In the deepest darkest caves of an empty ruined canyon, there lies an army of the undead, made entirely out of bones. This army was powerful enough to stay active for thousands of years, but their main goal wasn't to conquer all life-forms like others would do. Their main desire was to live, stay alive no matter what. Fueled by a special fire crafted from the Underwhere flames of death, the army would be forced to stay alive as long as one of them welds the burden of life.
In the underground, millions of miles away from civilization, and lost to time itself, the army gathers around a small cradle made from stray figures who couldn't find their way back to their host. In the cradle was a little baby girl with a skull charm headband, and a single dark blue hair.
Amongst the warriors who died from a tragic war was a mage named Huka. Huka was built with the finest arts of skull crafting and revival of the dead. The mage placed its hand upon an unmoving corpse of a Koopa, combined it with a cow's head and tail and brought it to life. The army watched as Huka looked at the skeleton that was just born and spoke in a raspy voice…
"Protect the princess, that's all I ask of you." "Yes sir." the newly-born skeleton nodded as he approached the cradle. Huka vanished from the crowd as the cow-head Dry Bones waved hello and the 6-month old laughed. "Hello little guy, my name is Cattleskull. This kingdom is all yours, whatever it is you want, I'll make sure we get it for you…" the baby giggled some more then she grabbed one of the bones from the cradle and sucked on it like a bottle. "You must be hungry Princess, does anyone have any food from beyond?" Cattleskull called out to the crowd as they checked their pockets for anything resembling a bite to eat.
One of the Dry Bones raised their hand and revealed a mushroom they found in the grasslands. "A Super Mushroom? I guess that could work…" Cattleskull feeds the strange polka-dot mushroom to the baby and suddenly she grew a bit in size and her single strand of hair turned into a full bed of short dark blue hair. She kept giggling despite this and the other skeletons scratched their heads knowing that this came from the outside of their cave…
"Okay crew, we need to get the place all ready for when the princess takes her first steps, we've got so much to teach her and all the time in the world to do it! Let's go!" Cattleskull took charge as the skeletons cleaned the damage done to their home to the best of their ability. Cattleskull took great care of the baby surviving off of the foods the bone warriors would bring, and he taught her everything he knew to defend himself.
As a one-year old, Skullheart was struggling to grasp the concept of fighting as she tumbled about trying to stand up straight. Cattleskull always caught her as she fell, but she never gave up. She quickly mastered the art of stabbing someone with a bone, it made Cattleskull rattle a bit and it made him smile.
"Princess, you're doing magnificent! Keep this up and you'll be a warrior just like the others!" "Wah...wah... wah...re...er... war...e...er... warrior!" The baby said with a smile, her first word was warrior, and she knew she was ready to know it all. Cattleskull nearly teared up upon knowing that she's growing old so fast. At the age of 2, she threw bones faster than lighting, even Cattleskull was astounded by this and he clapped for her.
"Wow! You're doing fantastic! Keep this up, and you'll be in the big leagues already!" She fell over again but Cattleskull accidentally forgot to catch her. She didn't cry, she just laughed at the predicament she was in, completely unaware of the sharp pain in her knees from the bone fragments on the floor. "That was fun!" She said playfully as Cattleskull sighed with relief.
At the age of three, she recently learned how fun it is to watch skeletons walk by and do things she knew she could do. She lifted heavy things, practiced blocking attacks, and she even broke a stone with a long bone weapon with one whack. "W-Whoa! Easy there mistress, you've still got lots to learn!" Cattleskull reminded her with an embarrassed look on his face.
"I shall call this; Spine-Crusher! My most trusty weapon for hitting things!" The baby shouted as she held the bone into the air, Cattleskull really felt proud of her skills and experience, and yet she hasn't even grown old enough to understand how the world works. But still, Cattleskull felt like a father to Skullheart, and he supported her all the time.
At the age of five, when the baby knew almost everything about combat, she was finally allowed outside the cave, and it was a sight to behold. There it stood, the hot deserted canyon filled with bones, dust and rocks of unusual shapes and sizes. The morning sun blasted down extreme heat, even more than the sourcing hot deserts, but the princess didn't mind. She adapted to this extreme heat and to her it felt like a regular sun.
"Welcome to the Skullheart Kingdom, named after you of course, Skullheart." Cattleskull introduced her with a smile on his face. "Wow, look at all of this space! It's like you can put a castle or two here! Uncle Cattleskull, this place is amazing!" Cattleskull coughed after he saw his mistress jump up and down frantically. "I beg your pardon mistress, but I'm not your uncle, I'm your loyal assistant." Cattleskull bowed to Skullheart as she scratched her head in confusion.
"Um, if you aren't my uncle, then where are my parents?" When she asked that, Cattleskull shook a bit trying to get the words out, he felt like he was about to fall apart as he tried to muster a word or two: "W-Well, I'm not really supposed to tell you this b-but—" "Aw it doesn't matter! I have a whole kingdom all to myself! Isn't that amazing Cattleskull?"
"Oh, yes! That is amazing y'know! Not many people get this sort of honor anymore, nowadays they have to share their kingdom with some other dope!" Cattleskull caught his breath as he just managed to dodge a bullet. Skullheart spun around with glee as she laid down on the dusty ground laughing to herself.
Skullheart kept chuckling as she saw something in the sky. It was a heart shaped projectile aiming straight for her. She jumped out of the way as the heart didn't crash, but rather it stopped when it was near the ground. Both Skullheart and Cattleskull looked at the strange heart floating above the ground. It was a glowing pink heart full of positive energy, an emotion fueled shape with all the love in the world inside it.
"What is this thing?" Cattleskull shook in fear knowing that this was indeed a relic unlike anything he had seen before. "It's a heart you dummy." Skullheart sounded wondered while she turned her head in confusion at the same time. "I know what it looks like Mistress, but this is unlike anything I've ever seen before! Where did it come from?" Cattleskull scratched his head. "The sky." Skullheart was certainly captain obvious during her youth, because she said that coldly thinking that Cattleskull doesn't know what a heart looks like.
