The loud snoring echoed out of the Koopalings' room. The other Koopalings sat outside of it as they heard the snoring. They knew who it was. Roy. He was a heavy sleeper. So heavy that his snores practically shook the entire room. Jr. had his own room in the Smash Mansion, but as a kid, he was able to be "replaced" by one of the other Koopalings if they decided on it. They were counted as one person in terms of the tournaments, it was purely made so the kids would have less stress on their shoulders.

"ARGH! THIS BITCH WON'T SHUT UP! I NEED MY DAMN BEAUTY SLEEP!" Wendy yelled as she grabbed the door to their room.

"Relax, Wendy. You know how he gets when you interrupt his sleep," Ludwig said, trying to deter her from going into the room. Wendy shot around and crossed her arms, leaning against the door. "He'll wake up soon. You know he will." Just then, Jr. walked into the house with a loud groan.

"Hey, dude, which of us will fight?"

"OOOH MEEE! MEEE!" Lemmy yelled as he bounced on his ball. Jr. shook his head as he walked to the kitchen and looked into the fridge.

"Master Hand canceled the tournament."

"WHAT!"

"He can't just up and do that, can he?" Larry asked. Larry and Jr. were always the closest of the Koopalings. They were the youngest, and the ones they could trust the most. Larry leaned against the counter, watching as Jr. poured himself some milk.

"Popo went missing. They searched the forest all over and nothing. It's like he just disappeared off the face of Ultimatum."

"That's not good…"

"AHH!" Wendy yelled as she fell back because the door to the room had opened. Roy stood above her, yawning.

"The fuck're you doing?" Roy questioned. Wendy growled and shot up onto her feet, glaring up at her brother.

"YOU ASS!" Roy lowered his shades and glared at her.

"Whatcha call me?" This began a loud argument between the two of them. Wendy was always one to start up arguments. Especially with her own brothers. Lemmy loved watching this. He bounced on his ball, staring at the argument when suddenly his ball didn't bounce him, and he fell to the ground. He stood up and looked at his ball as Iggy couldn't hold in his laughter. Lemmy rubbed the back of his head.

"What happened, Lem?" Larry asked, now also holding a cup of milk that Jr. poured for him.

"My ball didn't bounce," Lemmy pouted. Ludwig patted his back as Jr. walked over to the ball. He tilted his head before poking the ball, and it felt hard as a rock.

"Dang. That's weird," Jr. said softly. He tried pushing the ball, but it didn't even budge. He rubbed the back of his head as he tried to think of something.

"Move, pansies," Morton said as he cracked his neck and his knuckles, walking closer to the ball. He stretched his arms before placing his hands on the ball. He tried pushing the ball, grunting hard and growling softly, trying to get the ball to even budge, but it didn't work.

"Yeesh, what'd you do to that thing, Lem?" Roy asked, having finally finished the argument with Wendy.

"I didn't do anything!" Lemmy yelled. Morton growled a bit before slamming his shoulder into the ball.

"Move, you stupid ball!" he grunted as he slammed his shoulder into the ball a few more times. He staggered back, rubbing his shoulder as he grew an idea. He walked slowly back, with Larry and Jr. stepping out of the way. He shell hit the counter in the kitchen since there wasn't a wall between the kitchen and the living room. He slid his foot against the ground, acting like a bull as some smoke came out of his nose. He ran in, his shoulder ready, himself ready to do a stronger Chargin' Chuck-like bash. He was prepared to ram right into the ball, expecting it to finally, at the very least, budge. But when he touched the ball, he didn't move it. Nor did he "hit" the ball. He entered it. He disappeared into the ball.

"Morton!" Ludwig ran over to the ball. "Morton!" He didn't get a response. "Damn it. Dad's gonna kill me." Iggy's curiosity got the better of him, walking closer to the ball and touching it. His hand entered the ball. There was no possible way for his hand to be clipping through the ball like it was. Everyone looked at him.

The door to the bedroom slammed open. "SHUT UP!" Wendy yelled, with her tired voice. Jr. and Larry looked at each other before nodding. They walked over to Wendy and grabbed her arms, walking toward the ball. "The hell? Let go of me, you two!"

"Whatcha doing with her?" Roy asked.

"Morton is in there. We're not gonna let him get lost," Larry declared. Jr. simply nodded his head.

"Excuse me? Let me go!" The two of them stopped right in front of the ball.

"Gladly," Jr. said as he pushed her into the ball. The same thing that happened to Morton happened with her. Jr. himself then entered, with Larry following.

"Hehe, this is gonna be fun.~" Iggy jumped into the ball. Ludwig looked at the other two with a sigh.

"Let's go. Dad will be pissed off if he comes here and sees them missing. Let's not be at the receiving end of his fury." Lemmy and Roy nodded their heads and entered the ball. Ludwig got to the ball and sighed. "Jeez. We can never be normal kids, can we?" He shook his head before stepping into the ball.

The inside of the ball made him feel floaty as if he was the lightest thing in the universe. It didn't feel like he was touching any solid ground, just floating in a void of nothingness. Looking behind him? Nothing. Above, below, anywhere around him? Nothing. It was a pit of nothingness. But at the same time, he felt like he was falling. He couldn't help but wonder where he was falling. Where he'd land. If there even was a bottom. And most importantly, where his siblings were.

Soon enough, he stopped falling, and his feet finally felt something. It was solid ground. He looked down and saw that color was finally coming to where he was. It was a strangely vibrant red-orange. A large burst of light exploded, making him cover his eyes. "Hey, move your arm already," Jr. said to his older brother.

"J-Jr.?"

"Yes. Now lower it." Ludwig lowered his arm and saw Morton lying on the ground, with Iggy standing over him.

"Get up, dudio," Iggy told him.

"Are you ok?" Ludwig asked. Morton held up his leg.

"My leg is broken!" Ludwig looked at the leg and saw nothing wrong with it. Morton was always a drama queen, especially when he embarrassed himself by not being able to do something. Ludwig sighed.

"Just stand up." Morton groaned before doing what he was told to do.

"Where are we?" Larry asked.

"Not in my bed, that's where…" Wendy huffed, crossing her arms. The Koopalings looked around the area and saw everything seemed to have a space-like appearance with it. The walkable platforms were very well defined from the rest of the space.

"I don't know…it's so weird," Iggy said. He adjusted his glasses and stepped forward. He saw a house in the distance. "Hey, let's look in there, could be something." The Koopalings all decided to go toward the house, hoping to find someone. Wendy was just hoping to sleep, but she knew she wouldn't be able to.

They walked through the dark and weird-looking area. They made it to the house and looked at it. It was a very tall building, and was not made in any style the Koopalings recognized, even after Ultimatum. "Place looks so weird," Roy said as he tilted his head. Jr. walked forward and knocked on the door. There wasn't a response.

"Whoever's house this is, they're not home," Jr. said.

"How do you know that? What if they're just out…doing chores or errands," Ludwig suggested. Jr. looked around the nearby area before glaring back at Ludwig.

"Really?" Ludwig sighed before looking down. Jr. turned around and opened the door. "Well, if they are out, very irresponsible for leaving it unlocked."

"Like you're one for responsibility," Morton chuckled softly. Jr. simply rolled his eyes as he stepped inside.

"Hello? Anyone home?" he yelled, his voice echoing through the entire house. He turned around and shrugged at his family. He walked further into the house, with the rest of the Koopalings heading inside. Wendy smiled widely as she saw a sofa and ran over to it. She felt the sofa and it wasn't all that comfortable feeling, in any way, shape, or form. She was desperate though, she didn't care how uncomfortable she would be, she wanted to lay down. She did just that and it sucked, but she wanted for it to continue.

Jr. and Larry found some stairs up to the second floor. They looked at each other before the two of them decided to go up the steps. Each step creaked an eerie emptiness that the house itself possessed. They got to the second floor and saw most of the rooms up there were closed, and upon trying to open one, they were all probably just as locked shut. They looked around a bit more up there when they found a door that was ever so slightly cracked open.

"Should we really go in?" Larry asked.

"We've already broken into the house, not like we can get into much more trouble if the owner comes."

"Fair enough." Larry pushed the door open. The creak that came from the stairs didn't match up to the creak that the door hinges had as the door slowly opened. It looked to be a regular bedroom. The actual room had a very similar feeling to the rest of the house, where it was oddly dark. None of the lights worked, it was eternally dark. There was one thing, in the entire house, right there, in that very room. It was a photo frame. The two of them walked over to the only thing they saw that was strangely lit up. It didn't even have a light source on it.

Jr. picked the frame up and tilted his head. It wasn't a picture of anyone he recognized. There was a man. A woman. And a kid. The kid looked nothing older than 8. "Your memory is great, Larry, you recognize the kid?" Larry grabbed the photo from him and looked intently at the kid. He was basically Batman looking for a new Robin. He shook his head.

"Nothing rings a bell."

Back down on the first floor, Ludwig was nervously standing there, not really sure of what to do. He didn't walk much further from the door. After joining Ultimatum, he had a newfound need to stay good. There was soon a knock at the door. This knock caused him to jump and scream. He stepped back and bumped into Morton.

"What's your deal?" he asked.

"S-someone's at the door."

"You're lying-" Morton was cut off by another knock. Everyone stared at the door, waiting for some kind of noise to come from the other side. Roy soon enough stepped forward, looking at Morton, nodding his head. He gulped a bit more, brought out his hammer, and walked over to the door. His steps were slow, but soon enough, he grabbed the doorknob and opened it. He looked around the door and….

Saw Popo.

"Oh, it's that Ice Climber boy," Roy said, putting his hammer back into his shell. He opened the rest of the door. Popo bowed his head.

"Apologies for spooking you all."

"You did more than spook, asshole!" Wendy yelled. Lemmy ran over to him.

"How'd you get here?" he asked. Popo chuckled nervously.

"However he got here, probably less weird than us," Roy shrugged, turning away from Popo.

"Yes…you can say that." Popo brought out his mallet and looked down at it. "This world is….exhilarating."

"What?" Lemmy questioned as Roy walked off.

"You heard me. This world…" Popo looked at Lemmy and smiled. But the smile was unnatural. It reached further than a normal smile should have. His eyes were lifeless. He looked dead. He stepped into the house, right in front of Lemmy, looking at him with that evil, unsettling smile. "My master will spread this world so that everyone may feel the pleasures of being here."

"Y-you're talking weird," Lemmy said as he took a nervous step back. He turned around to look at the others when Popo put a hand over his mouth, making him faint instantly. When he fell to the ground, it caused a thud that Iggy heard.

"Hey! What'd you do to him!?" Lemmy yelled this, the other Koopalings turned to look at Popo, as he kicked Lemmy out of the house. His smirk grew wider and his eyes grew bloodlusted.

"What are you waiting for? Come get him~." Popo ran in and slammed his mallet into Roy, launching him through the wall.

"Woah…when was he this strong?" Iggy asked with a bit of a gulp. Wendy, who he was talking to, sat up and looked at him in confusion.

"What are you even talking about?" she asked. However, she didn't need an answer when she saw Ludwig flying over her into the big tv. She jumped off the couch and saw Morton lunge at Popo, even getting a firm hold of the boy.

"GET HIM!" Morton yelled. Iggy nodded and rushed in with his hammer, slamming it into Popo's face.

"How you like that, kid?" Popo spat some blood out and looked at the Koopaling with a blood-stained, evil smirk.

"Exhilarating." His mallet then seemed to open and an icy explosion blasted the two Koopalings back, and before Morton got too far away, he shot around and slammed him down, causing an ice crystal to form on him. He turned back around and saw Wendy. She was the least fight ready out of everyone. She backed up into the now fallen and broken tv. Popo menacingly walked over to her, stepping over some of her brothers, and stood in front of her. "All of you are pathetic." He grabbed Wendy's head and her body started freezing over. Soon enough, she was fully encased in ice. He then tossed her against the wall, breaking the ice but keeping her unconscious. "Boss….I've got them." He started dragging each of them out of the house, ready to take them to his boss.

However, Jr. and Larry stayed out of sight of the icy boy. They heard the fight but stayed on the stairs so as to not get roped in. Jr. was much more intelligent than he was when he was younger. He knew if they were to try and fight against Popo, they'd wind up the exact same as the rest. So instead, they watched the fight go on and were ready to follow him.

When Popo left, so did they. They kept a good distance, and Popo was somehow able to grab each of the other Koopalings. "I feel guilty…." Larry said softly, thinking about watching his siblings get beaten to a pulp. Jr. simply shook his head.

