Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Please, take a seat." The old human woman gestured to a worn chair, already pulled out and ready to be sat in. Although the house it belonged in was rather devoid of people, the chair had a worn look that suggested constant use- possibly generational. After staring at it for a short time, Koji sat down slowly. She wondered if the knotty chair was going to break.

Her hypothetical fears were unfounded, and the faithful wood stood strong. Opposite Koji and on an equally old chair, the old woman smiled and gestured to the yoshi child who stood nearby. "Please go and get us some tea, Dirge." Dirge nodded slightly and went into the nearby kitchen, full of light compared to the dim, shadowy room that Koji now sat in.

"Diiirrrrrrrr…sssssss…" Koji struggled to speak.

"Wait for the tea, dear." The old woman smiled.

The two sat in silence while Dirge prepared something in the kitchen. Earlier, after the old woman had grabbed Koji's arm, she had invited Koji into her home to talk. Koji had become curious about the strange old woman, as she was human and also taking care of a yoshi boy- two creatures rare for the Mushroom Kingdom living together. The old woman's oddly calm nature was also questionable, and she also seemed to be extremely aware…aware of what, exactly, Koji was unsure of.

Dirge returned with the tea, along with some small cakes. Koji stared at them.

"Don't worry…these are to heal your throat a little, and only to heal you." The old woman's bitter smile reappeared. It fit her well. "I'm not one o' them."

Koji wanted to ask 'One of who?', but she had to eat to speak first. She drank some of the tea and ate some of the cake, but stopped when she noticed the old woman was not taking any. "Don't worry about me, dear." The old woman sighed. "This is for you. Your trials have been much more recent than mine." Koji didn't move. Her encounter with GSV NZM had left her ZYHGIZCGB KZIZMLRW. The old woman shook her head slowly and took a cake. She began to eat it. Koji watched closely and then followed suit. If she could feel she would've felt her senses dull, but without her feelings she was entirely unaware of what was happening.

The old woman shivered after her bite. Then she turned to Dirge who had been standing by the table the entire time. "You may go, Dirge. We will speak of your activity outside later- Koji and I have much to discuss." The boy nodded somewhat solemnly and left the small room. He shut the door behind him and left the room in darkness. Koji watched after him.

"Izzen…" Koji sucked in a large amount of air. "Izzen he hungry?"

"He will prepare a meal for himself. I have taught him how to prepare many things- both the refined and the crude- as he will be on his own soon." The old woman finished the cake and pushed away the small plate she had taken. "He is a smart, determined boy. He has learned well."

Koji's mind flew with questions- a problem. The more questions she needed to ask the longer it'd be before she could experiment on the old woman and Dirge. The old woman seemed to read Koji's mind, and she frowned deeply.

"If you're still thinking of killing me and Dirge you've got another thing coming. In fact," The old woman pointed at Koji with a powerful self-assuredness. "Your murdering ends here."

"Whoooo are youuu?" Koji rasped.

"Constell Merlar, the last of the Star Shamans." Merlar straightened her back proudly. "And the only one left to instruct you about the others."

"Ovvers?"

Merlar smiled kindly and patted Koji's hand. "Have another cake. Your throat's still a bit…rusty." She pushed the plate slightly closer to Koji. Koji held the mushroom charm dangling from her neck and positioned it so that she could see the cakes. She took another and ate it. If she still had eyes her vision would have blurred.

"So…" Koji drank more tea. Merlar nodded encouragingly. "What others?"

"The Chosen Ones." Merlar said seriously. She took another bite of her cake and shivered. "Yes. The Chosen Eight, the heroes of virtue."

"Chossen…" Koji coughed. "Chosen Eight? I do not comprehehnd."

"What is your name, dear?" Merlar asked.

"Koji."

"What about your last name, dear?"

Koji started to speak, but then grimaced and shook her head. She felt a feeling clawing at her, but it was unreachable. "I don't have one." She was acting on the suggestion of the unfelt feeling at first, but then she remembered why she never spoke her last name. It was a logical choice not to speak it.

"That's right…isn't it." Merlar nodded. "Yes…you are Koji, one of the eight in my dream. One of the eight that save us all." She poured another cup of tea and downed it.

She appears to greatly appreciate the taste of the tea. Koji noted.

"It is your task to find the others- and stop the end."

"The end? The end of what?" Koji's charm pendant- and in turn, her sight- began to slowly shake back and forth. Was her body moving?

