi yawns as he still drives the wagon.

"Well, so much for our 'cover up' mess," scoffs Geno, as he sorts the dark clothing, "At least we got Stuffwell back."

Daisy begins yanking at Yoshi's left arm. "Come on, Yosh! You've been hogging the wheel for a looooong time. It's my turn!

"No way, crazy Daisy! I don't want another crash like the one on your 'copter."

"But…"

"We'll be fine just the way we are," interjects Geno, "Guess you'll have to handle this one, Yoshi."

"Heard that, Daisy?" Yoshi smiles a "victorious", toothy grin.

"Oh, you… just be quiet! You still owe me a bag of spicy cheese puffs! How 'bout that, Yosh?"

"What, what was that? I couldn't hear you over the smell of Morton's cheesepuffs you ate while he told his story."

Daisy pouts as Yoshi still smiles. "Please don't tell him," she says innocently.

Geno clears his throat to get both their attention. Morton flips around as he lets out some juicy, mucous-filled snores, nearly smacking Geno across the face. "Whoa there, tiger! Ahem, at least we have his side of the story, as much as it took me to piece everything together, seeing how he jumped around in his story. I think I finally got it."

"Please decipher before my head explodes," interrupts Yoshi as he rubs his Yoshi temples, "I actually want to hear your story more, though."

Daisy wags her index finger at the dinosaur. "Aww, Yosh! That was mean!"

Geno says as he samples some black outfits, "Alright, then, let me explain. If I'm correct, Bowser planned to a grand scale invasion the Mushroom Kingdom again when he received Princess Peach's invitation to the Star Gala Ball. Morton then pressed a button accidentally, as he said, and everything from electronics, to ships, to weapons malfunctioned, and the troops were diminished in power. I'm guessing some troops were injured. So, Bowser angrily dismissed him from the Koopa Troop, and just went peacefully to the event, as Daisy said she witnessed. Being notorious already and with nowhere to go, my wild guess is that he just wandered until he just collapsed in front of Daisy's castle."

Daisy scratches her head. "I remember that my guards told he was in a cell when I returned from the Ball. But… He looked so lonely and cute with those teary eyes, and I felt sorry for him, so I let him out to play tennis, but he accidentally used his partner as the ball when we played doubles, and blasted him into a twinkle. I miss that guard too…"

"Easy there, Daisy. Don't bust a Morton now," interrupts Yoshi. "But Geno, your deducing is astonishing. Seriously, how long are you staying with us? We need your brain power!"

"Until we fix your world's problem… and mine."

A chilling silence descends which makes the desert wind howling about seem warm. Daisy and Yoshi look at each other, then at Geno. Geno looks pensively off into the eastern horizon as he leans on the cart's side wall.

"That Star Gala Ball… is kinda why I'm here. The next day, the Princess and the Kingdom's main heroes go missing. We at Star Road found out immediately since we received their rescue wish. Six days later, the unprecedented event that shocked the Mushroom World: the defeat of the entire Koopa Troop by a single guy referred to as 'the Master'. Whoever this guy is, he's a mastermind genius."

Yoshi, still driving the Ostro drawn cart, and Daisy appear incredulous at this point. Geno continues.

"I know I sound ridiculous, but it gets worse. Days after, he first disposes of Merlon, the best in the world to show anyone their next move. They then wreck the sanctuary of Star Haven, destroy the Star Rod, and seal the honorable star spirits into tarot cards. And then… then…"

He bangs his fist against the wood while he scowls. "Lemmy Koopa and three others destroyed my home. We put up a fight, but without a physical body like yours, there was little we could to stop them, and were completely annihilated. I managed to escape on orders from my higher authority, but now all seven pieces now belong to them. With the power of wishes from the stars gone null, I'm afraid those wishes will remain unanswered for a while."

"Heey! How about we answer that call, eh, Gee? Yosh?"

Yoshi turns and winks. "Sounds like a plan to me." He turns and sees the mountain range dividing the kingdom in to approaching. "Hey guys, were getting close to get this show on the road."

Geno chuckles as he approaches Yoshi and taps his right shoulder. "Yo, that's my line! That reminds me." He unfurls the outfits. "We need to be stealthy about this jailbreak, so I picked these up while you and Morton Jr. changed. Black ninja outfits."

Daisy goes to get one but seems iffy about getting one. "I don't know, Gee. I get a bad feeling about this."

"As do I, princess," affirms Geno, "After the Smithy gang ordeal, I know for sure this is not some superficial enemy we're dealing with. Additionally, I don't want to put you in harms way, but I just don't know how things will turn out. I suppose I can give you a ninja outfit, too." He turns to Yoshi. "Yosh, can you wake Morton up? And can you both get into these ninja outfits. Let's see if I fit in mine."

…

The four are at the base of the mountains. The four ostros that tugged the cart angrily peck at ninja Morton as he tries to stuff them inside Stuffwell 2.0, with the cart already inside. Everybody else gawks at the mountains in awe, already dressed in ninja apparel.

"I can't believe how tall these hills are!" says Geno.

"I can't imagine how we'll get to the other side!" adds Yoshi.

"I can't wait to start our new adventure!" squeals Daisy.

Morton fell backwards, sporting a black left eye, swollen checks, and a bleeding lower lip. "I can't underthand how a big rolley thingy and four birdieth fit inthide a thmall thing…" he moans.

"Video game logic, my friend," responds Geno.

"But Gee, this is real life!" retorts Daisy.

Geno cups his right wooden hand on his mouth. "I wonder what they'll do if I break it to them. Hey, reader! Yes, you on the other side of the screen! You know you can hear me!"

"Gee, who're you talking to?" inquires Daisy, squinting suspiciously at the wooden doll

"Um… don't worry about it. Let's get this show on the road."

…

Location: Rougeport, outside Ishsnail's lair

Lemmy walks out of Ishsnail's. As he exits, Gus is on his knees, clasping his thawing throat as he desperately gasps for warm air. Ishsnail is still leaning on his clasped hands at his leather seat, glaring at the Koopaling pair outside his pad as the door closes. Ludwig leans next to the metallic door as he looks off to the side, tapping his right index on his left arm.

"Have you reached upon an agreement?" There is a hint of impatience in his voice.

Lemmy mockingly sticks his tongue out. "Hey, Lud, why the rush? Don't tell me you're scared of Mobsterville?"

"On the contrary. My prominent status has more than likely have already reached this fetid land of repulsive urchins. As you can clearly see, not a single soul dares challenge a vastly superior opponent as myself, and thus avoided me, just as a butter knife avoids being used on a steak."

Lemmy sarcastically interjects, "Oh. And would they know which fork is used for a salad, and which spoon for ice cream?"

Ludwig furrows his brow and assumes a fighting stance as his lights up his left hand in blue lightning. "Stop spewing your nonsense. Or should I… school you on that?"

Lemmy replies, both in stance and word, "Lovely. Nothing be better." He licks his upper lip. "I'm sure the Master won't mind us being late to our… task."

Ludwig scowls and he stands down. "Everything went well, I suppose?"

Lemmy stands down as well. "Of course. It's in our best interest to win the Glitzville prizes… or steal them, don't matter. It is the second place prize that the Masterreally wants, though."

Both begin walking back to the new Rougeport station. "Is that so? Tell me more along the way. Once we get back to the Clown Car, we call the Master and speed to the desert penitentiary and pillage upon arrival."

-o-

Some questions are getting answered. But, what does Ludwig have in mind? Why are the Gliztville prizes important? And why are cheesepuffs even part of this story? Next time: A battle in the Beanbean Kingdom and our heroes knock at the gates of the prison.