"We need to find where he takes them."

"And what do we do when we do find that? He just took out all of them, two of us aren't capable of that." Jr. smirked as he looked at Larry.

"There's a little something you don't know about me."

"What?" Jr. looked back forward and sped up his walking. Larry knew it was something he probably shouldn't question, so he sped up to keep up with him.

The two of them continued their tailing of Popo, when he suddenly stopped and looked around, causing the two of them to jump out of any potential view. Jr. kept an eye on him, however, and when he continued walking, in a different direction, however, he resumed his tailing. Larry quickly caught up. "Where is this kid going?" Larry questioned. Jr. simply shrugged and a large rectangular building came into view. It was much darker than the space-like appearance that possessed the rest of the world. It also looked important, the size was larger than even the house was.

"There, I bet." Jr.'s bet was correct. Popo entered the large building, with the door seeming nearly the size of the wall but also always open. Popo disappeared into the shadows of the interior, so when the other two Koopalings made it to the building, they didn't know what to do.

"Should we enter?"

"Could be a trap."

"It's definitely a trap." Jr. thought for a moment before looking at Larry with a small smile.

"You go in. I'll cover you."

"With what? Clearly, our hammers won't do anything to him in the state he's in."

"I never said I'm using my hammer." Jr. brought out his magical paintbrush, with Prof. E Gadd's emblem strangely shining on the brush. The rainbow paint on the bristles seemed to be eternally moving. He never ran out of pain.

"What's that?"

"Just trust me." Larry looked into Jr.'s eyes before nodding. He brought out his hammer, just in case, and stepped into the darkness. He took small, consistent, and careful steps. He couldn't see anything. It was all pitch black. He swore he could hear his own heartbeat. That was suddenly when he was struck from behind by Popo.

"You idiots really thought I didn't know you were following me?" Popo questioned. "Now, where's that other brother huh?" Popo then saw a glowing, painted, X in a distant wall. He growled softly, gripping his mallet some more, as he carefully walked over to the X. Clearly it was put there recently. It was the only light within the place, or at least, the only light he could see. Jr.'s bright and glowing paint shone his way as he walked through the entire location. He started drawing X's everywhere, as Popo could do nothing but watch.

Soon enough, there were X's on every wall, with very little separating them. All of these glowing X's were able to brighten the area up to a point where it was very visible. Popo's eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness, so his vision quickly grew blurry. "COME OUT HERE!"

"As if. You're not normal, Popo!" Jr's voice could be heard seemingly everywhere around the boy. Even as Popo's eyes adapted to the sudden brightness, he could see nothing but the Koopalings he was able to deal with. Jr. was nowhere to be seen.

"You're playing with me? You're such a kid."

"We're both kids, Popo. And you're not supposed to be this strong." Popo shot around, slamming his mallet into the ground, assuming he was invisible to him somehow. He snickered a bit.

"You're very tricky, you know that?"

"And you're being controlled."

"Oh yeah? When did you get all high and mighty? You're a villain, remember?"

"Perhaps I am…" Popo backed up against one of the X's, trying to keep his eyes on the rest of the building, not wanting to be snuck up on. But, Shadow Mario's arms reached out of the X Popo was on, and grabbed at his head. Shadow Mario's head poked out and smiled. "But you hurt my family." He blasted out of the X, while still holding Popo, and when he was at the pinnacle of his height, he tossed Popo to the ground, making him hit it hard as he landed safely a ways in front of him.

Popo stood back up, gripping his Mallet, and growling under his breath. "Jr., you base your strongest form on your worst enemy? How pathetic." Shadow Mario brought out his paintbrush and spun it around perfectly, stopping with the bristles pointing at the younger boy.

"Not pathetic. Ambitious." The two of them ran at each other, with Popo's first mallet strike just barely fazing Shadow Mario's face, giving him the chance to slam his inky knee into Popo's chest, kicking him back. He then painted an X in the air before kicking the X toward the downed boy, and when it collided with him, it caused a big painty explosion.

However, Popo had the hatch of his mallet open up, and tossed it at Shadow Mario. Before he could react, a spike of ice shot out and right through Shadow Mario, making him scream in agony. Popo stood up and shook his body, trying to get some of the paint off. He slowly walked over to the inky figure and smiled.