"I know where it fell! I, I just don't know what to make of all this…" Cattleskull said blushing and stumped. Skullheart bounced up and down knowing that this means what she thinks it means: "Does this mean we get to finally see the wizard? You told me that the wizard only speaks when he finds a super...uh, super…?" "A supernatural crisis?" Cattleskull corrected. Skullheart clapped in response: "Yeah! A supernatural cry-sis! Now we can see him right? Please!" Cattleskull could only shrug and hope that Huka wouldn't tell her everything about herself yet, for now wasn't the time…
"Well, I guess we have no choice…" "Yay! We're going to see the wizard!" Skullheart jumped up and down as Cattleskull carefully carried the heart with a special bone cage surrounding it. He placed the cage between his two horns as Skullheart raced him over the dusty hills and past the skeletons who haven't been revived yet. They arrived at a wooden house, it had been burned, crushed, shoved, torn down, and put back together so many times that even the smallest stomp can tear it all down again.
Cattleskull gently opens the fragile door, the two of them tiptoe hoping not to step on any loose boards. They enter a room with almost nothing inside it. The walls were a pale grey, the floor had a magic carpet that lost it's magic, and two candles stood on each side of the carpet. The candle flames glowed blue as the cloaked skeleton was meditating in their presence. Cattleskull bowed with respect while Skullheart never got the memo she was supposed to.
"Oh great Huka, we seek your wisdom at this troubling time of need. For you see, this strange positive figure appeared on the day Princess Skullheart was allowed outside the caves. Was it a sign, a symbol of inspiration? We need your help oh great one, what should we do with this enchanted object?" Cattleskull spoke wisely as he knew that Huka wouldn't pass up on an opportunity to bestow his advice upon him. Skullheart just tapped her foot waiting for the magic to happen.
Then, in a crashing thunder strike that shook the house still, the eyes of the beholder glowed green as he presented his knowledge of this strange heart: "This is a treasure so powerful it can disrupt the balance of nature if handled improperly. Now that you hold the Heart of Eternity, you must protect this with your lives. On the Princess's 8th birthday, I shall present the gift to help defend such a treasure. Until then, you must teach the girl the full extent of her power, teach her how to revive and conjure, and one day she'll be a magnificent leader."
Cattleskull understood every word Huka said. He knew Skullheart wanted to be a stronger ruler, and now he gets to teach her how to use her powers in ways she couldn't think about before. Skullheart felt internally confused as she walked out scratching her head. Cattleskull nodded in response as Huka's eyes stopped glowing, and he became motionless again. As they carefully exit the gray windowless house, shaking and sputtering all the way, Skullheart taps her forehead with two fingers as she closed her eyes and tries to process what just happened.
"Oh man. Princess Skullheart, this relic is even more important than we thought. It's not just a heart, it's a wicked combination of all the kindness and love in the world! Something this powerful shouldn't have landed here and yet it did!" Cattleskull said staring at the cage with the heart inside. "I dunno Cattleskull, the wizard wasn't very magical at all. All he did was sit there and spout out nonsense, I can't understand a word he's saying…"
Normally a five-year-old girl not understanding something was alright with Cattleskull, but this was the knowledge of an ancient skeleton that rarely ever wakes up, not understanding that was comparable to not understanding the alphabet. "B-But Skullheart! That was the ancient tribal wisdom of Polka Huka the Second, the wisest being in the universe, that can't be nonsense!" Cattleskull said rattling his bones in a fit of frustration.
"Maybe not entirely nonsense, I definitely heard we're supposed to protect this thing, and that you'll teach me how to breathe fire or something." Skullheart tapped her chin with her index finger as Cattleskull regained his composure. "It's not just about breathing fire, Mistress, if you want to be the ruler of our army, you'll have to learn how to use 'Underworld Fire'. A fire that never burns out until the user stops it themselves, it can engulf its victims with the feeling of the dead or it can bring them back from it. But most importantly, when fully mastered, one can even achieve immortality, the will to never die."
Skullheart immediately understood what immortality meant for her, and she went back to bouncing and cheering: "Immortality? Does that mean I can live forever? If so, I'll be happy to train with you and protect the heart of good things!" Cattleskull smiled when he saw her flaring passion, he was all too familiar with that upbeat smile to stay mad at her: "I always knew you had a knack for excitement! I can tell you'll make an excellent addition to the Skullheart family legacy, now let's begin!"
And thus the training began, Cattleskull showed her the basics by first enabling her to use the 'Fire-Hand' technique first taught by an ancient sun god. She read the ancient language of the tablet and mastered the technique as Cattleskull taught her the second part of her playing with fire.
"Okay Skullheart, it takes a defying death to ignite that underworld flame, so I want you to fall down a cliff and feel the rush of the air as death approaches you." Cattleskull told her as she looked into a strangely bottomless pit. She looked back at Cattleskull as she then says: "Am I gonna die?" Cattleskull was a bit nervous at first, but Skullheart clearly knew she was ready for this, so he decided to let her do it for the sake of learning.
"If you keep worrying about that, you will. This pit has brought out the powers of most of your ancestors and their powers, if it'll work for them, it'll work for you. Just embrace death, give it a gentle hug, but not too gentle or else it won't work." Overexcited due to her finally getting blue fire, she jumped into the pit and shouted cheerfully as she felt the wind in her hair as she plunged herself into the abyss.
She didn't feel any fear, with zero doubt about what might happen next, she felt death rushing you to greet her but she hasn't noticed it yet, that smile never left her face as her orange fire started turning a dark blue color. A long boney hand grabbed Skullheart's ripped shirt and then pulled her back up fast as lightning. Cattleskull clapped for her as she landed perfectly on her seat where she hadn't before. This was a clear sign of development for her, no one has ever mastered Underworld Fire so quickly before, she was just that excited to make her mark on the world.
At the age of seven, she found herself constructing nearly everything out of skeletons, relighting old skeleton flames that went out, and even achieving incredible speeds that have her spin so fast she almost drilled through the ground. Finally, after eight long years, and on the day of Skullheart's birthday, she had fully mastered Cattleskull's teachings and had already built a skeleton brute about the size of a Koopa King.
Cattleskull patted Skullheart on the back with respect as Skullheart smiled while eating some chicken and mushrooms. "Skullheart, I'm so proud of you. No one has ever mastered the Underworld Fire so effortlessly, how'd you do it?" Skullheart was in her dark blue princess gown as she thrusted her finger into one of her ears and plucked earwax out of it. She flicked it into the trash can before saying: "I have no idea, I guess I'm just that special to this place aren't I?" "Here comes the cake!" said the giant bone figure who brought a cake in a box.