"Everything," Merlar whispered. "The great fire. Only you and the others can stop it." She began to tremble. "The Eight of you- the Chosen Eight."

It sounded like nonsense, and yet…Koji could not help but feel deadly curious. Her curiosity was all she had left, and unless she got answers to all of this, she would not be satisfied- and she wouldn't be able to kill Merlar. "Who are the chosen Eight?" Koji asked. Her body started to wobble. How odd.

"The Eight: two toads, two koopas, two humans…and…and two others." Merlar broke into coughing and the room seemed to begin to fill with smoke. "Each of you represents a heavenly virtue."

"Why is the room…?" Koji swallowed a large cloud of smoke and began to cough.

"I see two places of great importance: a city where death will reign supreme…and a castle of the beginning of the end." Merlar mumbled. She started swaying.

"What…kind of tea is this?" Koji gasped with some difficulty.

"Koji." Merlar suddenly reached across the table and grabbed Koji's arms. She stared seriously at Koji's face, her eyes and head twitching. "I was waiting…waiting for one of you to come here. You were the only one. So…it's up to you. To gather the others."

"Gather…?" For the first time since she had woken up without her eyes, Koji was at a loss for words.

"The others, Koji. F-four toads, one koopa…" Merlar's rambling turned to senseless noise in Koji's ears before her vision blacked out.


Village…village…village…

Seigal crept behind a tree and peeked out, trying to spy into the collective series of houses he had found. He scratched his arms and sniffled and twitched. What a nice looking place- there were cobblestone paths, a fountain in the center of a promenade, all of the homes had two floors, and even one on the other side of town had three. Yes, what a nice place…a nice place to get a meal.

Seigal shivered. Mush was of course the most important part of life, but he was still feeling a bit hungry. This, of course, would be no problem- he'd just go into town and ask the kind locals for a sandwich or something. Yes. He sniffled and drew his arm across his face. Sheesh that was happening a lot more! He shivered again.

Slowly but surely Seigal walked into the town, sniffling, scratching, and shivering all the way. A well-dressed local toad that was walking nearby leapt in fright at the sight of Seigal and ran away. Seigal blinked slowly and shrugged his shoulders.

How strange. Seigal thought confusedly. Haven't they seen a koopa before? I know some live in the Mushroom Kingdom… He trembled and sniffled. Damn, I could really use some Mush. I don't feel so good… No…wait…there's not much left, is there? Seigal twitched. I have to…I have to save it. Wait…no…I can't. I need it right now. I mean, I can always get more if it runs out…it's not a problem. I mean, I don't know from where, but…

His stomach growled. Seigal jumped in exaggerated and drug-fueled surprise at the noise, his arms shaking spastically. Oh…wait…maybe I'm just hungry. When was the last time I ate? Seigal tried to remember, giving himself a headache. Maybe if I just took more Mush I'd not be so hungry, huh…?

"Hey you! Shellcreeper!" Someone shouted. Seigal turned and blinked a couple of times.

"Hi…!" He mumbled to the three tall, angry toads that had approached.

"You think we're gonna let you just come into our t-town?" The toad in the front said. He was clearly trembling, but he was also putting up a brave face with some skillful plausibility. "H-haven't you heard about the toad revolution? We're r-rising up- and we're not taking you or Peach's tyranny anymore."

Peach's tyranny? Huh? "I believe there is a mis-misunderstanding." Seigal stuttered and drooled a little. He blinked rapidly and shook his head to try to clear his mind up. "I am here, actually, because…"

"A-a-awright, h-he won't listen. Get him!" The front toad pointed shakily at Seigal and then backed away. The two toads beside him looked at each other, nodded, and rushed to attack.

"Wait, I…" A quick right hook to the mouth caught him before he could finish his sentence. The frightened, taller toad stopped in surprise at the force of his punch, then drew back his arm again. The other, smaller toad punched the hard front of Seigal's shell. That…really hurt…Seigal blinked. Toads were supposed to be incapable of fighting, weren't they?

"Th-that felt great!" The tall toad that had punched Seigal grinned a little maniacally. "I can't believe…that was…!" He punched again. Seigal stepped back and threw his hands up.

"Wait…wait…I just…"

"Get the hell out of our town!" The smaller toad scrabbled on the ground for a rock, which he proceeded to pelt at Seigal's face. He barely missed.

"I…I'm sorry!" Seigal turned and ran. During his escape he felt a rock hit him in the back of the head, giving him a nasty wound.

