Chapter 6:
The days since the failed attack on Princess Peach's castle were quite busy for the Koopas in Bowser's Castle, as well as throughout the Koopa Kingdom. First of all, Bowser, Ludwig, and Lemmy had suffered serious injuries at the hands of Mario's allies in the failed assault. The other Koopalings, save for Kevin, had also suffered injuries, but theirs were comparatively minor. In addition, the losses to Bowser's airship fleet had been catastrophic. Out of the thirty ships sent to attack Peach's Castle, only six had returned in good enough condition that they would not have to be scuttled. While they could use materials from the ships that were scuttled to repair or begin to build other airships, it was not just the materiel that the Koopa military had lost that was so catastrophic; it was the lives lost that were the real problem. With so many Koopas, having been lost, along with the Koopatrols and Magikoopa ranks having suffered heavy losses, the battle had been exorbitantly costly with no gain to speak of. The only good news was that the Mushroom Kingdom had not decided to press their advantage and launch an offensive on the Koopa Kingdom that would likely be enough to finish it off as a real power on the world stage. And that was only due to the Mushroom Kingdom losing almost all of the few airships they had, with the only one not having been destroyed being the previous flagship of the Koopa airship fleet that had been captured by Mario and his allies a year ago.
Inside the medical wing of his current main castle, Bowser lay in his bed covered in bandages, his body having suffered numerous cuts and bruises during the battle. He as currently on an antibiotic drip to help deal with any infections that may have come from any of the cuts. He had also suffered a concussion from his beating in the failed assault and bright lights still bothered him, as did loud noises, which assaulted his ears as the door was flung open, allowing Wendy to burst in, exclaiming, "Daddy!"
The King of the Koopas groaned as his head began to throb at the sound despite his heart skipping a beat out of joy. He loved his daughter dearly and was thrilled to see her visit, but she did not seem to understand the symptoms of a concussion. Eventually, he managed to sit up and focus his gaze on his daughter.
"Hi Wendy," he began in barely a croak. "Sorry you have to see me like this again."
"Don't worry about it King Dad," she assured him. "I'm just glad you're okay."
Bowser could only give a strained chuckle. Her definition of okay was drastically different from his at the moment. Still, all things considered, this was not the worst outcome of a battle against Mario. In one battle, he had had his skin burned off by lava, while in another, he had been blown off of a flying castle and fell to the ground, surviving only by the grace of the stars. And yet in another, he had been stranded on the moon until his forces had sent an airship to retrieve him.
He strained to turn his head to look at his daughter. "So, have you seen Ludwig and Lemmy yet? If so, how are they?"
Wendy nodded. "They're recovering," she answered. "They looked worse than they actually were when they were brought into the medical ward."
Bowser could only smile. At least he had not lost anyone. "So, how long are you gonna remain in the hospital?" the Koopa Princess asked.
"Until they let me go," Bowser answered with a short chuckle. "But I have no idea when that will be. I still have concussion symptoms."
"Oh," Wendy said sheepishly, suddenly realizing that her greeting had likely caused a great deal of physical discomfort for her father. "Well, anyway, the nobles and various military chiefs want to see me and the others that still aren't in the hospital as soon as possible so we can get to work rebuilding our forces."
"Well, you'd better not keep them waiting," Bowser said, straining to smile.
"I'll visit again later, Dad. Until then, take it easy."
"I will."
As Wendy departed the room, Bowser turned his head and stared at the ceiling. As he did so, he drifted into sleep, dreaming pleasant dreams of defeating the Mario Brothers and conquering the Mushroom Kingdom.
Meanwhile, Kamek had not sat idle in days since the disastrous failed assault on Princess Peach's castle. He had examined the human lying on the table before him as he reinforced the containment spell that isolated the healing human from the outside world. While the shield would allow Kamek and the two Medi Guys to perform medical tests on him, he would not be able to interact with the Magikoopa.
Over the days since the disastrous battle, he had been amazed at the recovery of the human lying on the table. He ignored the Medi Guys scanning the human and looking over the records that had been made of him in the last few days as he scanned the human. When he had been brought to the castle, he had been injured to the point of death. While he would not likely have survived without medical attention, all the Medi Guys had had to do was get the ball rolling and patch him up and let Sephiroth's enhanced healing ability do the rest. In the days since he had arrived, though, he had been making a remarkable recovery. While he was not nearly at full health yet, he was still in far better shape than anyone else with his injuries would have been, assuming they had survived.
Kamek had had to be careful in caring for the gravely injured human, for there had been a great number of Koopas wounded in the battle at Peach's castle, wounded that would have greatly benefited from Kamek's magical expertise, not the least of who were Bowser, Ludwig, and Lemmy Koopa. And while Kamek knew that the injured Koopas were not unimportant, especially Bowser and his children, he viewed studying this mysterious human to be of the greatest importance for the Koopa Kingdom in order to avoid future disastrous battles like the one that had devastated the Koopa airship fleet. If he could figure out how this human was enhanced, he could potentially give such enhancements to the rest of the Koopa Troop, especially Bowser and his children, and potentially turn the tide of the war against the Mushroom Kingdom.
He pored over the readouts and scans of the human lying on the table before him, carefully studying everything he could about the man. He had also recently taken magical scans of the man and found that he had an incredible amount of magical energy inside of him, but that magic was far different from anything he had seen before. He had only heard of similar magic being employed once before, by someone in the old Monstro Town in the Mushroom Kingdom, and even then, Bowser had been mum on the subject. One thing was clear to Kamek: this magic was otherworldly; and it was not from Earth, either.
After a few moments, a Medi Guy came up to him and handed him another file. Kamek accepted the file and opened it. After a second of reading it, his eyes went wide with shock.
"Is this for real?" he uttered distantly.
"Doctor Koopacillin drew two additional blood samples to confirm the findings," the Medi Guy answered.
"Incredible. This human has alien cells inside of him that have greatly enhanced his physical capabilities."
"They seem to enhance him in a similar way to how the Mario Brothers are enhanced by the natural magic of Hylia, though they seem to be enhanced to an even greater degree. Speed, strength, and reaction time have all been greatly increased. And for this human, there's more," the Medi Guy added, motioning for Kamek to read the report further.
Kamek continued reading the report and saw that there was a second component to the human's nature. "So there's a second substance in this man's blood that interacts with the alien cells that enhances him even further than the alien cells alone."
The Magikoopa then glanced over at Doctor Koopacillin, a blue-shelled Koopa Troopa dressed in a white lab coat who was already coming over to see him. "I see my assistant briefed you and gave you this man's file."
Kamek nodded. "Can you isolate the alien cells from this man's blood along with the second substance and use it to enhance our troops?"
"I don't know yet," Doctor Koopacillin answered. "I have yet to determine if it would be safe for our troops to be enhanced in this way. From what I can tell, this human's enhancements are due to both the alien cells and the second substance. I don't now yet if one or both are required for any enhancements or which, if either, is going to be dangerous for Koopas. Oh, one more thing, Master; one thing we have learned about this human is that he is not being affected by the magic of Hylia positively or negatively. It is possible, even likely, that the enhancements from alien cells and the substance inside his body are what is keeping him from being enhanced by the magic of Hylia."
"I see," Kamek stated thoughtfully. He was suddenly growing more concerned about potential side effects from the alien cells and substance. "Will this hinder us in any way?"
"No," Doctor Koopacillin answered. "However, I would be concerned about testing the substance or cells on Magikoopas or members of the Royal Family until we learn more about how it affects baseline Koopas and other inhabitants of Hylia."
"Then do your tests and get to work on making these things usable right away," Kamek ordered. "If this pans out, this could be the answer to all our wishes that we've been waiting for."
"Yes, Master Kamek," the Koopa doctor answered.
With that, the Koopa went back to work studying the human's blood sample and the substances and cells inside of it while Kamek used his magic to try to ascertain a way to use this man's blood to enhance the soldiers, and possibly the nobility and royalty, of the Koopa Troop. However, little did anyone there know that Sephiroth had made greater strides in his recovery than they realized, for he was conscious and had heard Kamek's musings and his discussion with the Medi Guy, and later, Doctor Koopacillin.
Meanwhile, over in the Mushroom Kingdom, the Marios, and their allies had not sat idle in the days since the Koopa Troop's assault on Peach's Castle. While they had not suffered nearly the damage or losses that Bowser's assault force had, the prelude to the battle had destroyed most of the airships in the Mushroom Kingdom's burgeoning airship fleet and there had been some damage done to the defenses of Peach's Castle as well. In addition, casualties had been heavy among the Mushroom Kingdom sky force with four airship crews having been lost in the prelude to the invasion. Fortunately, casualties had been light around Princess Peach's Castle and there had been no reported fatalities in the actual attack on her castle.
Inside her study in her castle, Princess Peach pored over reports coming in from the listening posts and from the cleanup and rescue crews going to the crash sites of the downed airships to see if any of them could be salvageable. So far, two of the fallen airships were salvageable and crews were already hard at work trying to load the ships onto either transports or to use airships that had been converted into sky tugs in order to bring the ships to dry dock so they could be repaired.
As for the reports coming in from the listening posts, so far, Bowser's forces were not making any moves on the Mushroom Kingdom. They did not even try to send some reconnaissance flights over, or even near, the kingdom. Peach suspected that that was due to the damage their own forces had taken in the battle, but something still seemed a little off to her. Even after notable losses, the Koopas would either send spies to try to glean some intelligence on the state of the kingdom after the Koopas had been driven off, or send some recon flights over the kingdom or close to it in order to get pictures of potential targets or areas of importance. The fact that the Koopas were doing neither indicated that they had taken a far more significant blow than she initially believed, for even after the devastating losses incurred during the first attack on the Mushroom World to involve the Koopalings and the Star Rod Incident, Bowser had still sent some spies or recon flights over the kingdom in a show that while they had taken a loss, they were far from beaten.
Princess Peach then stood and went over to a window and looked out over the kingdom. Outside, she saw Toads and other inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom hard at work repairing damaged cannons and installing new cannons where old ones had been destroyed during the attack. She had also ordered her castle to get upgraded defenses, for while the Mario Brothers and Diddy Kong had been sufficient to ward off the Koopa air force with only moderate damage to the castle's defenses this time, she knew that the next time Bowser attacked, he would take the lessons learned from this failure to heart and not make the same mistakes next time. She wanted the castle to be ready for when that next attack came.
Then there was the issue of this Sephiroth that Mario had faced up in Star Haven. She had been shocked when she had heard that Sephiroth had taken Mario to the brink, and Mario had said that it seemed as if something had been off about Sephiroth, as if he had not fought the Hero of the Mushroom Kingdom at full power. Mario had since gone off to the hills surrounding Star Hill to try to find Sephiroth's body to ensure that he was dead. Peach then gave a sigh and headed back to her desk to see to the running of the Mushroom Kingdom.
Meanwhile, over at Star Hill, Mario scoured the area where he believed Sephiroth had fallen in their climactic clash up in Star Haven. Accompanying the plumber were Vivian, Lady Bow, Lakilester, Parakarry, Watt, and Flurrie. On the way to Star Hill, Mario had told all of his companions, as well as the Kongs, Peach, and Toadsworth, about Sephiroth and how close their fight had really been. He also told them that Sephiroth had not likely been at his strongest during the battle, something that troubled Mario, especially since he had yet to find any trace of Sephiroth's body.
Mario had given them each of his companions hand radios so if they found something they could contact him and/or the others immediately. Mario had also taken the time to equip himself with a Zap Tap Badge as well as a Feeling Fine Badge, wanting to give Sephiroth, assuming he survived, or any other enemy, a shocking surprise should they try to accost him on this mission, as well as protect himself from status effects should he be ambushed. So far, though, they had not found anything, something that concerned Mario.
Mario's allies had split up in order to cover more ground, breaking off into groups of two, not wanting them to be ambushed should any stragglers from the assault on Princess Peach's Castle decide to take the opportunity to get some revenge for the recent loss. Vivian and Lakilester continued to scour the area for any traces of Sephiroth or signs of his body, or remains of his body. Still, like the others, they had been concerned about how Mario had described Sephiroth and their battle. She soon noticed that Lakilester was staring at a specific spot on the ground.
"You found something?" she asked. She got no response. After a few seconds, she asked a little louder, "Hey, Hylia to Lakilester, you found something?"
"Huh?" Lakilester blurted, being jarred out of his reverie. "Uh, no, I was just thinking."
"About what?"
Lakilester then gave out an uncharacteristic sigh. "About this Sephiroth guy. I really hope we find a dead body, but I'm dreading that we won't."
Vivian could only nod in agreement. "Yeah, me too."