"Wow! You even got cake Dry Golem!? Where on Earth did you get this stuff?" Skullheart sounded amazed as the Dry Golem looked confused. "Um, it was a peace offering. Some little guys gave it to me and I called in backup thinking it was a trap, but nope, it was just cake." Skullheart's mouth was drooling as the box opened up to reveal a nice, neat, vanilla cake with pink frosting with a picture of a mushroom with eyes on it. There were eight bone candles, each with a blue flame on it, like an improvised candlelight.
Before she could blow it out, a stray Dry Bones brought in a pile of bones in a rusty shopping cart. "Chester! I knew you would remember my birthday this year!" Skullheart said in delight, Cattleskull scratched his head wondering what kind of skeleton was that. Chester rubbed his back in embarrassment as he chuckled a bit before remembering what he was about to say. "Hehe, of course I wouldn't forget this time, but this was actually a gift from the mighty Huka."
Skullheart felt turned off as her excitement quickly turned into disappointment considering her last meeting with him. "Huh? That boring wizard guy? Send it back." Chester shook his head and explained himself "Sorry lady, Huka demands you use your magic on the gift. Trust me, he'll help you become the best ruler he can be." Skullheart pondered for a moment before she groaned as her hand made an unfamiliar shape. "Ugh, fine. But this better not lecture me or anything…"
Her twitching fingers began to engulf in blue fire as she shot the unmoving skeleton. Suddenly, it sprang to life as it's eyes glowed a dark blue, the color Skullheart was known for. The skeleton formed into a long line of bones that resembled a serpent, the head was shaped like a dragon and had the horns of a bull. Skullheart stared at her present at shock as it introduced itself with a strong male voice.
"My name is Skull-Serpent, I'll teach you how to be the ruler you were always destined to be." Skullheart raised a finger to that voice and asked him: "Can I at least have fun? Cattleskull made his training fun, and that was the reason why I succeeded." "A castle cannot be built without the right choices. I'm afraid you won't be the ruler you want to be without remaining serious throughout the many tasks at hand."
Skullheart simply scoffed at that response and said with confidence: "Snake guy, I can assure you that I will never stop having fun, I have the capability to rule and have fun at the same time. I'd bet you my life if I stop having fun. I'll keep having fun until the cows come home! Because without any fun, what's the point of ruling anything?" And then she blew out the candles and dug into the cake as Cattleskull almost objected to her offer before Skull-Serpent stopped him: "It's best to leave her be Cattleskull, she'll soon see the error of her ways, and when she does, she'll be ready to learn…"
But she never was. Two years after that day, she started to slow down. All those days of skateboarding, crafting, and coming up with creative ways of putting together booby traps, eventually came to a halt. She started to get bored as Cattleskull kept trying to suggest to her over and over that this wasn't the way to live. She kept pacing out of frustration while occasionally knocking herself on the head to come up with an idea, but she had already run out of them. Eventually, she finally gave in and sat on a throne made completely made out of bones.
And although she could eventually hear Skull-Serpent's advice perfectly, she entered a state of boredom where she couldn't help but stay on the throne. When given the opportunity to move, she just chose not to because she'll just sit down here again. Cattleskull tried to convince her that this was for her own good, this only made her more frustrated at herself as she felt her butt glued to her chair.
The princess who wanted nothing more than entertainment while learning has been slowly but surely letting this take a toll on her mentality. Any sort of charm that made Skullheart fun to be with was turning into mental instability due to everything she was put through since she started. Things got even worse for her after five years of boredom…
"Skullheart? Are you there? We just took down another invader…" Cattleskull entered the cave, now filled with spider webs and more dust than before. Cattleskull looked around the cave hoping that she didn't leave, or worse. To his surprise, he saw Skullheart still on the throne, but it was clear that this wasn't the energetic girl she once was.
Her outfit changed as she wore a long blue cape, a dark blue sleeveless shirt that exposed her empty belly, ripped jeans, a set of black boots, and a pair of gloves. She poked at the 'Cape Feather' on her black messy hair as her tired eyes tried to sleep, but she kept herself awake by slapping herself thinking that someone was still teaching her. But nobody was there, no matter what anyone tried, she wouldn't budge. They gave up on her when she gave up on fun. She now knows everything a princess should do, but all she knew what to properly do was 'Sit still and look pretty.'
She used her numb arm to bring forth a human shaped skull to her arm. Her fingers twitched as she began to talk to it as if it was her royal subject. She sounded like she had a hangover, even though she never ate anything ever since she sat foot in that throne: "Say Michael, do you think a princess does anything in this abandoned kingdom?" She moved the skull in her right hand as she mimicked a voice she never heard of: "Nope! All they do is talk about stuff, sleep, and then talk about more stuff. If I were you, I'd leave this forsaken place!"
"Leave!?" She burst as she tossed 'Michael' across the room, Cattleskull was shivering wondering what had happened to the lady he once respected. She spoke again, as she absent-mindedly looked around for no reason: "But he's not done with me, he's never done with me! Any moment now he's going to be teaching me how to write in cursive, or teach me how to sharpen the guillotine blade! Until he's all done with me, I can never leave, he's just taking his sweet time to get here, that's all. I'd bet when he said 'That's all you need to know', he was lying to me. He hasn't shown up because I'm already doing what I'm supposed to, nothing."
She brought the bruised skull back with her magic, and she mimicked the voice again: "Your majesty, with all due respect, I think escaping would be an excellent suggestion right now. You don't want to waste away your life all the time, you already know everything he wants to teach you, why not just go and be yourself?" Skullheart twitched as the bags under her eyes flinched at that statement, she exhaled as she looked at her 'friend' and tossed it away again, this time not as far.
"You don't understand Michael! I'm supposed to stay here to protect my kingdom from invaders who steal the thrones of the riches!" Skullheart shouted in frustration. "But have they ever come for you? When that serpent told you that invaders would take the throne, were there ever any of them to worry about?" asked 'Michael'. At this moment, she figured out that this kingdom was never really explored by anyone else. Thus, there was literally nobody to worry about stealing her throne. Upon realizing this, she knew that there was really nothing else stopping her from leaving. But she couldn't, it was her kingdom, why would she leave her kingdom for something as silly as the concept of fun?
As a kid she always loved fun, but after years of not doing anything remotely appealing to her, and combined with the pressure of having an entire kingdom all to yourself, with no human interaction aside from the skeletons they leave behind, she had completely forgotten how it felt to have fun. She began to chuckle to herself, she wasted her teenage years, and for what? A simple kingdom with nothing to do anymore, wouldn't that just drive one crazy?
