"Well koopa boy, what is it going to be? Yes or no? Don't make me wait here all day," Tatanga demanded.

Roy was sweating and feeling so terrified that he couldn't even open his mouth. He was terrified that he literally had no choice but to give him an answer right now. There was no time to think everything through. It was basically a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' kind of situation. If he said yes, he would HAVE to go through with killing a random innocent person and all of them would know where the survivors are hiding out at and he had little doubt that he could find a way to escape. If he said no, there's a good chance Tatanga will just kill him right then and there for wasting his time. If he refused to answer, he'll probably be killed as well. He could feel the eyes of the other villains pierce into his back. It was the most nerve-wracking moment he had ever been in in his entire life. Roy got himself into this mess, and there was little chance of getting himself out now.

"Um...I...y...yes. I'll do it," he finally answered. The other villains, including Tatanga, let out a slight gasp of surprise.

"Holy crap. The fact that you're so dead set serious on joining us is actually kinda unnerving, kid. You sure you know what you're doing?" Beldam asked, actually a bit concerned for Roy since it was clear he was messed in the head.

"Yes. This is what I want. Trust me," Roy stated, but he immediately started to have regrets and second thoughts about everything.

"Wow. I have to admit, you have quite a lot of determination in ya! You definitely have what it takes to be a true villain," Doopliss complimented.

"We'll just see about that, won't we? Alright Roy, lead Dimentio to the survivor's hideout and kill any person you want there and make sure Dimentio can see so he can confirm that you did it. You got one shot at this so don't screw it up, alright?" Tatanga ordered. Roy nodded, even more terrified now because he HAD to kill someone or face some horrible consequences. He led Dimentio out of there.


Mimi, Frankly, Toadsworth, Tippi, Ms. Mowz, and Bobbery were all sitting at a table in the cafeteria, eating dinner and having an interesting conversation.

"...And that was when I found the golden orb of Trimeteta, buried in the dirt. All those years of research and exploring all paid off my good friends! I have kept it with me ever since then, for 12 years," Frankly finished up his story of exploration adventures.

"Wow! And you did that all by yourself? That takes a lot of courage...you should feel proud of yourself," Tippi complimented.

"Does this orb thing do anything or is it just some pretty collector's item? And what does Trimeteta mean?" Mimi asked.

"Well, now, it doesn't do anything. But apparently, a long time ago, it was used to draw evil spirits out of people's homes and people's bodies. Basically, it repelled any kind of evil you could think of. But of course, some reports and articles on the item say otherwise and I'm inclined to agree with them as I've had the orb with me when the Shadow Queen's cataclysm was on the brink of happening but that obviously didn't stop it. And the word Trimeteta, from what I remember, means 'to be set free'. So, in this case, a person would be set free from whatever evil is inside of them due to the orb," Frankly explained.

"Hmm...well, perhaps the Shadow Queen was too powerful for the orb to handle? Or maybe you had to actually face her with the orb because you weren't with us when we fought her..." Bobbery said.

"I still can't believe that you guys and Mario fought that beast...you all faced some very wretched creatures over the years but nothing compares to that awful thing," Toadsworth said.

"Honestly, even though the situation we're in is pretty crappy, I'd still rather take on Tatanga than the Shadow Queen because let's face it, there's no way him and his groupies are going to succeed in taking over the world. His threats mean nothing. The only he would even be able to do the things he said, were if he somehow made some powerful machine and activated it in outer space since that's pretty much the only clear shot you have if you wanna destroy half the world instantly," Ms. Mowz said.

"W-why outer space? You think he can't do it from ground level?" Tippi asked.

"Well...I dunno. I just said that because I imagine it would be easier to shoot a bunch of laser blasts and crap from that high of a point than to do it from the ground. And didn't those guys say he would make half the people in the world his slaves too? How would he be able to do that without some kind of mind-warping machinery?" Ms. Mowz questioned.

"I'd rather not talk about this right now...in fact, I found this book in one of the rooms yesterday, I guess someone just forgot it there. It's called 'Never Get To Heaven' and it was so addicting and well written that I already finished it. It's really helped me keep my mind off things," Toadsworth said, getting the book out for everyone to see.

