Hello.

Those that are able to read this at the moment are likely able to determine its author, but I hope that this is a series of texts that will be passed on and expanded upon in the event that I should fall before being able to construct reasonable hypothesi about the behavior of certain psychological pathogens making residence on the many worlds that I visit. Again, I assume that by taking the time to read this you know what 'pathogens' I speak of, and also that many other people have attempted to research their origins, motives and deterrants, and that the greatest of those was the enigmatic Organization XIII, a cluster of self-aware Nobodies that sought to find the hearts and bodies they had been forcibly removed from; cause unknown, and achieve enlightenment that they believed they had lost.

Surviving records indicate that they had been searching for a way to reach a plane of existence that they repeatedly referred to as 'Kingdom Hearts', or where all hearts come to rest. Along the way they began harnessing their new latent powers as sentient Nobodies and were able to gain control over a dominion of lesser-evolved Nobodies to do their bidding. As their research into the matters of the heart broadened, they began to compile their results in what would later be known as the 'Ansem Reports'. Most of these Reports have been lost to the wind over the indeterminate period of time since their conceiving, but enough have been salvaged by my own organization, the Covenant, to pick up where they left off, capitalizing on their gains and avoiding their pitfalls. We desire answers regarding our own existence as Nobodies, and we must tread lightly to ensure that we don't become lost to the world(s) as well.

Namely, as the Heartless and Nobodies have been examined thoroughly, there is little known about the entity that myself and others have deemed the Vast. A mysterious group calling itself NSX has made a campaign out of purging Nobody worlds of both the Heartless and Vast, for motives unknown, but the implication that they know things about the Vast that we don't is alarming. Until we can detain an agent of this NSX, I can only theorycraft about the Vast. What renewed my interest in this is my recent witnessing of a being known as a Koopa being infected with both the Heartless and the Vast, and miraculously recovering. Another Koopa associate of his, a novice Keyper, had also been infected with Vast and is making a recovery, but according to locals in both cases their thought patterns and personalities have changed drastically. This is a step up from the previously observed long-term effect of Vast contamination, but is still to be treated with caution.

In this volume I would like to present the case study of the monarch of the Koopa Kingdom, known at home and abroad as Bowser. In a private interview I was able to gain some first-person insight regarding the infection pattern of the Vast.

Magistrate of the Covenant

Auron

nSX: CoVENaNt rEPorT

BoWSer

Three weeks earlier

Bowser's inner sanctum and closest officials had a situation. Not one as large as they had been afraid of, but something semi-urgent nonetheless. For the most part it was quite easy to shift the blame of Bowser's rampage off his shoulders and point fingers at the Vast, as border guards of the Koopa Troop were literally up to their nonexistant eyebrows in reports of sightings of the alien lifeform. From eyewitness reports, it didn't seem any more civil in its introduction to their other potential hosts than it was to Bowser. For now, the only conceivable plans of action for the Koopa Kingdom were to wait for results from the Mushroom Kingdom's salvaging of keyblades and their subsequent research, or take both matters into their own hands, which seemed less and likely as the upper hierarchy of Bowser's advisors became increasingly fragmented over the issue - that and the Mushroom Kingdom had much more firm support of distant kingdoms in terms of recon, not to mention it possessed a trained military force that was capable of carrying out operations above and beyond beating the crap out of people.

The heat was off for now however. Bowser successfully conducted negotiations of duty with the Mushroom Kingdom after being subdued, and it was generally agreed that the Mushroom Kingdom would shoulder most of the burden involving containment of the Vast. It was generally assumed that he made his quick escape from responsibility for the above reasons, but those closer to Bowser would realize otherwise.

Bowser knew it would happen again.

Wobbling metal echoed through the hallways of the highest level of Last Chance Ramparts. A Troopa slammed a clenched fist into the cherry-red cast-iron doors leading into the master bedroom, balancing a tray with a pile of green mush on it. "I know you're in there! Listen, you can say you're not hungry all you want but skipping 8 meals in a row is a little above and beyond what you call 'sharing your rations'. I'm giving you to the count of ten, or I'll come ram this crap down your throat myself, demotion or not." Another moment passed and finally the servant shoved through with his shoulder.

A weary, pale-skinned Bowser sat atop the shoddy reinforced mattress that still somehow managed to be the most comfortable bed in the installation. He glared over, startled, and coiled tighter the thick blanket that wrapped around himself. "...that was a bold move."

"The smell will get to you eventually." the guard stabbed a fork into the middle of the green sludge. "Now quit acting like that, we're in a better position than we were when you were first contaminated. If you freak out again, at least this time there's a course of action we can take with our connection to Troy."

"You endangered yourself just by entering this room."

"Contrary to what you'd believe, everyone was fighting to be the one to tell you to snap out of it. You have subjects that care about you and what you've done for this settlement, they are willing to work with you to overcome whatever challenges we encounter in developing our nationhood and bonds with neighboring kingdoms. And you should be thinking about demonstrating your ability as a leader to those that think otherwise."

Bowser shook his head, his gaze becoming more distant as he talked. "...you don't get it... I still feel it, creeping and crawling inside of me... Troy shook me up for sure but I can't be totally confident that... stuff won't happen down the line. If something like what happened that night happens again, I dunno how I could live with it, let alone explain myself... trying to operate with this threat looming over my head is nerve-wracking."

The Troopa sat down at the other end of the table. "How exactly did it feel?"

"...I wish I could put it into words..." Bowser drummed his claws on the table with no rhythm to speak of. "...this is gonna sound off-topic, but when the lower guys on the totem pole suggested that we export processed sludge from Dark Land to finance our operations it sounded like a great idea, and the more I spoke with the bigwigs in the Mushroom Kingdom, the more they made it sound like they were completely bonkers for the stuff. