A rope wrapped around the neck of a Peach statue in the central plaza of White Ice City. Angry shouts broadcasted as two dozen strong mushroomers in full blizzard protection apparel grabbed the rope's end and tugged. The jeers transformed to cheers as the Peach statue swayed and teetered toward the ground, crumbling into several pieces as it crashed into the snow. Onlookers, whether mushroomers or baddies, threw rotten peaches at the doomed statue, indicating corruption infesting a previously clean government.
"Down with Peach! Down with corruption!" the crowd, too uncontrollable for the Ice Land authorities, exclaimed. Their voices were blaring bugles, bouncing off the snow-capped mountains and broadcasting to the world the arrival of a new ruler. Anger lurked within the population ever since the economy crashed weeks ago, but now the emotion's in full-force. The more impoverished protesters were even more familiar with the emotion's bile-y taste than with actual food. Mushroom Kingdom opposition news sources risked life and limb to cover the size and intent of the protests while they remained sympathetic to the cause, "Impeach Peach! Impeach Peach!"
As each hour passed, the blizzard-like conditions within Ice Land's capital intensified, as did the riots. Dealing with both the snow and the ravaging crowds, the Ice Land police's zeal decreased and they either retreated or joined the protesters en masse. As each cop defected, the crowd erupted in cheers and they became even more pronounced in their demands.
"You steal our oil and our ore; enrich yourself and nothing more!" the crowd, by now swelling into the tens of thousands, continues shouting from the White Ice Plaza, "Ice Land's treasures for Icelandians!"
While Ice Land remained the largest protest hotspot in the Mushroom Kingdom, other severe protests broke throughout the Continent. In Water Land's Seashell City, rioters infiltrated the library dedicated to the Toadstool Family and burned the building and its books, while in Giant Land's Colossal City, mobs raided the castle, resulting in the King of Giant Land fleeing the kingdom for safety. With no ruler, the revolutionaries chose their own rulers, effectively overthrowing Giant Land's government. Meanwhile, the now-peaceful Pipe Land had a new government of its own, puppeted by officials in nearby Dark Land.
Back in Dark Land's upgraded throne room, Bowser Koopa Junior smirked. He browsed the protests through the Lux Aeterna's tip as he sat on his father's throne. Despite the underwhelming protest numbers in Grass Land, Desert Land and Sky Land, he considered them a success due to those three Lands being Peach's most loyal followers. Grass Land's farm subsidies, Desert Land's government-sanctioned oil monopoly and Sky Land's wealth off the Mushroom Kingdom's gold reserves will be a tremendous challenge for Dark Land to overtake. However, persistence, like a trickling stream of water, will carve through the toughest rock.
Junior zoomed into the Water Land riots; they're now setting fire to other government buildings within Seashell City while commanding Queen Aquanei and Princess Peach to resign from their positions. The crowd, also in the thousands, harassed police officers and military guards, and the officials were uneager to join the ranks unlike Ice Land's.
Like Ice Land's riots, the young king compared Water Land's riots and chanting to a courtroom: the rioters were the defendants while the government were the prosecutors, and both sides wanted the rest of the world to place judgment on which ideology they wanted to win out. Did the population want the same policies, or did they hunger for change, no matter how great the shift may be?
The police in both Lands knew they're stuck between a rock and a hard place; Junior knew this. If they exercised too much authority, the protesters would only have more fuel to continue their riots, while passivity would only loosen the reins of those unsatisfied with the government yet aren't protesting. As each hour passed, the police's sweet center of stability shrank.
Pleased, Junior pocketed his scepter and turned his focus to his two siblings. Wendy O. Koopa typed a report on her computer, while Iggy Koopa listened to military intel from the Darklandian Army.
"What's the status of Pipe Land?" Junior questioned Iggy.
"The military says Pipe Land's now under our control. They're in the process of taking over Giant Land's provisional government also. Giant Land's extremely unstable, so it should be easy," Iggy answered, "Which Land's next?"
"Tell the military leaders that I'm demanding elections be held there next week to end the coup. I have ten candidates picked there already," Junior commanded, "And tell them to be prepared to annex Ice Land and Water Land."
Iggy gave Junior a thumbs up and relayed the command to the military. Junior refocused the Lux Aeterna to broadcast the recent meteor reportings.
"Any news on what the meteors were?" Junior questioned Iggy.
"Those meteors," Iggy stated, "They aren't natural. They can't be. Meteors are typically red from silicon, green from copper, or yellow from iron. These were burning blue."
"What does that mean?" Wendy shrugged. "Isn't it just variety?"
"Because, sis, this 'variety' is unnatural!" Iggy stated, "Look. Dad disappeared. Morton, Roy, Larry, Ludwig and Lemmy are gone; so are Daisy, Peach, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Toad, Toadette, Wario, Waluigi, Kamek, Kammy... A slew of popular and powerful figures disappeared, most within a year. And now this..."
Junior expressed bewilderment at Iggy's explanation and asked, "What difference does it make? What burns blue?"
"The metals that burn blue, that come to my mind right now, are indium and selenium," Iggy informed, "Both are used in solar panels. Indium's great for covering aircraft, and is therefore hypothesized to be the best substance used for developing a spacecraft's armor."
"Solar panels... Spacecraft...," Junior repeated. His eyes widened as he pieced together the claims, "This confirms the conspiracy! Papa and our brothers are hiding it from us too!"
Wendy nodded, "What should we do?"
"Continue with the takeovers," Junior demanded, "Find the rest of our family, including Papa, and lock them up. Lock up the other rulers too. Keep them there until I know every part of the conspiracy. Then, we'll sentence them to death for treason against the Koopa Empire."
Kylie leaned against a brick wall and exhaled. She didn't know how long she held her breath, but her focus on following Roy, Morton and Kammy throughout the Rainbow Castle trumped everything else.
She peeked from behind the wall. The trio walked down the white-walled, red-carpeted hallways. Kammy waved her wand as she moved, and Kylie noticed the torches blew out as the witch passed them.
Something didn't sit well with Kylie, and it wasn't her recent sickness. She can't remember how she got here or how whiplashed her stomach's been, but the secrecy among the trio concerned her. Especially Roy; he used to be open with her even with his Wand hunt.
A creak echoed through the hallway, and Kylie perked up. She snuck toward the source: an old, delicate door, its knob warm to the touch.
She pushed the door open and noticed various torture racks, each holding multiple severed body parts from different creatures. Several live mushroomers and koopa troopas in a large cage screamed nearby, most likely dissidents to Magikoopa rule.
Close to the cage are more torture racks, this time with the severed body pieces fused into a whole being. A yoshi head, a goonie bird's wings, a reznor body and a pair of klepto talons all combined into one nightmarish beast.
Kylie regretted following them, but the empathetic journalist within her knew this situation must be rectified, even if she ended up as one of those doomed caged koopas. She must document this situation and know what she's facing.
"This is just one of the many body plans I made. I call this one the Yoshnor," Roy informed, "I'll show you how it works."
Kylie clapped her hands over her ears, unable to stomach the prisoners' wailing as Roy approached the cage. He opened the door and snatched a koopa troopa by his shell. The koopa flailed his arms and kicked his feet to free himself, but Roy's vise grip prevented escape. The koopaling placed the koopa next to the experiment and tied the koopa down. Roy gagged the whimpering koopa and stepped back, smirking.
"Mmmmph!" the koopa cried. He wanted to move, but the torture rack prevented him.
Roy gave the koopa a sadistic grin, pulled out his pulsing Wand of the Spirit and shot a beam at the koopa. As the cage of prisoners screamed and sobbed at the action, the koopa went silent and his body quaked. As the koopa's body stilled, the experiment's yoshi head moved and its wings began flapping.
"Aha! It works!" Roy cheered, "Using the spirits from these useless twerps, I'm able to bring to life any creation I want with the Spirit Wand! This Yoshnor body plan's my favorite. It'll have the tough body of a reznor, it'll be able to fly, it'll be able to grab anything with its feet and, with me cursing the yoshi's head, it can kill anyone the instant the yoshi's tongue touches them. Watch this."
Roy pulled a mushroomer from the cage and threw the crying toad towards the monster. The toad's soul drained into the experiment, and the experiment broke out of its restraints and used its reznor body to smash a hole into the castle's walls. It flew around the room while swooping down every now and then.
"See? It's powered up! Now, look what happens when it gets a third soul of these useless wimps!"
Roy pulled out a tear-soaked, screaming goomba and threw the goomba at the experiment, who chewed on it and spat out the goomba's unmoving but whole body. The behemoth split into two smaller-sized beings with the same bodily structures.
"Every time a Yoshzor's fully-powered, it splits into another one!" Roy praised, "Soon the whole place will be a Yoshzor-infested pit! Hahaha!"
Kammy smiled at the results while Kylie noticed concern and hesitation within Morton.
"Do we have to do this every time?" he asked, "I thought the point of having the Wands was to stop spiritual sacrifices?"
"The spiritual sacrifices will stop when the Wand of the Elements joins us. Plus, we'll resurrect those who were sacrificed; it's not like we're heartless," Kammy answered, "Our goal was to practice spirit magic without anyone getting hurt. Unfortunately, Kamek decided to be a traitor by having Larry killed rather than brought into this."
"Just a Spirit Sage's hunch," Roy added, "But I don't think Larry's dead."
"If that's the case, then get him into this the moment he wakes up."
Kylie pulled away from the door, her fear preventing her from closing the door quietly. She needed to tell someone about this news. Anyone.
The Sun had slipped behind the mountains in the horizon by the time the ostro reached the shelter. Lemmy had walked the entire way, which provided space for the two humans. Both had passed out with their arms locked around the ostro's neck in a loose grip.
Lemmy looked up at the star display above; he'd say he found the trio about three hours ago. The ostro lowered itself, and both Luigi and Daisy plopped on the ground, waking them up.
"Man," Daisy yawned, "I sure needed that."
Lemmy noticed Luigi's confusion as he studied the area. The koopaling figured Luigi expected more—possibly a Madoso-like standard—rather than one lousy sandstone building no higher than ten feet and the unearthed temple.
"It's all underground," Lemmy reassured, "It's cooler and safer from any sudden freak storms. Follow me."
They entered the building, went down the stairs and into the bunker. The duo's eyes widened at the bunker's metallic walls, ventilated airways and sandstone flooring. The area felt like the Madoso Complex's prototype but without windows.
Lemmy led them down the long hallway and into an open room packed with other characters. Several sofas lined the walls while holographic televisions rested on the ceiling. Billiards tables, casino tables and arcade equipment opposed the sofas, each hosting a half-dozen figures.
"This is our Floor 50 living area," Lemmy told them, "It's one of two floors that have the game rooms, the food court and a larger lounging area, the other being Floor 11 way below us."
"Neat," Daisy commented.
"It's one thing I didn't like about Madoso," Lemmy admitted, "I didn't stay there for long, but there wasn't really anything to do outside my room. Everything was in my apartment. I couldn't get that same social feel."
"I guess we never thought about that," Luigi replied, "The higher-ups had Ludwig's parties."
"Yeah…"
"LUIGI!"
Lemmy paused at the name and turned towards the room. From the sofas, Mario ran towards Luigi and gave him a hug. Peach followed Mario's lead with Daisy, while Yoshi stood between the two hugging groups. The koopaling stepped away from the quintet and gave each a nervous smile.
"Mario!" Luigi returned the hug, "I thought you were a goner!"
"I thought the same of you," Mario exhaled, "We're all together, but that's only the start."
"We saw a flying monster. It chased us and almost killed us!" Luigi cried, "But Lemmy killed it and took us here."
Mario turned to Lemmy, and for the first time, the koopaling felt appreciation from the red-clad plumber.
"I was wrong about you. You're not bad, for a koopaling," Mario confessed, "I didn't vote any of you in because I just knew something like this would happen. Morton and Roy got sucked into the mess, and I don't know what happened to Larry. But I was definitely wrong about you."
Lemmy shrugged, "Just helping out as much as I can. It's the Altruistic way!"
"But what I don't get is why Rosalina told us to specifically come here," Mario continued, "What makes this area different from my rainbow castle or Bandy Andy's sewers?"
At Mario's question, a blue, green, red and white magical bursts appeared from the room's four corners. The game room silenced, and everyone stared at the energies as they encircled each other and smashed into the interior wall opposite the sofas. Everyone gasped as they stared face-to-face with a hologram of Rosalina.
"Good day. I'm glad all of you heeded my invite to gather here," Rosalina stated. She caught the confused expressions from the audience, "Unfortunately, the Wands are out of sync. From that, we will establish a tremendous blowback from normalization."
"Out of sync? Normalization?" Mario asked.
"Yes," Rosalina nodded, "Before I get to that, I want everyone to be on the same page. For those who weren't aware: we had a society on a distant planet named Madoso. It was the most luxurious place within this galactic neighborhood, but until now, it contained the biggest secret mortals ever concocted: the Society. The Society appeared as a union of leaders wanting to save their population from an upcoming apocalypse. But, from being close to Morton, I will confirm that the conspiracy goes much deeper; deeper than even most Council members knew."
"So… It wasn't about saving the world?" Lemmy heard Toadette ask from the game room.
"Mostly correct," Rosalina shook her head, "While the apocalypse is near-certain at this point, the Society was a scam pulled off by the Magikoopa Assembly. The Society's purpose wasn't to save the world. Their plan was to isolate anyone who knew about the Four Wands, or any connecting information, from Plit. They'd instead provide them with luxury under the guise that if they're treated well, they won't revolt. This isolation prevented the knowledgeable members from finding and obtaining these Wands. The Magikoopas would find all four Wands and take control of them before taking over Plit. The plan was to keep the aristocrats and powerful officials on Plit while the takeovers happened, but… As you know, a fire forced everyone to evacuate before the Magikoopas dispelled the magical teleports."
Daisy groaned, "I should've known…"
"Don't fret; the apocalypse is a true event that we must worry about," Rosalina reassured, "And this struggle for power between the Magikoopas and Bowser Junior will only accelerate the return of the Stars, I'm afraid."
"What do we do?" Peach questioned, "Do we pick a side?"
"That's what Scholar's trying to figure out. But for now, stay neutral," Rosalina answered, "The Sages may be abusing their magic, but that opens the door to me, an oracle, doing the same to protect all of you. It was me who warped your spaceships back to Plit; I wouldn't be able to in any other situation."
"Okay," Lemmy nodded, "Do you have any advice?"
Rosalina smiled, "To remain neutral, you must have the power behind that pact. I see Mario and Luigi are by you, Lemmy. There has been no better time to resurrect Mercenary than now. The Mercenary forces can then guard your shelter against both armies."
Lemmy nodded, "The Leagues in general would be great. Thanks a lot, Rosalina!"
"You're welcome," Rosalina smiled, "Now, if you ever need my help, all you need to do is summon me with your mind."
As the cosmic princess stated her parting words, the hologram dispersed into the four disappearing balls of light.