As tears flowed down her eyes, she laughed to herself hysterically in a manner that felt forced. She tried to have fun laughing at a joke that nobody told her, but with nothing left for her to do, she snapped. Cattleskull watched in horror as his own mistress was reduced to this hysterical mess of a human being. He knew all along how important fun was to her ever since she was bored with Huka's advice, of all things. He even suggested to Skull-Serpent that he would make things more fun for her, but he ended up getting disciplined for that and ended up taking the wrong side because he thought it was for the best. But deep down inside, he knew that this treatment wasn't for her, and now he felt a shiver up his dry spine, a cold shoulder for letting the princess descend into madness…
Cattleskull approached the princess when she slowed down, and he was shaking and rattling the whole time he was near her. He spoke with pain in his heart, he knew that this was partly his fault, and he had to set her straight: "Skullheart, I appreciate that you were finally taking things seriously for a change, in fact, I'm proud that you learned the proper manners of being a princess, but it's hard to watch you be like this. I always believed you wanted to have fun, and I'm aware that there are a few downsides of being royalty, but you haven't done anything else to the kingdom for five whole years. Look at this place, because you refused to give orders to us, most of the skeletons ran out of flame…"
Skullheart didn't notice for a bit that Cattleskull was talking to her, but after a small delay, she said staring into space: "Does it even matter? I'm stuck here for all eternity, my training isn't over, it never will be…" she said absentmindedly. Cattleskull wouldn't give up on her, so he raised his voice to see if she'll respond: "B-But Mistress, the training ended a long time ago! Don't believe me? Bring forth Skull-Serpent yourself, see if he's got anything else for you…" Cattleskull crossed his arms and waited for Skullheart to bring forth the skeleton. She groaned as she brought Skull-Serpent out of the dirt using her magic.
She stopped moping around, and she sat up straight with a forced smile on her face. Skull-Serpent looked at Skullheart with shock, he wanted to teach her everything he knew about royalty, but he forced her to stop having fun. His aggressive attitude was too much for her and now she had been mentally broken by his boring attitude.
"Greetings loyal subject of the Skullheart Kingdom, I am Princess Skullheart. Please, teach me everything you know, I want to know everything about everything. I do not wish to live in a world where fun exists, fun is for goddamn motor mouths who would rather keep their mouth shut than to let it blab on about nonsense. All work and no play makes Skullheart a dull woman, what does it matter? The word 'play' is just a figment of one's imagination, boredom always comes first, there is no such thing as freedom. So, Skull-Serpent, my ever-faithful trustworthy twelve foot dragon snake, shall we begin again?"
Skull-Serpent didn't know what to say, Skullheart said all that for no reason but to greet him. She took his training too far, and he pushed her too hard as well. In response, Skull-Serpent said to her in his stern voice: "Lady Skullheart! You haven't done a single thing to benefit the kingdom since I said our training was done!" Skullheart covered her ears and talked back like a mindless drone: "What does it matter? You said I had to do nothing but sit and talk about politics and laws. And that's all I'll ever do. I haven't eaten anything, I haven't done anything, I didn't get any sleep, I hate myself for thinking about nothing, but I did it knowing that it'll make my family proud. Why did my family have such boring lives?"
"She's been like this for who-knows how long, I tried to tell you to let her have some fun with the job, but no, 'You are in no position to speak to me that way!'. Do you now see that even though I appreciate her doing the right thing, she's thinking that this is her life now..." Cattleskull said with a frown. Skull-Serpent knew what was best for the kingdom ever since he was forged, but now that his only princess has gone mad with boredom, he felt responsible for her descent.
"Skullheart… The kingdom is in ruin, you haven't done anything to stop it, why is that?" Skullheart looked at the serpent with her legs tired as heck as she replied: "You said it yourself; 'Do not leave this throne, it is your sacred place that proves you are the princess. If someone were to steal it, it could spell doom for our kingdom.' I'm doing just as you said, and now you're angry about me not doing anything? And you say I have problems…" "Skullheart, the truth is there never was anyone trying to steal your throne. I was just so paranoid that someone might come, so I prepared you for it. It seems that I taught you too wel-"
Skullheart interrupted Skull-Serpant as she snapped and pounded the throne she was on and screamed violently and hysterically. It made both skeletons jump at the sight of her sudden anger: "NONSENSE!! There's always someone trying to steal my throne! You two don't even know it, but I'm at war against someone who has admired the throne for a very long time! The reason I never left this chair was because that guy was always eight steps ahead of me, placing his filthy webs all over the seat! He thinks he can mark his property by placing webs all over my goddamn throne!? And just when you think you got 'em, he has like seventy-hundred twin brothers and sisters just waiting to avenge him!" She points at three of the skeleton heads on the floor and keeps screaming...
"And don't even get me started with Michael! He's a goddamn traitor! He ratted me out to the spiders one time, and I still wouldn't forgive him! Louis is fine, but his evil twin brother Carl is the worst human being I've ever seen! He stares at people like a creep, and he never looks away no matter what I do! I freaking hate his guts, I just wish I could smash his head, but I can't because this stupid chair won't let me go!!" She took deep breaths over and over as she looked at her subjects with tears and a twitch in her eyes.
"That's why I don't leave! If any of these naysayers get to me, they'll dethrone me the first chance I get, and I'll never be special to you again! That's why I have no time to play games, because if I do, everyone will just take my throne and I won't be a princess anymore! This is my kingdom, and my kingdom alone! It doesn't matter how many lives are lost to the likes of these insects and those bones-for-brains, if ANYONE takes away my throne, I'll chop them to pieces! I'll make their lives as miserable as the Underwhere, I shall grab their rotting corpse, snap their neck in two and brutally beat them upside the head with 'Spine-Crusher'! I'll watch guts and gore fly toward me as they wish they never wanted to take my throne, and if they try to retaliate, I'll bury their sorry faces in every damn bone I have! Their cold hard fingers will grasp the poor victim's flesh-filled face as they plunge them into the ground where he'll rot and become my puppet! A puppet that'll be hung against a wall that contains the Kings and queens who dared to defy my rule! You say your training is not done yet Skull-Serpent, BUT YOU CLEARLY NEVER TOLD ME HOW MANY WAYS I CAN KILL SOMEONE WHO DARES TO STEAL MY THRONE FROM MY NUMB ACHING BODY!!!"