"And it's not just that, either," Lakilester added. "You must have seen it. Mario looked like he was almost scared. I've never seen Mario anything close to scared before. And he's fought supposedly unbeatable enemies before."
"I know," Vivian stated solemnly. "Well, either way, whatever's going to happen, will. We just have to be ready for whatever does happen."
Soon, they heard Mario's voice crackle in over the radio, "Hey, Vivian, Lakilester, you guys find anything yet?"
"Uh, no, nothing yet," Vivian answered. "You find anything?"
"Nothing yet," Mario answered, "just checking in."
"Okay. We're still scouring our patrol area. We'll let you know if we find anything."
The moment Vivian had finished giving her report, though, the voice of Lady Bow crackled in over the radio, proclaiming, "Hey everyone, come to grid three. Parakarry and I may have found something."
A chorus of acknowledgments and affirmatives answered her call and Vivian and Lakilester immediately banked to the left to head for Lady Bow and Parakarry's location. When they arrived, they saw the others, minus Mario, who was coming towards them fast, in a ring looking down at the ground. Vivian and Lakilester arrived and joined the others looking down at the ground. Looking down at the ground, they saw several bloodstains lining the rocks: bloodstains, but no body.
Mario soon arrived and joined them, the ring parting so the plumber could get a look at what had gotten their attention. He looked down at the ground and then up into the sky, where he saw Star Haven above him, not directly so but enough where someone who jumped from the haven could land in this area assuming the descent was uncontrolled. He then looked down at the bloodstains once more before looking around to see if there was a trail of bloodstains or drops leading anywhere. When he saw none, he gave a sigh.
"So Mario, what's the verdict?" Parakarry asked.
"There's not nearly enough blood here to indicate a fatal injury," Mario answered. "And I'm also not seeing any droplets of blood or stains off in the distance indicating a trail, either."
"Meaning?" Watt asked, dreading that she already knew the answer.
"Meaning that Sephiroth is likely still alive and was taken by someone. And if he was dead, he'll likely be revived by someone."
"Who would want to do that?" Flurrie asked. "If this Sephiroth is as strong and as evil as you said, whoever would be reviving him would be risking their own lives in the process."
"Plenty of people would love to have someone like Sephiroth on their side," Vivian answered. "There's no shortage of bad guys that would love to have someone as powerful as him fighting for their army."
"And there's no shortage of bad guys who are stupid enough to think he'll help them out without asking for too much in return," Lakilester echoed.
"I can think of one," Watt said ominously. The others looked around and could only nod in agreement. Chances were that Bowser or one of his minions may have found the alien human fighter and have taken him away from this location. And if it was Bowser, then chances were that Sephiroth could either be healed or revived back to full health, and that Bowser had no idea who or what he was asking help from.
"Bowser," Mario's friends said in unison.
"So, what do we do?" Lady Bow asked. "If Bowser is responsible, then we could press our advantage and take this guy out once and for all, and possibly the Koopa Troop too, maybe even killing two birds with one stone."
"Assuming it was Bowser that took him," Flurrie stated, though like the others, she viewed Bowser as the primary candidate for taking Sephiroth.
The others looked at her puzzled, not realizing that she was still thinking along their lines. She then clarified. "While I do think the most likely scenario is that either Bowser or one of his minions took this guy, we also have to consider other possibilities. Don't forget that Mario recently beat the Broodals from the Dark Side of the Moon. They would love a chance to get revenge on Mario and could see helping this guy as a tremendous opportunity. And there are also the X-Nauts."
"And there are other evils in the world as well," Vivian added. "Don't forget about the X-Nauts, the remnants of Cackletta's and possibly even Fawful's forces, Ganon's minions from Hyrule, the list goes on."
"I agree," Mario eventually stated. "We can't discount anything. However, before we continue, I want to talk to the Star Spirits. They seem to know a lot about Sephiroth so they may be able to help us plan a strategy for when he comes to face us once more, because if he's alive, he'll be coming for us, not only because of our strength, but because he wants the Star Rod."
Watt then looked into the sky and saw a star descending from Star Haven that looked very familiar to her. "Speaking of which."
The others looked up and soon saw Eldstar and Skolar descending onto the scene below. When they arrived, they took a quick look at the bloodstains on the ground and sighed. "So it seems as if Sephiroth may not be dead yet," Eldstar stated plainly.
"Do you have any idea where he could be?" Parakarry asked.