"Aww lucky! I definitely need something like that to keep my focus onto something else. My mind is always going back to Nastasia and how I could've prevented her death..." Mimi sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"Please don't blame yourself, sweetie. You didn't know it would happen. All you can do now is just let it go," Ms. Mowz advised.

"But this book, Toadsworth...Never Get To Heaven...that's a very interesting name. What's it about?" Tippi asked.

"It's about two lovers whose relationship becomes incredibly dramatic and tragic. It involves drugs, infidelity, and suicide but there's plenty of other beautiful parts in it so the entire story isn't morbid or anything," Toadsworth answered.

"Yergh! You really wanna read such a heavy story in a time like this?" Frankly asked.

"Well like I said, it takes my mind off of things and I don't see why it would be considered inappropriate to read such a story right now," Toadsworth clarified.

"Mind telling us the summary of the story? I'm kinda interested now, but I hate reading in general," Ms. Mowz asked.

"Fine. Basically...a guy and a girl are deeply in love and are going to get married soon. However, certain things happen where the girl gets caught into abusing drugs and brings the boy down frequently. The boy, angry at her now, becomes so flustered and confused that he cheats on her for another woman...who is cheating on her boyfriend. A messy love triangle ensues and the girl finds out and has a mental breakdown and temporarily kicks her out of his life. Fast forward to the end, the girl is in a complete depression and has officially lost her mind so she overdoses on drugs and dies. The man finds out about this and cries for days on end, knowing that he still loves her. He contemplates killing himself, but then has an epiphany and decides to turn his life around for the better. That's basically it, but obviously, there's much more stuff that happens in between," Toadsworth said.

"Wow! Now I'm REALLY interested! Give me that book, I'm a read it tonight!" Ms. Mowz cheered and snatched the book.

"I definitely would not want to be in a relationship like that, heh. Especially ones where everything seems perfect at the start, then once you get to the middle, things just become crazy and the other person pulls a 360 on you and...well, you know what I mean. Talk about stressful! By the way, who was that written by?" Mimi asked.

"It was written by Toadino Kalstroff, one of my favorite authors. He also wrote another book called 'One Against All' where the main character makes one huge mistake and all her friends leave her for it. This 'mistake' spreads around to the rest of the school and everyone else is suddenly shunning her now. Also a very sad and tragic book but I highly recommend it!" Toadsworth responded.

"Alright then. Once we get out of here, and if the public library is still intact, I'll check it out," Mimi replied with a smile.

"Well everyone, I know it's a bit early but I think I'm going to turn in for tonight. It was a pleasure speaking to you all, and I hope we can do it again tomorrow!" Bobbery politely spoke and everyone else said their goodbyes and waved to him. The sailor began to exit the cafeteria until he accidentally bumped into Dry Bones who was also going the same way and was with Sushie.

"YOW! Watch it, buddy! You could've knocked my arm right off which would've been annoying and bad, obviously!" Dry Bones obnoxiously yelled.

"My apologies, but there's no need to get an attitude about it. Wait a second...I recognize you. You're the one who..." Bobbery's tone suddenly changed remembering a moment that involved Dry Bones.

"Uhh let's just go now, Dry Bones. Let's not start yet another fight..." Sushie groaned.

"Yes, run along you two...unless you want to pull a prank on some innocent person again, huh Dry Bones?" Bobbery said while giving him a dirty look.

"What are you talking about? Can someone tell me what's going on here exactly!?" Sushie demanded to know why there was sudden tension between the two.

"Just forget about it. Let's go. NOW," Dry Bones stated and stomped out of the room. Sushie grunted and followed him while Bobbery kept on glaring at him until he became out of sight.

"DRY BONES! What the hell was that all about!? Tell me this instant!" Sushie yelled, catching up with the angered koopa skeleton who ran up to the second floor.

"If you MUST know, some years ago, me and my friends played a deadly prank on that guy. We wanted to freak him out by throwing a firecracker into his house, because he stupidly left the window open. I was actually the only one against the idea cause I figured it would be too risky but everyone else did it anyways. They threw it in and he woke up screaming his head off. They all laughed, but we stopped as soon as we saw the couch set on fire. We panicked, not thinking that that could actually happen. Well...THEY ran, but I stayed because I accidentally tripped over myself and ended up kinda twisting my ankle so I wasn't able to get away. Bobbery saw me, assumed that I did it, and called the cops. Luckily, only his couch was damaged but I was in jail for an entire day until my mom bailed me out with 300 freaking coins. Ever since then, everytime we accidentally met up, he would just give me a glare and give me some stupid scolding lesson. I've tried explaining it to him multiple times that it wasn't my idea but he refuses to listen. Whatever, he can keep on being ignorant for all I care," Dry Bones explained.