"GET OUT OF OUR KINGDOM, KOOPA SCUM!" One of the toads yelled.

He ran into the deep Forest surrounding the village and hid himself in some bushes. The toads didn't come after him, and after a few moments of hard breathing and crying he crawled his way out. He was still hungry, and now he was desperate. He started to circle around the outskirts of the village, looking for an empty-looking house. Walking for twenty minutes, he found one and headed for the back window. He inhaled some Mush to regain some will that been lost because of his use of the Mush, and then he broke his way in. This is for a good cause. Seigal told himself. I have to survive…they'll just lose some food and a window. No big deal. He sniffled and wobbled for a moment, the room blurring slightly. Wait…shouldn't I have fallen asleep when I took the Mush? Whatever…maybe this means I'm used to it now!

Finding himself in a kitchen, Seigal hummed an out-of-tune and highly "influenced" song as he rummaged through the cupboards hanging on the walls. His sight blurry and his hands twitching, he knocked several plates out which shattered on the linoleum floor. Seigal jumped in surprise and threw his hands up in his face, also hitting them against the side of the cupboard. He swore bitterly and slammed the cupboard door shut, moving over to a refrigerator. Fridges…fridges are full of food, aren't they? He opened the door.

YES! Food! He grabbed at the closest thing within- Frozen Fries that someone had left inside. Seigal chomped into them mindlessly, ignoring that they were both literally frozen and tasteless. YES! What else…oh! What looked like a fried shroom plate with a green mushroom on top…a truly Odd Dinner. Seigal stuffed it in his mouth. YES! Wait…wait…what was this?!

"Holy shit" Seigal mumbled. He tried to focus on what he was seeing. Was that really…a Meteor Meal- the rare delicacy from the northern Tribal Lands? Seigal picked it out reverentially then tore into it. YES!

Seigal filled himself up and then sat on the floor. The house was nice, and he wished that he could just stay there for a while. He was tired of running. He just wanted to inhale his Mush in peace. Hmm…Mush…Mush…Wasn't there something important about the Mush he had been thinking about? He dug it out and felt his eyes nearly pop out of his head in shock. There was almost none left. Maybe two huffs left at most. Oh god…he needed some of the Mush to deal with this. …NO! No, no, he had to save it- that was the whole problem. And he'd need more. Well, that was why he was going to Mushroom City, wasn't it? Yes…he could buy more there.

He twitched. Wait…so…so he'd need money. Yes…yes…money made the world go round, oh yes. He scratched his arm. Well…while he was here…No! That was wrong! But…but the Mush was right, so…so it overruled not stealing. Yes…stealing was right if it got him more Mush.

So he began to explore the house. He checked all of the rooms on the first floor, and then he began to climb the stairs up to the second. Like most of the houses in the town he had wandered into, it was a two-floor building, likely owned by a rich family. Rich…like Seigal's family had been.

He felt an unpredicted and unpleasant tear roll out of his eye. He was suddenly reminded of home- that place he had buried deep within him, where he hoped he would never find it again. I want to go home. He sniffled more loudly than usual and drew an arm messily across his face. No…no…everything was great, just how it was. He was so…No! He had to stop thinking for a moment. Get the money, get out, get to Mushroom City, and be happy forever. Yay…

Seigal quickly found a bedroom. He searched through drawers, drawers and more drawers. Eld there were a lot of drawers full of clothing. Where were the damn coins? Whoever lived here couldn't just have a giant bag full of coins they carried around everywhere. That'd be ridiculous. There had to be…ah…!

Jewelry. Seigal picked up a handful of assorted gems. So sparkly…he held them up to his face and stared deeply into them, thinking slowly. This…would work. He'd carry as much as he could within his shell along with the Mush, and then sell it in the city. Then buy Mush- so much Mush. As much Mush as he needed. Say, speaking of Mush, he knew just how to celebrate-

"Who are you?!" A frightened voice trembled from behind him. Seigal stuffed a large handful of jewelry into his shell and turned around to face the fancy toad woman that had entered the room. How quietly had she come into the house that he hadn't heard her?

"Hell-o. I'm See…uh, Seigal." Seigal drooled a bit. He reached into the drawer again and stole another handful of jewelry right in front of the toad woman.

"What are you doing?! Those were my mother's. Are you some kind of common koopa thief?" The woman said, anger replacing the fear in her voice. Apparently she hadn't heard about Seigal being in the town square just moments before.

"Oh…uh." Seigal looked down at the jewelry as if he was surprised to see it, then he took some more. "I, uh, need these. For m-m-my Mush."