Skullheart kept taking deep breaths as the two skeletons stared at the monster they brought out in her. Cattleskull's bottom jaw fell to the ground as he gasped at her shifted personality. While he picked it back up, Skull-Serpent thought about what his teachings had done to her. He didn't know she would be affected this way, he thought she was just being childish, but everything he did to make her listen hasn't been good for the princess's mental health.
At first he tried to get her attention with a regretful tone of voice: "Skullheart. I know you'd paid attention to my words, and yet you chose not to take action against anything but invasions?" Cattleskull got his jaw on straight and followed up on that statement: "To be fair Skull-Serpent, the only invaders we'd get are these weak little mushroom folk."
Skull-Serpent then tried using his rage to counter her mentality: "That doesn't excuse your insolence! Why aren't you doing anything to benefit the kingdom!? We are all slowly losing strength because you never answer our pleas for help! You heard them scream as they drew their last breath, you knew that they were losing the will to live, and yet you've done nothing to help them! What do you have to say for yourself, young lady!?"
Skullheart only replied in a broken tone, she's seen him act this way hundreds of times, and once that happens it gets pretty old. Now, she doesn't fear him anymore, looking at him like this reminded her of all the fun she lost because of him, so she had a few complaints of her own. So she gritted her teeth making a noise that resembled an animal growl, Cattleskull stepped back a few steps while shaking, and Skullheart's eyes were twitching up a storm as she began to lose her composure again...
"Who cares about the subjects anymore? They were all too pathetic to even stay alive longer than you two have. Seriously! You two outlasted them all because of your sworn duty to 'protect' me! But you just shoved down barrels of knowledge down my aching throat, and any time I tried anything remotely fun, you would freaking beat me over the head because of it! Being royalty sucks! Just because you command them doesn't mean you'd get to do anything fun! You think you can punish me for having fun!? I am the goddamn princess of the Skullheart Kingdom!! You don't have to keep telling me what to do, BECAUSE ONLY A HALF-BRAINED MASOCHISTIC MANIAC WOULD LOOK FOR YOUR GODDAMN ADVICE!!! You are not in the position to complain to a freaking princess, I've had it with your anger management issues, it's about time I taught you something for a change!!"
She held her hand out in front of her and Skull-Serpent began to sputter and shake. Skullheart closed her fist as the blue flame in his eyes expired and the body parts fell to the dusty rocky ground. Cattleskull's teeth chattered as he watched the unmoving head of the servant get picked up by the mad princess. She could only laugh at this predicament as she started to crush the skull with one hand; she couldn't do it yet, she didn't have the strength to crush a real skull, and this one was as hard as a rock. She was still smiling for a bit feeling like she was in control of herself again.
"Ahahah, you don't understand how long I had to put up with you and resist the urge to goof off! I thought this was about my heritage, but now I'm thinking that you said all that junk just so I can be prepared for something that'll never happen! Well you know what? You got a lot of nerve to scream in my ear for a long time! Your advice wasn't that useless y'know! You said it yourself; 'Royalty shall not be harmed in any form, anyone who dares to oppose the ruler…'"
She opened the mouth of Skull-Serpent and pulled his bottom jaw to the left and his upper jaw to the right, thus it became dislocated. She then squeezed the right horn of the creature so hard that it broke. Finally, she placed the skull beneath her feet and as she stomped on it, she recited the last part of what he said about harming royalty in a voice that felt as cold as the cave itself: " '...gets punished.'…!"
Cattleskull stared at his mistress in shock as he was chewing on his non-existent fingernails. He had never seen Skullheart this cruel before, and he really never thought he'd see his beloved princess go down this path. Skullheart picked up the cracked skull and threw it at a nearby spider in another sudden outburst. She let loose a chuckle while simultaneously letting her rage fly as she reactivated Skull-Serpent as the spider climbed on top of him.
When his eyes glowed blue, he couldn't reassemble himself. He tried as he might, but Skullheart kept his body from moving. When he looked at her from the dusty floor, his pupils shrunk, and he witnessed a terrible side of her he had never seen before. She was chuckling and growling to herself as her aggressive eyes looked at the spider who was slowly walking towards the throne. She pointed her signature bone weapon at the spider and spoke in a voice of demand and instability…
"You stupid snake, make yourself useful for once and kill the intruder. If you don't then I shall execute you for disobeying your princess. That is what you taught me right? You already hurt me, several hundred times, which makes you a criminal. The only way to prove your servitude to me is to slaughter anyone who dares to take my throne, starting with this squirming fool. I would do it myself, but I can't. 'A princess must never resort to violence towards criminal action.' remember? Only you can accomplish such a feat. Or are you as boring as that dumb wizard who created you? I bet he's laughing his butt off right now seeing that he finally had his revenge for me not looking up to him. HE DOESN'T DESERVE TO EXIST!! ALL HE DID WAS BORE ME WITH NONSENSE, AND THEN HE BROUGHT YOU INTO MY LIFE!!! If you really are something I can look up to, prove it then. Kill this fiend who dares to approach the throne of the skeleton princess, or I'll make the rest of your eternity a living hell."
Skull-Serpent couldn't believe she would be so cruel. He pushed her to be like this, and he was completely unaware that she would snap this hard. She even insulted his creator in such a brutal way, that he felt angry at himself for giving her that impression. He looked at Cattleskull, still shivering in complete fear, and with no other choice, he roared blue fire at the spider and watched it burn with no more objections to Skullheart.
She laughed maniacally at the spider's ashes as Cattleskull just stood there speechless, this was Skullheart's potential as a ruler, and now that Skull-Serpent has awakened it out of her, he couldn't get any words out, she was just too much of a tyrant for him to handle. In utter shame, Skull-Serpent finally understood Skullheart's untapped potential. And with such an easy to anger princess, he finally pulled his skeleton back together and bowed in despair and acceptance…
"Princess Skullheart, you have truly blossomed into someone who will rule with absolute justice. I have underestimated your capabilities until now, and now that I've been shamed, you have officially passed the final test of your training. Your training is officially over, and now you can do whatever you want, but please be aware of the stakes should you decide to ignore my teachings." Skullheart couldn't process that statement correctly, she thought it was another trick, so she kicked Skull-Serpent as hard as she could and his skeleton fell apart again.