"Is the Star Rod safe?" came Mario's question.
"It is," Eldstar answered. "There is no way anyone can find it easily and even if they could, getting to it would be a trial in and of itself."
"Are you positive?" Mario pressed. "Sephiroth in that seemingly imperfect state was a difficult enough opponent to defeat. I don't want him getting an item that rivals the Triforce in power."
"You're not the only one with that concern," Skolar assured the hero. "But as of right now, all we can do to help stop Jenova destroy those bloodstains. We can't allow any of the Jenova cells to infect the wildlife around here."
"Jenova cells?" the plumber asked.
"Jenova was an alien creature that originated millennia, possibly eons ago," Eldstar explained. "While its main form was feminine in appearance, it could change its shape to take on the form of any of its prey victims. It would kill off the population of a planet it appeared on and then use the planet it appeared on to find other planets with life-forms. It would then identify the native population, kill some member and then take on the form of the slain loved ones of those on the planet, use those forms to get close and inject its own cells into the population to turn them into monsters, if not kill them outright. The monsters would then kill the other members of the population. Even worse, though, is that Jenova had the ability to take not only the form of its prey but also its memories, which allowed it to get close to the loved ones of its victims and catch them off guard, killing them easily. Jenova would then use the newly dead planet to move on to another world and start the process all over again.
"Another thing about Jenova is that once its cells have been separated from the main body, they would attempt to reunite. And if the cells are in a host body, they would be able to influence, and in some cases, even outright control, the mind and body to do whatever it wanted and rejoin with the main Jenova body. Indeed, some even believe that Jenova is actually the cells that have a hive mind, with the original body merely being a host body that was strong enough to be of use to them."
It was then that Lady Bow interjected, "This is a fascinating, if not nightmarish, history lesson and all, but what does this have to do with Sephiroth?"
"Sephiroth was infected with Jenova cells while he was still a fetus but his will seems to have subsumed their own," Eldstar answered. "While he seems to want to conquer his home planet and likely spread across the cosmos, just like Jenova, he is the one in control. And from what I can tell, if he gets back to full strength, he would be far more powerful than Jenova ever was."
"So we have to find him and destroy him now!" Parakarry stated.
"That will be easier said than done," Eldstar cautioned. "We still don't know where he is, though we know that he's looking for a way back to his homeworld, something the Star Rod can give him. He'll almost certainly be coming back to try to get it. You'll need to be fully equipped and ready for the fight of your lives if you're going to deal with someone like Sephiroth, as Mario can attest to."
Mario then nodded in confirmation. "None of you can afford to underestimate him," the plumber warned. "We'll need to be at our best and take him by surprise if we want this to work."
"And there's another issue," Eldstar added, causing the group to turn to face him. "If someone did indeed find Sephiroth, chances are they'll notice the Jenova cells inside of him and discover that they can be transferred into other living beings, either turning them into monsters or greatly enhancing their strength. If they manage to isolate the other substance inside Sephiroth's blood, they'll be able to boost the recipient's abilities even further, possibly even giving them the ability to use magic. In addition, there's no telling what type of magic they would be able to use. But we could feel that the power inside of Sephiroth is different from anything we've encountered before. Be ready for anything."
"We will," Mario assured the elder Star Spirit.
"The first order of business, though, is to destroy those bloodstains. They still contain Jenova cells."
"Right," Mario and the others answered.
With that, Mario took out a Fire Flower and gripped it tightly, transforming himself into Fire Mario. He then pointed at the stains on the ground and unleashed a massive volley of fireballs. The fireballs struck the ground and instantly superheated their points of impact, causing the ground to glow. Vivian soon added her own weight to Mario's assault, twirling her finger and performing a Fiery Jinx. Almost instantly, the bloodstains burst into flames and the combined fire from Mario's fireballs and Vivian's Fiery Jinx utterly destroyed the cells, leaving no trace of Jenova Cells behind.
Once the cells were destroyed, Mario turned to the others and told them, "Prepare for the battle of your lives everyone. I'll call Peach and the others to let them know to put the word out about Sephiroth and tell the border guards to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.
"Star Haven's Item Shop is open for you all," Eldstar told them. "Go there to get all the items you need."
"I'll go contact the others," Parakarry volunteered. "I have a feeling we'll need everyone we can get for this one."