"Take those necklaces out of your shell." The woman growled. She approached Seigal, and raised a hand to stop him. Seigal turned in a quick response and grabbed her raised arm. "Piss off." He snapped with a sudden anger. "I need these."

"No!" She shrieked in response. She must've been truly desperate to go up against an angry koopa…or perhaps it was the strange air of revolution in the land passing through her. In any case, she began to struggle against Seigal and actually managed to break away. She reached into the pocket of the green diva-like dress she was wearing and pulled out a small knife. "You koopa fuck- I'm prepared for the likes of you." She charged.

"You stupid bitch." Seigal growled. A part of him felt an incredible regret at the words, but he was reminded that there was no time for feelings: this was Mush vs. no Mush. As the woman charged him Seigal smacked her across the face with the large studded necklace he was holding and made a move to escape. The woman recovered quickly and tried to stab him in the back with her knife, but it harmlessly hit his shell. Struggling desperately, she continued to drag the knife down right into the back of his leg. "FUCK!" Seigal screamed, falling to the ground himself. In an instant it was there- that feeling of hatred that had been absent for most of his life bubbling up for the second time. He turned back to face the woman who was now stomach-first on the ground. She began to crawl on top of him, prepping the dagger.

"I'm from Mushroom City you stupid koopa. You messed with the wrong toad." She started to slam the dagger down at Seigal's face. Seigal grabbed her arms with a speed he had never known before and stopped the dagger as it was inches away from its target. Speed…is that…from the Mush? He hazily thought, amidst thoughts of hate and Mush. The toad woman growled as she struggled to push the dagger down, but Seigal's natural koopa strength stopped her. He began to try to wrestle the knife away from her.

"How dare you…try to…steal from me…" She gasped. "I've earned…everything I've got. To be able to live in Diamond Town…" It ended in a paradoxically endless instance: SPLORTCH. The dagger, flipped in Seigal's struggle, pushed up and into the woman's throat, all the way to the hilt. The blood rushed down onto Seigal's neck and face, and he felt the elated feeling of victory for a moment. I win. I win, you stupid bitch.

Then he was downstairs. He was in front of the sink. His face was washed, and the knife lay on the counter, clean as well. Seigal reached back to check his shell, but he could already tell by the weight on his back that he had all of the jewelry with him. He thought about going upstairs to make sure the woman was dead, but he knew she was. He didn't need to check. He didn't want to check.

It was for the greater good. I…I had to do it…Seigal blinked. The Mush high had worn down far too much. His urge to use it was growing wildly stronger. This…this was all necessary.

The doorbell at the front of the house rang. Seigal twitched violently in panic and ran for the back window. He leaped out and ran back into the Forest. He cowered again in the bushes, random feelings of terror and panic licking up at him, to the point that he nearly fainted. After a while he stood and began walking again. It was all necessary. He had to do it. …He. Had. To…

I'm glad we understand now.


It had been several hours since Penter had completely taken over Koopa Castle, forcing the Koopa Troop members left behind by Qourk to work for him. The approximately 300 koopas, goombas, and shy guys left in the castle were nervous, scared, and unsure of what was going to happen now that a toad with supernatural fire powers had taken over. Most were already broken-into submission just by their regular lives at the castle, but some had been quietly forming a plan to stop what was happening.

"Vale, come over here." Jai shot a quick glance at the light-blue boo girl, and she nervously floated over to him. She was absolutely shaking with tension, and no one could blame her- Penter had taken some kind of weird interest in her, and she had been forced to bring things to him all day in the throne room. She still wondered if he was suddenly going to light her on fire.

"H-h-h-hi, Jai." Vale shook in the shadow of Jai, an abnormally tall shy guy. "H-h-h-how've you been since, uh…the takeover…"

"Great, great. Listen…" Jai put an arm around her back. She jumped…or floated…five feet. "The rest of us have been planning, and we need you to do something…"

"Um…?" Vale trembled.

"You're the only one who can get close to 'King' Penter…" Jai's mask smiled calmly. "So…you're the only one who has a shot at killing him."

"W-w-w-w-w-w-what?!" Vale squealed. She began to disappear a little.

"Vale." Jai slapped Vale across the face, bringing her straight back into corporeality. "You are a member of the Koopa Troop, right? It's our sworn duty to kill the toad that has taken over our nation's castle…right?" His right eyehole's eyebrow rose meaningfully. "It won't be that hard either. All you gotta do is toss a bunch of water on Penter when he's on fire."