"That's the difference between you and me. You still feel pain." He put his hands on the man's chest and pushed him further down onto the spike, the screams being louder. Shadow Mario slammed his head into Popo's, staggering him enough to pick himself off and ram his shoulder into him, pushing him further back. However, he was bleeding from his upper chest. He tried grabbing his paintbrush, but the pain was too much. Popo stood up and chuckled. "Your effort is futile. You can't even pick up your own weapon." He walked over to the struggling figure and stomped on his back. "Not only are you still able to feel pain." He grabbed the paintbrush and held it up, the bristle pointing up high into the sky, or rather, the roof. "But you're also not used to the pain. And so….this will hurt. A lot." He was stabbing it downward but was kicked away before being able to successfully do it. Popo got launched into the wall.

He looked up and saw Larry picking up the paintbrush. He gripped it harder as he saw his pained brother. "You….you monster." Larry slowly looked at Popo. "Not only do you take over the mind of an innocent kid, albeit annoying, but you do so much pain to another. I don't know how you can live with yourself." Popo slowly stood up, chuckling hard.

"You have no idea what true pain is, kid."

"I don't have to know, to know that doing so much pain to other people is just….bad."

"Say that to your father. The Big Bad Bowser. And you're not so innocent yourself, Larry Koopa." Larry looked down at the paintbrush for a moment, staring at the emblem of Prof. E Gadd.

"You're right…so many bad things." His grip on the paintbrush grew tighter and tighter. The cracking of his knuckles sounded around the entire room. It echoed, bouncing off of every X located there. He then turned his attention back to Popo. "But I know I must redeem them. I know I must make them better. I know nothing good will happen if I don't make up for that bad stuff." He pointed the bristles of the paintbrush at the boy. "And the first task I'll do is to….fuck you up. On behalf of my brother…my siblings. And to save Popo." The emblem shone bright, even blinding both Popo and Larry.

Once the light disappeared, Popo looked to where Larry once was and saw…another shadowy figure. Larry had turned into his own shadow version. Shadow Luigi. He looked around himself and chuckled. "Well, would you look at that…" He looked back at Popo, smirking confidently. "A much better body to fuck you up." Shadow Luigi ran in and slammed his knee into his chest, but then instantly grabbed his arm and tossed him against the wall. However, Popo simply stood back up.

"Larry…." Shadow Mario said, so he rushed over and crouched down to talk to him.

"What is it?"

"We need to…free Popo of the guy controlling him."

"How?"

"You'll know….trust your instinct. You've always….had a better one than I." Shadow Luigi stood up and watched as Shadow Mario turned back into Jr. He looked over at Popo and huffed.

"What are you waiting for, come at me!" Popo yelled, running forward and slamming his mallet into Shadow Luigi's chest. Shadow Luigi stayed crouched as he began thinking of ways to free Popo. Even as Popo ran in and unleashed countless attacks, he was still focusing on thinking of ways to free Popo. That was when he knew he needed to get Popo out of this world. He didn't know how, but he knew he needed to.

He slammed his head into Popo, staggering him enough to get kicked back. Shadow Luigi then drew an X, kicking it forward right into Popo. He did this a lot more, not letting Popo stand for a second. While Popo was shrouded by paint, Shadow Luigi ran in and grew an X above and below Popo, once both were ready, he grabbed the smaller boy. "I bet you're getting tired, eh?"

"Yes. So I'm done dealing with you." Shadow Luigi tossed him up into the X, with it opening up and swallowing Popo, and was spat up from the bottom X. He entered this endless loop going from one X to the next. As that was going on, he ran to Jr. "Jr.? Wake up, Jr." Jr. slowly opened his eyes.

"Y-yes?"

"I need your help. I need everyone's help." Shadow Luigi helped Jr. stand up, and he looked over at Popo's infinite loop of falling.

"Hehe, how have I never thought of that…" Shadow Luigi moved Jr. to the wall as he walked over to the others, being able to wake them all up.

"The hell? Luigi?" Roy questioned.

"I'm not Luigi."

"You quite literally are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are. You even have that stupid mustache."