The others nodded in agreement. Then as one, they proceeded to go about their tasks in preparation for the next battle against Sephiroth, which they hoped would be on their terms.
Meanwhile, back at Bowser's Castle, Doctor Koopacillin and the Medi Guys with him were hard at work checking on Sephiroth's condition, wanting to ensure that he did not die, but also that he did not regain consciousness too quickly, for they wanted to take as much blood from him as safely possible so they could potentially enhance the Koopas the same way he was enhanced. One of the Medi Guys stuck a needle into Sephiroth's arm and drew out the scarlet liquid from his body. The needle was attached to a bag that could hold a pint of blood, a pint that Kamek hoped could transform a battalion of Koopas into supersoldiers. The doctor and his assistants watched as the bag filled up with the human fighter's blood, blood that could be used to enhance the soldiers of the Koopa Troop.
Eventually, the bag was full and a Medi Guy went to pull the needle out of Sephiroth's arm. Doctor Koopacillin, however, marveled at the blood that was collected in the bag. Images of elite Koopa soldiers leading forces of unenhanced Koopas into battle against the Mario Brothers and actually emerging victorious entered his mind. His thoughts soon expanded to battlefields beyond the Mushroom Kingdom. He saw the Koopas taking over the Metro Kingdom and beating Wario and his friends in Diamond City. He saw the new Koopas standing over the defeated forms of Link, Zelda, and Midna in the Kingdom of Hyrule. The doctor could only grin. He would be famous all around the world. He would be the guest of honor on every talk show in the Koopa Kingdom. He would be the apple of every female Koopa's eye. He would be rich beyond his wildest dreams. However, his reverie would soon be broken.
"Uh, Doctor Koopacillin, we have a problem," the voice of a Medi Guy managed to gag.
"Huh, what is it?" the doctor asked, turning to the Medi Guy, only to find a fully conscious Sephiroth holding the Medi Guy by the throat.
"Oh," the doctor uttered in dread. The other Medi Guys turned to see the fully conscious Sephiroth standing, and holding their comrade, and froze in absolute terror.
"What are you doing?" the imposing human asked coldly, not weakening his grip on the Medi Guy.
"We were trying to find out about what made you, you," Doctor Koopacillin answered frantically. "We weren't trying to hurt you!"
"Then why did you draw my blood?"
"Because we found some strange cells and another substance in it."
Sephiroth's eyes flashed at the mention of the strange cells in his blood, as well as the substance. The words Jenova and Mako came to mind. He then remembered how Eldstar had called him Jenova when he had attacked Star Haven and the flash of memory that had come back to him when he had heard the name. He also remembered Eldstar saying that he had Jenova cells inside of him, meaning that he, himself, was not Jenova, but that Jenova was a name of something, or someone. Could it have been the name of a relative of his? And what was this Mako that he also began to remember? He then looked at the doctor once more. He had seen the doctor as he had been daydreaming about becoming rich and famous. He knew that Koopacillin was out mainly for himself and for the Koopa Kingdom. Still, given that he was on an alien and unfamiliar world surrounded by strange creatures, he believed that it would be better to not make more enemies. He then released the Medi Guy and studied the group once more.
"You said you found some strange cells and a substance in my blood," the former SOLDIER began. "Eldstar of Star Haven said that I have something called Jenova cells inside of me. Have you ever heard of them before?"
Doctor Koopacillin shook his head. "No. But our tests do show that the cells and substance in your blood are what gave you your superior physical abilities. It enhanced you far beyond what a normal human would have been. Your speed, strength, agility, stamina, and cognitive ability have all greatly increased, possibly even more so than the magic of the Mushroom Kingdom would had you not been enhanced by these cells and the substance." The doctor paused before continuing, "Do you remember anything else?"
"Only the word 'mako'," came the reply.
"I've never heard of it. Though considering that it was something you just remembered, it could be the name of the substance that is working with your cells to enhance you."
"Perhaps we should bring Kamek," one of the Medi Guys suggested. "He may know more about this sort of thing, especially if it is magic related."
"Good idea." Doctor Koopacillin then drew out a hand radio and activated it. Once it was active, he spoke into it, saying, "Kamek, this is Doctor Koopacillin. The mysterious man just woke up and is not in a good mood. However, he's giving us some things to think about and we could use your help on this."
"I'll be right there," the Magikoopa responded.