"Uh-uh-uh-uh-um?" Vale shook. Jai wondered with great irritation how she had risen to even the second rank of the Troop.

"Here's how it'll work. We've found a brave idiot who'll get him all angry and warmed up…" And so he told her.

Terrified and badgered into obeying, it was just ten minutes later when Penter rang the bell that he had had set up in the throne room in order to get his new servant's attention. Vale approached the room with the Question Block she had prepared, and, just as planned, another Koopa Troop member burst into the room ahead of her. She waited for a few seconds and then floated in just as Penter's body started to ignite.

"YOU ARE ONE SORELY MISTAKEN %$# !" Penter yelled. An orange light began to glow on his arms and then they started to light on fire. The Koopa Troop member that had barged in started to back away, but continued to give catcalls.

"You get mad way too easily, Pennies." The Troop member replied tauntingly.

"PENNIES?!" Penter screamed, proving the Troop member's words true. His face ignited, and his mouth and eyes becoming howling voids within the flames. He stepped off of the fortunately fireproof throne.

"Isn't your name Pennies Porkyon?" The Troop member shrugged. He knew he had found the perfect nerve.

"MY NAME IS PENTER PROCYON YOU ASSHOLE AND I'M GONNA %$# KILL YOU!" Penter entirely turned into fire.

"WELP, I'm outta here." The Troop member turned and ran. He nodded at Vale who was shaking and holding the question box. As Penter began to rush after the fleeing troop member, Vale turned toward him and opened the Question Box. She closed her eyes as hard as she could, held her breath, and tossed the contents that were inside at Penter: almost three gallons of ice cold water.

Steam and screams. Vale fell back and shrieked herself, turning entirely invisible. Penter's orange fiery form disappeared into a cloud of snow-white smoke which began to crawl to the ceiling of the room. The Troop member who had angered Penter stopped running and turned back to watch the spectacle, eyeing the billowing column with approval. He flashed a thumbs-up to Vale. "NICE JOB!" He shouted over the screaming. "LET'S SEE IF THERE'S ANYTHING LEFT WHEN THE SMOKE CLEAR…"

The screaming stopped suddenly and something exploded out of the smoke. Vale shrieked uncontrollably as she watched a large mass of water attack her fellow Troop member. The water formed some kind of a fist and slammed into the koopa's face, sending him flying back ten feet. Then the whole mass of the water rose and began to reform into Penter, who was covering his face with his hand. He coughed a few times. "That was…really, really something. I am just full of surprises." His eyes suggested extreme confusion, but his overall body language was calm and peaceable. His legs were still made of water, and his torso flopped around for a bit until he managed to steady himself. His watery lower half moved inexplicably to the fallen Troop member.

"Oh god please no…"

Penter sighed. "Don't even bother…" His head turned to flames as his lower half reformed into his regular self.

He killed the Trooper in the same way that he had killed the others earlier. He then transformed himself back entirely to his normal self, the throbbing of his right eye's veins the only sign of what had just occurred.

He walked over to Vale who was trembling in a corner of the room, her small boo arms covering her face. "K-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-king Penter p-p-p-please they m-m-m-m-m-made me d-d-d-do it I…I…"

"Shut up." Penter snapped. Vale was invisible but he could still see her outline. He grabbed her and threw her out into the more open area of the room. She began to cry. "I SAID SHUT UP!" Penter roared, a bit of fire sparking out of his mouth. Vale quieted down but continued to tremble. "I swear I won't harm you…as long as you point out the %$# who told you to try to kill me."

Vale peeked out from behind her arms and nodded a bit-too-quickly. She was terrified and weak-willed: Penter knew it would be easy to get her to sell out her friends. She led him out of the room and directly down to the guard room where Jai was sitting and talking with several other Troop members. She stayed outside as Penter went in and shut the door behind him. At first it was quiet…then voices were raised…Vale even thought she heard her own name, twisted in swollen anger…and then there was a sound like an explosion. Penter burst through the stone door and slammed it shut behind him. Val was unlucky enough to see a terrifying peek of the entirely enflamed room behind him.

"I try to be nice…I try to be reasonable…and everyone BACKSTABS me!" Penter's over-veined right eye glowed brightly for a moment and he punched the stone wall near him with no real effect. He then turned to Vale and smirked. He could see it in her…a nature of being constantly, pathetically terrified. "Vale…I hope you're listening closely. If YOU ever backstab me…" He approached and grabbed her forcefully. "I'll think up an especially painful death for you. Something unpredictable and slow."