"I'm Larry, idiot. I need your help to get out of here and to free Popo."

"When did you become a hero?" Wendy asked, crossing her arms.

"When that happened." Shadow Luigi stepped aside and pointed at Jr., who was holding his bloody chest. All of the other Koopalings stayed silent, simply all thinking the same thing. "Come on. Let's get out of this shithole."

"Ooo, cursing now?" Morton chuckled, patting his back. Shadow Luigi rolled his eyes and walked over to Jr., with the Koopalings following. He then slammed the bottom of the paintbrush into the ground.

"Grab it, everyone." Jr. grabbed it without hesitance, but the others didn't really know what was going on.

"A magical paint brush?" Ludwig said as he leaned in to analyze it.

"I think it's cool!" Lemmy yelled.

"But sort of doesn't make sense with science," Iggy said as he adjusted his glasses.

"Oh, my…..can you guys just grab it? We'll explain it later!" Everyone else finally grabbed hold of the stick part of the paintbrush, and the emblem shone bright, blinding everyone. And just what happened to Larry to turn him into Shadow Luigi, the same thing happened to everyone else. Jr. back into Shadow Mario….Iggy into Shadow Waluigi….Roy into Shadow Wario….Wendy into Shadow Daisy….Lemmy into Shadow Toad….Ludwig into Shadow Yoshi….Morton turned into Shadow DK. They also received smaller versions of the main Magical Paintbrush.

"Woah, this is so cool!" Shadow Toad happily jumped around.

"Why the fuck am I the fatass?" Shadow Wario said, disappointed.

"Just deal with it, dude," Shadow DK shot back.

"Says the one who's the big strong ape!"

"I said deal with it-"

"SHUT UP!" Shadow Luigi yelled, causing them to all look their way. "Now is not the time to be arguing. When we get back home, then you can beat each other up about who you became, but for now, we need to get out of here. Understand?"

"I agree, but how? We don't have too much power…" Shadow Yoshi said, looking down at his paintbrush.

"True, but all together-"

"They can combine. Genius," Shadow Mario said, patting his back.

"And how exactly do we do that? Pray?" Shadow Daisy brought up.

"How about we go Ghost Busters style? Like we merge our streams?" Shadow Waluigi suggested, causing Shadow Daisy to roll her eyes.

"Of course, you suggested that."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Let's just do that, thank you, Shadow Waluigi. Everyone, point your brushes at Popo and focus your minds and energy to show paint out of it.

"Your…..efforts…are…futile…you….bitches!" Popo's words spoke as he entered into view after each pass through the paint portals.

"Hah, idiot," Shadow Wario chuckled.

"We're lucky Popo doesn't have very many powers, so the man taking over him can't do much with him," Shadow Mario said as he pointed his paintbrush forward and shot a beam of paint forward, striking Popo and keeping him in the air. The other figures, aside from Shadow Luigi, did the same or tried to at least. Shadow Yoshi, Shadow DK, Shadow Waluigi, and Shadow Toad were all able to shoot beams of pain pretty easily. But the other two couldn't.

"How exactly do we freaking do this?" Shadow Daisy asked as she started slapping the brush.

"Not by hitting it," Shadow Luigi started, "You need to look forward, find where you want to shoot, focus, and shoot. It's like learning how to spit fire." Upon this explanation, Shadow Wario was able to do it, but Shadow Daisy still couldn't. Shadow Luigi simply sighed…"Popo touched your rings."

"WHAAAAT! Oh, you fuckhole!" Shadow Daisy finally shot a beam forward, with Popo simply laughing.

"Come on kids, give it up already. You know no pain can be done to me," Popo cackled.

"Perhaps. But we're not trying to hurt you." Shadow Luigi drew an X and shot it forward with his own beam of paint, albeit, slightly bigger. "Shoot the X before it touches Popo!" Everyone averted their beams to the X and after it was touched by all the beams, it seemed to go super-speed and slammed right into Popo, but it clearly was much stronger, and was messing with the two portals. The X grew bigger and bigger and Popo finally screamed in agony. The X blew up, shooting Popo away and leaving nothing but a large portal in its wake.

The Shadow Figures walked over and looked through the portal, seeing their home. It was the view of Lemmy's ball. "Get in, the portal won't stay open for long," Shadow Luigi said as he helped Shadow Mario into the portal. The others started following as he walked over to Popo, grabbing his mallet and picking him up.