Doctor Koopacillin and the others then waited for Kamek to arrive, which he did less than a minute later. When the Magikoopa arrived, Sephiroth took one look at him and noticed the similarity to Korry, at least in terms of attire; the intricacies of physical differences between Magikoopas were beyond him at the moment. Kamek took one look at Sephiroth and stared in amazement, sensing the power emanating from him.
"Amazing. You are even stronger than I thought when I found you after your battle with Mario."
Sephiroth did not make a comment. Kamek looked puzzled at the human fighter for a moment before asking, "What is your name and what do you want?"
"I am Sephiroth and I want to get back to my world and take over its essence. Why have your people taken my blood?"
Kamek considered what to tell the former SOLDIER. That was when Koopacillin turned to Kamek and informed him, "Master Kamek, I have already told him that we noticed the special cells and substance in his body."
Kamek then gave a nod and decided to tell Sephiroth his plans. "We not only noticed the cells and substance in your body. We also noticed that the cells and substance greatly enhanced your abilities. Seeing that, as well as the pounding we took from Mario and his friends recently…"
"I know," Sephiroth interjected. "I saw it."
Kamek's eyes went wide with surprise. "You were there?"
Sephiroth nodded. "Korry brought me to the battle."
"I see. Well, anyway, back to our goals. My goal was to use your cells to try to enhance our forces," Kamek explained. "I saw the later parts of your fight against Mario and saw that he was taken to the brink. Imagine what we could do with an army of Koopas with your abilities."
Sephiroth could only smirk. "I am nowhere close to my full power," he stated plainly. "For that, I would have to return to my world."
"Why is that?"
"Because the world I am from has a source of energy that could not only return me to my full power, but also grant you and your forces even greater power, even more than what the cells and substance will alone."
"Where is this world and how do we get to it?" Kamek asked eagerly, unable to contain his excitement.
"I don't know," Sephiroth. "The only reason I haven't left this place in shambles is because I think you can help me accomplish my goals." Sephiroth then considered the situation and added, "Perhaps I could also help you with yours."
"What do you mean?"
"I know that when I return to my homeworld I'm certain that I remember more about myself and will be able to help enhance your forces."
It was then that Koopacillin went over to Kamek and whispered, "Master, we do have enough blood and can separate that substance from it so we can enhance some of our force."
"I know," Kamek told him in reply. "What's your point?"
"I don't know if we can trust this guy. What if he turns on us?"
"By then, we'll have enough power to stop him should he try anything."
Doctor Koopacillin was not convinced. "Are you sure? He seems pretty confident."
"And we'll be ready if he tries anything. But think of the possibilities. Remember, you were the one who drew the blood and did the tests. You'll be famous."
"I know," the doctor answered. "And I thought of those things, myself, until I saw a patient I thought was, and should have been, unconscious choking a Medi Guy. Just seeing him now tells me that this guy is more dangerous than anyone we've encountered before, even Mario."
"And that's why we have to at least consider working with him."
"It's your decision, master, but be careful," Koopacillin warned. "There's something not right about this guy."
"I'll be careful," Kamek assured him. "But I have made my decision." He then turned to Sephiroth and told him, "Okay. We'll help you, but you have to do something for us, too."
"What do you need?"
"We're going to use some of these cells…"
"Jenova cells," Sephiroth interrupted.
"…Jenova cells along with the other substance in your body to enhance a number of Koopa Troopas. I want your help to make this process go as smoothly as possible."
"Okay," Sephiroth told him. "Let's begin. If all goes well, this should not take too long." He then gave Kamek a stern look. "But before we begin, tell me, how will you be able to help me reach my birthworld? The Star Spirits have hidden the Star Rod and Star Haven will undoubtedly be protected. Without my full power, it will be difficult for us to infiltrate it and take the Star Rod."
"We won't need to use the Star Rod to get to your world."
"Why's that?" the former SOLDIER asked suspiciously.
"Because it just so happens that the Mushroom Kingdom has ships that can travel through through the stars," Kamek answered. "All we need are the coordinates to your homeworld and we'll be able to fly there, assuming we can get access to that ship."
"And why would that be a problem?" Sephiroth asked.
"Because it would likely be guarded by the Super Mario Brothers," Kamek answered. He then paused before continuing, "Mario's not the only human with super powers in the Mushroom Kingdom. And he also has a lot of powerful friends as well."