"P-p-p-please…I…I…I'll never b-b-b-backstab you." Vale bit her lip.

Penter smiled and let her go. "Good." She floated down to the ground and went back into cowering. Penter nodded and walked past her, rubbing his chin. This was it…this was the only real way to make allies: through force and fear. It was time to really let the rest of the Koopa Troop know how things were going to work.


On the west end of Diamond Town was a special bay where airships landed, a small place that could only hold two ships at a time. This airship bay was intended to allow transport between three different locations: Diamond Town, Mushroom City, and a small, but industrious mining village in the far south known as Yold Town. Airships were rare, but Peach had commissioned one to be used in this purpose in order to increase the general economy of the Mushroom Kingdom. Unfortunately for her, however, the contract that had been made for the construction of the airship allowed a certain group in Mushroom City to control it, and when Mushroom City broke off with the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom, Peach was forced to share the use of the airship with the group in Mushroom City.

The airship was officially named the Pagosu, the origin of the name obscure and known well only to a few in the organization that had created it, however it was more popularly known as Coin Heaven, for the glorious amount of money the gems it brought from the south sold for. It was around three in the afternoon when Seigal wandered near it. He had been walking along the outline of Diamond town, making sure that he was still going the right way to reach Mushroom City when he saw the large wooden mass hulking above the trees nearby.

That's Coin Heaven. Seigal realized. His high had worn down greatly and he was becoming more sober than he had been in the last day-and-a-half, so he was able to remember the fact from his Koopa Troop education. Hey, it could be heading for Mushroom City. He thought joyfully. What luck! Being a good person pays off!

He started to circle the aircraft in order to find a way on. He found where a ramp had been placed against the side of the ship, and several strange, foreign creatures were bringing cargo down onto the ground. They look like giant stone heads…are they from Sarasaland? Seigal wondered. I guess it makes sense…there's another Airship out of Sarasaland that trades with this one…maybe they trade workers as well?

They weren't toads, anyhow…so they'd be reasonable to him, wouldn't they? He could just pay them off for transport with some of the jewelry he'd…picked up. No…wait. He scratched his arm and sniffled. He needed the jewels…he'd need all of it to buy more Mush. He couldn't waste a coin. And…still, besides…those things kind of creeped him out. No…no, he could just sneak on. He didn't need to pay them.

He watched the creatures work, and, after estimating for a bit, ran for one of the boxes that was to be taken next. He scratched at it and managed to pull the top off, which had not been fastened down for some reason. He hopped in and pulled the cover over again, deciding not to question his luck. He sat on the row of blue bottles inside and waited. Soon enough he felt the box get picked up, as well as a curse in some other language from the worker who had not been expecting the extra weight.

After a few minutes there was a heave, and Seigal felt himself and the box flying for a moment before it crashed against the side of the Airship's deck. "Shit!" Seigal gasped, barely remembering to keep his voice down.

"Muzukashii. (Difficult.)" The worker muttered.

"SonooSukaiJusunonakadesu. (There's Sky Juice inside.)" Someone else replied. "WariowaSukaiJusugadaisukidesu. (Wario loves Sky Juice.)"

"Soodesuka…(I see…)" The worker muttered. Seigal heard an intake of air and then the heavy clumps of the worker walking away. He wondered what that was all about…he thought he had heard the name Wario.

Well, whatever. Seigal sighed and grinned to himself. He had made it onto the ship without a problem. Soon he'd be in Mushroom City, where he'd be free to purchase all of the Mush that he needed. Speaking of which…

He pulled out the bag. Might as well celebrate by using the rest of it right now!

Seigal inhaled a fourth of it and straight up swallowed the rest.


Author's Notes: Yes, Sarasan- the language used in Sarasaland- is Japanese. I thought it'd be fun to do that sort of thing since I've started taking Japanese as a class. At first I was only planning to use vocabulary I knew so far (which may explain some of the repetition and stilted sentences up there) but I eventually gave up on that and started just looking up words for later chapters. I won't be able to learn any more Japanese vocabulary until next August anyway...

I want to explain something about Boos in this story in case anyone's confused: Boos are intelligent creatures on the same level as Toads and Koopas (if a much rarer species) while Pink Boos are completely animal monsters (as seen in Chapter Eighteen). Case in point, Vale is just about the most terrified and fragile character in the cast.