"That is nonsense! Nonsense I say! My training is never done! What if the spider's amalgamate into one huge being, or the kingdom suddenly blows up, or if Micheal suddenly reveals that I haven't taken a bath in so long that I smell like prehistoric junk food! I can't be done now, I'll never be done now, there's so much I don't know that it's driving me up the wall! From now on I shall stay on my seat until I know everything in the universe, then, and only then, will I be able to leave knowing everything I need to know about what I have to know! Don't forget, the Heart of Eternity is at stake, leaving this Kingdom with the heart still here would be a death sentence! Cattleskull, use your flame to start up the other skeletons. Skull-Serpent, tell me every single thing you've ever known so that a princess like me is ready for every possible thing. And you Carl! Somebody please kill Carl already, send him to the gallows for all I care!"
She was deranged, paranoid, and still unable to accept that her training is done, but she did it because fun will get her nowhere. Now wasn't the time for fun, it was an endless supply of knowledge that'll take too long for her to memorize it all. Skullheart had gone from an energetic little girl into a psychopathic princess who doesn't appreciate the fun she once had. She felt good burning invading bugs, tormenting other skeletons for failing even the smallest things (aside from Cattleskull, he's too nice), and abused Skull-Serpent on occasion to teach him his place. She was dead set on finishing her training, even if it was already done a long time ago…
Three days later, she had known several new languages, differing situations, and new monsters that she's never seen before. She was busy reading a 500-page cookbook, and she wasn't letting up anytime soon. Cattleskull felt worried about Skullheart's unnatural thirst for knowledge, normally she wouldn't do this kind of stuff, but Skullheart is training 24/7, ignoring any signs of sleep, and is just lucky she had already achieved immortality before she did all this.
"I don't know Skull-Serpent, don't you think that Skullheart is going a bit too far with her training?" He looked at Skull-Serpent near the throne, and Cattleskull's jaw dropped again. Skull-Serpent was chained to the throne as he chuckled a bit to himself, it looked a bit unnerving coming from a dislocated jaw, but that wasn't the only thing that broke…
"That's ridiculous. Mistress Skullheart has never been this thrilled about education, she doesn't care about life or death, she just wants to get the rest of her 'training' done even if it takes forever! And the best part is, she is completely aware that the Kingdom is slowly rotting away. Don't you see!? We'll all die if she doesn't finish her training!" Skull-Serpent cackled as he had clearly gone insane due to Skullheart's rough treatment on him. Cattleskull knew he deserves it for taking away what was important to Skullheart, but he still knew enough to know that this kingdom is in bad shape. It was only a matter of time before Cattleskull himself would go insane…
Just then, a Dry Bones blasted through the entrance to the cave which made Skullheart jump, who instantly disregarded the training she gave herself, and worried the other two skeletons. "Mistress Skullheart, Mistress!" the Dry Bones said in a panic. Skullheart couldn't help but smile, because whenever someone is that worried about something, it must mean one thing; An invasion!
"Chester? He's exhausted! Does this mean what I think it means!?" She bounced up and down in her seat as she watched the lone Dry Bones catch his breath. "Mistress, you have to help us! There are three invaders trying to steal the Heart of Eternity!" "What did they look like Chester?" "Two Paisanos and a big Koopa monster!" Cattleskull felt sour just hearing the word Koopa, because when there's Koopas, there's trouble…
"A Koopa monster!? That's the worst kind of Koopa! We can't let them steal the Heart of Eternity!" Cattleskull began to shiver while Skullheart was rocking the throne back and forth as she had a serious mood swing: "Oh boy! I can't wait to smash their heads in! But I can't leave now or else the spiders will take the throne! But then again, it's been so long since I smashed something! And Dave, he's not even dead yet is he!?"
Skullheart kept trying to overcome her bloodlust for fun, but the temptation was getting too strong. Skull-Serpent had to step in to help somehow, despite his mentality ill state, he slipped out of the chain as he told her: "Not to worry Skullheart, me and Dry Golem will take care of those intruders. Summon an Underhand to bring the heart to you in case something goes wrong." "Okay!" Skullheart said as she used her magic to cause an arm made entirely out of bone to appear out of the ground with the heart, still caged and full of energy, it was like a lightbulb that never went out.
"Okay, Skullheart you have to be ready to fight for your life. These Koopa monsters are nothing but trouble, if you don't do something about this, then they'll have the chance to steal what is rightfully ours!" Cattleskull pointed out as Skullheart was giggling with excitement. "I know! I finally get to take down someone, aw but I'd bet they'll never get past Skull-Serpent. If he can lecture me into submission, he can do the same to those invaders!" "Um boss lady?" Dry Golem says while concerned about something.
"Yeah?" "Mistress, they took down Skull-Serpent!" Cattleskull gasped as Skullheart absentmindedly twirled her bone in her right hand. She blushed as the fun was finally coming to her, she chuckled to herself knowing this and she started ranting to herself: "I should've known that Skull-Serpent was dull in body and mind. He's always been so useless, why did I expect more from someone like him? He's utterly hopeless, he can't do anything but blab on and on while telling me my right arm is evil? That's ridiculous, why should I be proud of him after everything he's done…!"
"Don't you worry about a thing Skullheart, we still have Dry Golem on our side, all we can do is pray that he doesn't lose to that Koopa!" Cattleskull reassured the princess as Skullheart started laughing out of joy. Cattleskull thought that things couldn't be worse, but just as he was finished thinking about that, they heard the sound of Dry Golem falling apart, as signified by the regular noise that a skeleton makes when broken up, and the big plops on the ground.
Cattleskull, with huge concern for his own health, screamed as he ran behind the throne for safety. Skullheart on the other hand was giggling like a madman, she finally got to do some action herself, and she wasn't going to stop herself anymore. But still, the rules conflicted her desires, so she decided to wait and see if these intruders meant good or bad for her Kingdom. If they meant bad, she'll disregard the no violence rule, but that would mean she would have to learn it all over again. But she didn't care, someone really powerful was about to enter the cave and she was really looking forward to it.
The boulder door was pushed out of the way revealing two plumbers and a Koopa king. The first paisano was short, and he had red clothing and blue overalls with a spring in his step and a courageous smile, the second paisano was tall and skinny with green clothing and also blue overalls, he was a bit more scared than the plumber in red, but looked up for the challenge. Both paisanos had hats and mustaches, but the main attraction for Skullheart was the big Koopa Monster in the room. He was twice the size of the paisanos, with a wicked glare in his eyes, he looked ready for a fight!