"You really….think you've succeeded?"

"We caused you pain, didn't we?"

"A fluke."

"Sure. Couldn't handle the power of X's huh?" Popo stayed silent, making Shadow Luigi smirk. "Hit a nerve, didn't I?"

"Don't you say that name."

"What name? X? X! X! X! X!"

"STOP IT!" Popo punched Shadow Luigi's chest, but Popo's little body wasn't strong whatsoever, so it did no harm to him.

"Popo is mad annoying, but you're more so. Can't wait to get him back." Shadow Luigi tossed Popo through the portal, before going in himself. It was perfectly timed too, the portal closed.

Shadow Luigi returned back to Larry, as he looked over Popo, who was lying on the ground. "Popo?" Larry said, worried that it might not have worked. The other Koopalings were standing around the boy. Some grunts and groans of pain could be heard, and soon, he turned over onto his back, instantly screaming.

"Don't hurt me!" He covered his eyes, making the Koopalings laugh.

"He's back….now I can rest," Wendy stormed over to the bedroom as the rest of the Koopalings departed to do their own thing. Larry crouched down to his side.

"It's ok. We helped you out of wherever that is." Popo uncovered his eyes and gulped.

"Th-thank you." Larry helped the boy stand up.

"How'd you get in there anyway?"

"Sora….he pushed me in."

"Sora? Crap, we can't beat him. He's so much stronger than us…"

"Even with our Shadows, we can't do anything. He'd beat us with his eyes closed. And especially if he's being controlled by that man," Jr. said as he was gripping his wound on the couch.

"So..wh-what do we do?" Popo asked.

"Act natural, we need to build up our forces."

"Heh, sounding like a true hero, Lare," Jr. said, closing his eyes.

"Crap….Jr., how are you feeling?"

"I'll be fine…."

"No. Uh, you can go to your sister or something. If you wanna begin searching for someone to join us, you know where to find us." Popo nodded his head, grabbed his mallet, and ran off. Larry turned himself into Shadow Luigi and picked Jr. up. He ran through the halls of the mansion, in search of where Dr. Mario was, having to jump over and doge many of the other fighters. Eventually, he found his office and entered it, seeing him talk to Sora. However, once they entered, Sora bowed his head.

"Sorry about what happened with Jr.," he said, before rushing out.

"What happened to him?" Dr. Mario asked. Shadow Luigi walked Jr. over and laid him on the bed, turning back to Larry.

"He…had an accident."

"Oh, that's no good." Dr. Mario walked over and checked out the wound. "Ok, it doesn't seem too bad. I can work through this. You may need to leave, however."

"Alright, doc. Good luck, J," Larry said, patting Jr.'s shoulder and leaving the room. Once he was gone, Dr. Mario turned toward the wounded boy.

"Jr. You really thought you were safe here?"

"What?" The door opened and in came Sora once more. He walked over to his side and smirked.

"You really believed you won? No. You simply showed me that I should pick my targets more carefully. You know what to do, Doctor, do it."

"Yes sir," Dr. Mario said to seemingly himself. Sora handed him a pill, and upon seeing the pill, Jr. tried throwing a punch at the doctor but was held down by Sora.

"LET ME GO! LARRY!"

"No one can hear you here, so shut up!" Sora yelled. Dr. Mario walked over and forced his mouth open, shoving the pill into his mouth. Bowser Jr. tried spitting up the pill, but it was like it was being drawn in, he could do nothing but swallow. And as soon as he did, he fainted.

"Oh good, the pill worked."

"Indeed. Let's not waste any time. Get him down there with the other two."

"Right." Sora grabbed Jr. and walked away, leaving Dr. Mario to himself. He just chuckled softly before heading to the computer, turning it on to see the broken and beaten Sora and Dr. Mario.

"You're going to see a new friend! I bet you're excited. I would grab the other one, that bastard should rot in hell for saying his name, but I need to pace myself. Soon, soon everyone will be down there. You two won't be alone for long." He turned the computer off and looked into his drawer, bringing out a picture frame. The same exact one from the house the Koopalings were in. "Soon, my son….we'll be together once more. I promise."