Quirrel jolted up in his bed as he heard the explosion. He quickly grabbed his weapon, Dream Blade, and wrapped the belt of it around his waist as he stormed out of his room to the source of the sound. As he ran down the castle hallways, he came up to Toadette, who was also running in the same direction. "What's happening?" he asked as he ran with her.

"The castle is under attack!" she said as she and Quirrel ran down a flight of stairs. "Bowser did a really good job planning this one out."

"Who's- "

"I'll tell ya later."

Toadette and Quirrel were getting close to the source of all the fighting. They could hear several weapons being used, from fire flowers to hammers being thrown. It sounded as if hell opened in the castle. When they turned a corner, they were greeted by two Boomerang Bros, both of which threw their weapons the moment they saw them. They were thankfully quick enough to run back to the safety of the wall. Quirrel saw their weapons go flying back towards them, no doubt they were running toward them.

Toadette expected this, and she brought out a fire flower from her pocket. Her outfit change from bright pink, to bright orange and red. She peaked around the corner and threw two fireballs. The two Boomerang Bros didn't even have time to react before they were nothing but ash.

Quirrel and Toadette continued there to run when they came to the main entrance. It was the source of the noise that echoed throughout the castle. At the entrance multiple Koopa Troopa's and Goomba's came storming in, wrecking everything they saw. At both their left and right there were the stairs. Both of which were blocked off with chairs and cabinets. Peach's troops were using them for cover and while they threw fire and ice at Bowser's men. Bowser's men did the same, using tables and whatever else they could find as cover. It proved useful for the Fire Bros who fired back.

"Wait," said Quirrel "if the enemy is blocked here, then how did those other guys slip by?"

"Oh no." said Toadette.

She looked back down the hallway from where they came. As if on cue more of Bowser's army were storming down the hall toward them. Toadette realized as to how their enemies slip by. They were attacking the castle from all sides. The front door was being held but the rest of the castle must have been surrounded. She and Quirrel ran up to the door and slammed it shut. Both held the door shut while Bowser's men bashed at it from the other side.

"Quirrel, Toadette!" both looked at the person who spoke, it was Peach. "Don't bother with the door! I need you both to protect the Red Flames in the basement! E Gadd can't fight them alone!"

"But what about you?" replied Toadette.

"I'll take care of them! Go, now!"

Neither Quirrel or Toadette like the idea of leaving Peach, but they trusted her, and she had a point. If the captured the Red Flames everything they had accomplished would have been for nothing. They reluctantly left the door and ran for the basement were the Red Flames were kept. The door slammed opened and five Goomba's, six Koopa Troopa's, seven Dry Bones came out and surrounded Peach.

"If we take the flames and kidnap Peach, the boss will double our paycheck!" said one of the five Goombas.

"As if." Peach said through gritted teeth. She pulled out her frying pan and golf club from under her dress and rushed toward her foes. There wasn't a trace of mercy.

Toadette and Quirrel continued their run to the basement. Along the way, they came across many foes all of which they vanquished. A squad of Goomba's, Quirrel knocked them out. Fire Bros storming them, Toadette turned them to ice with an ice flower.

Nothing would stop them.

There was too much at stake. Peach, the castle (which was continuing to gather more fire), and the Red Flames they worked towards. The Grimm Troupe were the cause of all this thought Quirrel. All this, and for what? This ran in his head as he fought his way to the basement. Why destroy so much? Why hurt so many? These questions kept coming up, but no answers came to fruition.

Soon they came towards the basement of the castle… and the door was open. Quirrel and Toadette's heart sank as they rushed in to see what had happened. Though, they already had a good idea as to what transpired.

The door seemed to have been ripped from its hinges, and claw marks could be seen on what was left of the door. The steps that lead downward seemed to have been indented as well. Something heavy came down here. They eventually came to the basement and Quirrel came to see the sight before him.

The entire lab E Gadd had made was destroyed. Metal parts bent and burnt, shards of glass spread across the floor, and electricity sparking out of hanging wires. Both soon took note of E Gadd who was lying on the floor… unmoving.

They made their way over, being mindful of the glass and kneeled to see if he was alive. He was, but his current state was awful. His glasses were broken, his left eye was bruised, and his nose bled to his chin. "E Gadd?" squeaked Toadette. She found she had no air in her lungs. E Gadd's eyes opened, and he coughed a few times as he attempted to get on his feet.

Quirrel slowly brought him back down. "You need to rest."

"I… I can't, they got them." Toadette and Quirrel looked at each other then back to E Gadd. "All of them… gone."

Peach stood triumphantly over her fallen enemies, her frying pan and golf club were semi-soaked in the blood of her unconscious foes whom all laid motionless and groaned in pain. Peach looked around the entrance all, it was almost in complete flames, her troop, as well as Bowser's, were starting to withdraw from the fight. She knew that most of her castle was suffering the same fate, everything she worked for was burning to ash, and there was nothing she could do.