Skullheart only focused on the Koopa as she cried out pointing her 'Spine-Crusher' at him with a wicked grin on her face: "Aahhh!! Monster!!" the green one jumped when he heard that, but the red one was equally surprised as there was another princess he didn't know about. "W-what!? Where?!" the green one shouted looking around for anything out of the ordinary, but he quickly looked at the Koopa and sighed with relief.
"Whoa, princess! Calm down!" the red one was trying to reassure her that everything was going to be okay. She raised an eyebrow as she heard the monster complain about something: "Yeah! Might I ask about that bone army that tried to kill us?" Skullheart would greet someone with an overly long explanation like a proper princess should, but she completely forgot her training at the moment as she explained why her army was hostile to the trio…
"Don't blame me for almost getting you killed, my army is quite protective of me! Anyways, greetings, my name is Princess Skullheart, now back off monster!" she pointed her weapon at the Koopa again as he just began to pick up that she's targeting him. "You're talking about me?" "Yeah, who else is there?" The Koopa crossed his arms after she said that as he cleared things up for the princess. "Chill out princess, I'm (begrudgingly) a hero now."
When she heard the word 'hero', this made her drop her weapon, forget everything she was told about invaders, and bounced up and down on her seat. As a child, she was aware of the existence of heroes, and now that she's looking at a Koopa hero, she couldn't control herself as she expressed her hype for the three heroes. "*Gasp* A hero? Oh wow, I love those kinds of people! Heroes always go out, have an adventure, and save the day all the time! Man, if I was a hero just like you then I would just leave this place and never return!"
Secretly, Cattleskull hoped she was bluffing when she said that, but the green one talked before he could figure out a way out of this predicament: "That's right! And you're looking at two of the greatest heroes out there! M-my n-name's Luigi!" Luigi raised his cap to the princess and his brother bowed as he introduced himself as well: "And it's-a-me, Mario."
"Well it's a pleasure to meet you two paisanos! And what's your name, monster dude?" Skullheart pointed at the Koopa as he made his dramatic introduction in the presence of a princess, it was almost as if he had a knack for talking to princesses.
"Who am I? Young lady, you are looking at the 'King of the Koopas', the 'Master of disaster', and future ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom! They call me, BOWSER!!!" he had her at 'Mushroom Kingdom'. She knew that mushroom she ate as a baby was from a far-off place, but when she heard that sentence, she was completely sold with coming with them, but she still had her kingdom to watch over, so she felt conflicted again.
"The Mushroom Kingdom? I thought that place was a myth! I've always wanted to go there, but a princess has the responsibility of watching her OWN kingdom, and there's so many rules and things I don't know yet, but then again I would just learn it all elsewhere! Is there a reason you guys would want my help?" "Well…" Mario tried to explain, but a strange black and purple fungus head popped out of a pile of bones.
The Bros and Bowser screamed as Skullheart was somehow amazed by the sight of the thing but couldn't express it in a scream. Then the rest of the figure revealed himself to be a small child-like creature with a bluish purple mushroom head and a small chubby body. "No, wait you guys, it's me BT!" Luigi sighed with relief again as Mario was surprised to see the mushroom here. But Skullheart was still trying to process who the little guy was.
"Blue Toad! How did you find us?" Mario asked. "I used a Warp Whistle to catch up, but you gotta head back to the Mushroom Kingdom! We're all in serious trouble!" Blue Toad screamed as he shook in fear. Skullheart wasn't in on the loop, so she just smiled at the cute mush-head. "Aw! Who's this adorable little guy?" "Oh that's just one of those fungus faces. Get used to it, because that's all you'll see from the actual Mushroom Kingdom." Bowser said bored, but Skullheart couldn't care less about the details.
"Toad! What's the matter?" Mario asked a little worried about BT. "Well, Captain Toad told me that something terrible has happened to the princess!" the Bros were used to bad news like this, but for some reason, this wasn't the best time to hear that from a Toad. "Oh no!!" Luigi cried. Skullheart thought up several ways that could explain why this other princess might be in trouble.
"Lemme guess, evil spirit, murder, perhaps a crime?" Bowser came clean about something as he felt ashamed for himself for one of his biggest plans yet: "No! *Sigh* I tortured Peach into loving me, but apparently something went wrong and she mentally snapped." "What? You are one lonely monster if you think you're gonna win a girl's heart like that!" She smiled and elbowed Bowser as he blushed with shame. The Bros were still trying to get to the bottom of what Blue Toad knows.
"*Gulp* W-what happened to Peach?" Luigi was afraid to find out. "Tell us everything you know!" Mario demanded with great concern. Blue Toad did his best to explain the dire situation: "Well, according to Captain Toad, Peach used the Ztar to change the entire Kingdom into something horrible! I had no idea what happened to her, but all the Toads have been horribly mutated! All of them except Captain Toad and me, I disguised myself as one of them to find a way to get close enough. Unfortunately she wanted to give me a letter to give to you! I haven't read it yet but it might be a trap!"
"Thanks Toad. The letter looks normal…" Mario said as he looked at the note. The message written on there wasn't very sane, and yet it felt familiar like the princess he once knew. He passed the message around once he was done with it, and the reactions weren't the best to say the least; Luigi reacted with shivers of fear, Bowser felt angry as he nearly crushed the paper with his bare hands for letting her get like this, Blue Toad was just as scared as Luigi was, but Skullheart understood every word of that note. She was a tyrant, a wicked evil princess, fueled with vengeance and insanity. For Skullheart, it felt somewhat familiar reading the words of a psychopath.
"Ohhh... Mario Brothers, you've always been good to me regardless of how you truly feel about me. But, to prevent Bowser from ever kidnapping me again, I've unlocked the Ztar's true potential and then spread its power across the kingdom. But, why stop at my kingdom? Surely many other kingdoms have princesses who need saving too. If I use the Ztar's power on the entire world, then no one else will suffer the same fate as I did. I'll even kidnap Bowser just to see how he likes it! I hope you love the changes I've made to the Kingdom, because I don't think I'll be letting it go anytime soon. See you later 'brothers'." the crew finished reading the letter as Luigi expressed his fright: "This is terrible!"
"Yeah! That was my Ztar she's using!" Bowser angrily stated, but Mario turned to Skullheart while he said: "No, we have to save Peach, from herself! Skullheart, do you have the Peachy Soul Heart?" The heart? Mario demanded the very treasure that Skullheart found in her kingdom, the familiar peach-shaped heart was right behind Skullheart, and she had every reason not to give it to them.