"Oh my god! I remember reading that in the newspaper...that was you guys!? Holy crap...but why the hell would you do that to Bobbery though!? What did he do to you guys!?" Sushie asked.

"I told you, I didn't do it, the other guys did! And I don't know why they wanted to do it, they were being idiots and wanted to have some fun...but whatever, the dude hates me and I hate him because he won't open up his goddamn ears for once. I actually get kind of a creepy vibe from him sometimes," Dry Bones exclaimed.

"I-I believe you, it's just that Bobbery was going through a difficult time when that happened, you know, with his wife dying and all and doing THAT to him probably set him over the edge even more," Sushie said.

"Yeah, I know all about that. Still doesn't give him the right to, even to this day, hold a grudge against me," Dry Bones scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"...Right. Well, I have to use the bathroom but once I'm done, I have to tell you something important, okay? Don't go anywhere," Sushie said with a growing smile and walked off to the ladies room.

Dry Bones gave a smirk. "I am, like, 99% positive she likes me."

"Hey...you! Over here!" yelled a voice. Dry Bones immediately turned around and saw Roy Koopa standing in one of the rooms near him in the dark.

"Oh! You almost scared me! You're Roy, right? What's up?" Dry Bones asked as he walked over to him.

"I...I need your help with something...it's very crucial that you give a hand in this..." Roy nervously spoke.

"Um is everything okay? You look kinda shaky. Did something bad happen to you? Oh, it's about what happened with that Nastasia girl, isn't it? Sorry that happened, but I believe the people that say you did it on accident. Trust me, I've been in a similar situation before..." Dry Bones remarked.

"N-no, it's not that. Just please...come here. Please," Roy tried not to come off as desperate, but he was actually coming off as a bit creepy.

"Oooookay then, what's going on? Is it bad?" Dry Bones asked with slight hesitation, now in the room right in front of Roy.

Roy opened his mouth but nothing came out. He looked as if he wanted to say something so badly, but was too scared to utter a word.

"Hey, are you alright? Just tell me what's happening and I'll try to help!" Dry Bones said in comfort, now officially weirded out.

"...NOW," Roy suddenly yelled and the door behind Dry Bones slammed shut by none other than Dimentio.

"HEY, WHAT THE!? WHAT IS THIS!?" Dry Bones shrieked and turned around, only getting a glimpse of the jester before having a hospital blanket wrapped around his entire body. Dry Bones screamed for help, but they were muffled because of how tight it was on him.

"HOLD HIM WHILE I GET THE GASOLINE!" Roy screamed and pushed him to Dimentio. The jester held him tight while Roy got a can of gasoline out and dumped all of it over the now covered Dry Bones. The skeleton koopa screamed even more, wondering what the hell could this guy was planning.

Roy threw the gasoline can away and got out a pack of matches.

"STAND BACK NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!" Roy roared, lit the match and threw it onto Dry Bones. The entire sheet and him included, were immediately set ablaze and Dry Bones screamed bloody murder as he ran all over the place and eventually (and accidentally) crashed through the window and landed on the hard ground, dead.

Dimentio widened his eyes. For once in a long time, he was horrified. He didn't think that Roy would have the guys to actually kill a person, but he did. It was definitely disturbing to see some random koopa pull off something so awful and vile because he was only use to see guys like Roy do 'minor' stuff like beatdowns and the occasional stealing.

"Y-you did it. Wow. You actually did it. I guess this means you're officially part of the team now," was all Dimentio could say.

Roy did not respond. All he did was stare at his reflection in the remaining parts of the window. This is who he is now.

EOC.

Like I said in the previous chapter, this one had foreshadowing in it so it will be recalled much later on. Dry Bones' story about the prank and Bobbery didn't contain any foreshadowing, but it will play a somewhat important part when we get back to the hospital. Next chapter is when the heroes arrive in Rusty Bucket Bay and that is when a few plot points are revealed too!