She was about ready to charge at what enemies remained when she suddenly heard a stomping noise. She knew only one person could walk like that. She looked down from the balcony of the entrance hall and saw Bowser emerge. He was accompanied by four Hammer Bros and a strange flying creature. It had grey wings and devil shaped head. That's when it hit her. This little creature was that child E Gadd mentioned! Grimm had mentioned it as well, it was the next Grimm or something like that. Apart of her wanted to kill it right there and now. End it all, no ritual, no heart feeding or whatever Grimm called it. But Bowser was there and four Hammer Bros. And she was tired, her castle was burning to the ground and if she didn't do something now it would be reduced to ashes.

Before Bowser left, Peach took note of the creature, it seemed to be rather close to Bowser. "All right little guy," said Bowser as he made his way to the front entrance. "you're no longer a small shrimp, your bigger and tougher now. Your dad's gonna be proud." The small Grimmchild made a strange noise in agreement and flew around Bowser excitedly. Peach got anger. Anger that Bowser was fine with her castle burning. Anger that he smiled. Anger that the small Grimmchild was no more than a tool for Grimm and his ritual. And Bowser was fine with it. Or maybe he was clues, either way. Peach was furious.

"HEY BOWSER!" yelled Peach. Bowser turned quickly at Peach's fury. "WHY? ARE YOU THAT STUPID? DO YOU HAVE ANY CLUE WHO YOUR WORKING WITH?"

Bowser was at first taken aback by Peach's angry, but it quickly faded as he smiled at her. "It's okay Peach. I'll build you a new castle, a much cooler one. And trust me, I know what I'm doing." Bowser walked out through the front entrance, his troops followed suit. Peach's anger only grew at Bowser's stupidity. She was so close to charging at him and ramming him off her bridge and into the water. Toad came up to her and spoke.

"Peach! We need to leave; the castle is falling apart!"

At first, Peach wanted to ignore him and run toward Bowser, but then she looked around her castle. Carpets were in a blaze, wooden frames falling from the ceiling, her troops running and screaming as they ran out through the front entrance or even the windows. Everything was burning in front of her, and she had to accept it.

"Get everyone out as fast as possible, leave no one behind." She said sternly.

"Right away" replied Toad.

While toad went around gathering the other troops, Peach went toward the basement. She had to make sure E Gadd was all right. Toadette and Quirrel most likely were there with him, hopefully, they would make it out. She came to the basement door and saw Quirrel carrying E Gadd and Toadette was by his side. She ran up to them and was shocked by E Gadd's stat.

"He'll be all right." Said Quirrel.

"P-Peach?" croaked E Gadd.

"Not now E Gadd will talk later. Right now, we need to get out."

They ran together toward the entrance door and were almost there. Then the ceiling around the entrance door collapsed, blocking their exit. Peach cursed softly and looked around to see if there was another way out. The door that led deeper into her castle was gathering fire so that was out. The others started looking too, hoping to find some way out. The air was starting to get thin as the smoke grew around them. The fires kept expanding and expending which only worsened the state of the castle. Toadette started coughing and Peach soon joined her, but Quirrel seemed all right. His mask no doubts keeping him safe. Soon Peach found her exit, a nearby window. It wasn't blocked by flames or debris unlike the rest, so it seemed their best option.

They started their path to the window. If there was no fire this would've been a simple walk up the stairs but with the fire spreading, they had no choice but to zig-zag their way through the flames. Peach's exhaustion started to get to her. The constant fighting she endured as well as the still building smoke were starting to get to her. Halfway up the stairs, her legs gave way, blocking the others path.

"Peach!" screamed Toadette.

She went up to Peach and asked if she could get back up. Peach muttered some response but neither Toadette nor Quirrel could make it out. Peach's eyes started drifting off, she was so close from passing out.

"I'll take E Gadd, you take her!" said Toadette to Quirrel. Quirrel didn't question or hesitate, he grabbed Peach and slung her over his shoulder and marched on toward the window. When they get close to the widow, Quirrel kicked it, shattering the glass. They looked down below and saw the nearby river. It was better than the ground they both thought. The fire started to intensify around them, and they decided it was now or never. Toadette jumped out first and Quirrel quickly followed suit. The fall only lasted a few seconds and soon they were deep in water. They quickly swam up to the surface and made their way to the shore. Peach woke up coughing out some of the water she inhaled, E Gadd did the same.

All four of them soon gathered themselves and sat in silence, looking up at Peach's castle as it continued to burn. They were tired, drenched and sat in silence. Peach could here her troops and servants up the hill, some were yelling at each about how they let this happen, some were crying as the castle burned or the injury they carried. But soon they settled down, all of them simply looked up at the castle, saw its walls crumble and become nothing before their very eyes. Peach was unaware of the tears flowing out of her eyes, everything her people worked for was falling before her. The silence continued, no one went home, no felt tired enough to sleep, everyone was as there to listened to the flames crackle away.

Far from the castle, at the edge of the forest, Grim stood tall as he watched the castle burn before him. Bowser soon joined him with the Grimmchild resting on his left shoulder. "Do you think… she's okay?"

Grimm turned and looked at Bowser. "She'll be fine. Princess Peach is a lot tougher than she looks."

"I know she's tough it's just- "

"You care about her."

Bowser went silent.

"Let's go, we have a ritual to complete."