The first one being that they might still be invaders, but then again the feeling of possibly going on an adventure, added to the fact that she'll finally taste freedom again, was too ridiculously amazing to say no. So she pulled out the very treasure she swore to protect, and absent-mindedly showed it to them: "What, this thing? I found it when it fell out of the sky."
"That's it! That's the Peachy Soul Heart! Thanks lady, we'll take it from here!" Bowser said pointing to himself like a boss, but Skullheart wasn't going to just sit there without a treasure, so she finally stood up from her throne, and she exclaimed madly to the crew: "No wait! I'll come with you to assist with killing the mad princess!" Mario felt a little awkward knowing that this princess wants to murder his own princess, but Mario made sure she knew that this wasn't an assassination, this was a rescue.
"Um, let's just stick with saving her from insanity." "*Sigh* fine…" Skullheart said turned off, but still felt excited for her first ever mission. "Wait a second... How do we get back in time!? We'll be too late by the time we get there on foot!" Luigi panicked before the eight younger Koopas showed up, each of them looking different from one another, and reported to Bowser, the big Koopa.
"Don't worry, Ludwig just recently installed a hyperdrive into Bowser's Clown Car. It'll be a tight fit, but we'll be guaranteed to make it back in time if we can all fit!" Said the one with light blue hair. "Aw yeah! You guys are the best kids ever!" Bowser cheered as the one who looks like him, but smaller, rides in on his smaller Clown Car. "What about me? Do I get any cool upgrades?" "Don't sweat it Junior, I picked up a power star on the way here, it should give you the exact turbo power the hyperdrive has." said the dark blue haired one. "Cool!" Junior said with a smirk.
"I call Bowser Jr's car!" Blue Toad jumped in the small car along with Luigi...: "Me too!" and Skullheart: "Ehhh, why not.". Mario and Bowser shared the big one as a wizard Koopa only known as a Magikoopa rode in on his broomstick to tell Bowser: "Lord Bowser! Your army is ready for attack!" "Perfect! Take us to our castle to prepare, and then we'll go near the entrance of the Mushroom Kingdom, the army can handle the rest!" Bowser said as Skullheart knew she had to contribute to the mission at hand.
"Alright! I'll help too using my bone army! Y'know, the very things that tried to kill you earlier?" Bowser looked at Skullheart and realized that her wild nature could be useful for stopping the Ztar's corruption. "Perfect! With my fire and your bones we're unstoppable!" The two wild ones smirked as Blue Toad was still a little scared to head back after what he's been through.
"You'd better not be thinking this is easy! Captain Toad and I barely escaped with our lives back there!" "We have no choice BT, it's all or nothing this time! Let's a-go save Peach!" Mario shouted with confidence. "No, let's a-go save the Mushroom Kingdom!" Luigi said raising his fist as Skullheart got inspired, but Bowser and Bowser Jr added more to the send-off: "Oh for pete's sake, let's save the world!" "So we can conquer it later!" Junior shouted after his father.
This was it, Skullheart was finally going on an adventure, she was finally going to fight without aiming for spiders, and best of all, she was finally going to have fun again! She couldn't be any more happy to fill the hole in her heart and do what she wanted to do a long time ago. The Clown Cars took off as Skullheart used her magic to take almost every skeleton with her. The bones flew into the sky as they landed in Bowser's Clown Car. They got out of the canyon as they entered a deserted wasteland, a place both abandoned and forgotten. Mario, Bowser, and the crew hung on as the hyperdrive activated and the cars dashed into the sunrise and the airship followed suit.
Back at the Skullheart Kingdom, Cattleskull watched every single moment the paisanos were there. He knew that Skullheart would wind up leaving the kingdom someday, but he never expected it to happen now. In desperation, he looked around for any skeletons that she missed, but the only ones still around were Cattleskull, Skull-Serpent, and Huka, who had his house fell over after the hyperdrive blast.
Skull-Serpent, who was outside at the time, looked dizzy. He missed out on what happened in Skullheart's throne, but he surely blamed himself for what had happened to his once proud skeleton body. "Cattleskull, what happened?" "Skullheart… she left the kingdom and took the Heart of Eternity with her." Cattleskull says in despair. "I should've known my teachings would drive her to do this. She's just like her parents, savage like her father, but energetic like her mother. Does she even know why she was chosen to rule this kingdom?"
"Well, she thought it was in the name, but the real reason is much too painful for her to learn. Telling her the truth now would surely drive her deeper into madness, not that she wasn't sane to begin with…" Just then Cattleskull's head rattled unpredictably, he received a message from Huka, and he must go to his broken house for this rare wisdom of his.
Cattleskull approached the skeleton as the mage's eyes glowed green, a clash of thunder hits the rubble as he announces the fate of this kingdom: "The ruler of the kingdom has abandoned her purpose, so until she returns, Skull-Serpent will help rebuild the kingdom. And Cattleskull will be in charge, seeing as though he was Skullheart's personal assistant. The princess may have lost faith in her heritage, but you two must now take the burden upon yourselves. You must focus on returning this kingdom to its former glory, I shall craft new skeletons for you to use so that even if she remembers to summon you, they'll still work until the day they rot. I shall oversee these creatures and if she ever returns, I shall give her the truth of herself. I have high expectations for you Cattleskull, make me proud…"
Huka's eyes stopped glowing again as Cattleskull understood every word of wisdom he was given. He knew that this was the highest honor of all to be selected as the next ruler in line of the Skullheart Kingdom. But still, he had concerns for Skullheart's safety. He knew she couldn't take him with her because she's capable of handling herself with a bunch of people she never even met before. His original mission was to keep Skullheart safe, but he couldn't save her mind in time, so she left the kingdom without looking back.
This whole thing was Huka's creation's fault, but even if he didn't create Skull-Serpent, Skullheart would still abandon the life of a princess. Cattleskull looked into the dark cloudy sky, with non-existent tears in his eyes, as he felt a pain in a heart he never had. Skullheart was gone, and now he has to carry the burden the princess once had. Now tasked with running the entire kingdom, he had to make Skullheart proud by keeping her home safe until she comes back, if she comes back…
"Skullheart, please be careful. There's no telling what horrors will await you beyond the canyon. But even if I have my doubts about your mental health, I'll always believe you'll do what's right, even if it means helping another kingdom with their problems. I'll make you proud Skullheart, it's my duty as your assistant to fix what has been broken. But please, don't make me regret letting you go, I miss you so much…"
To be continued...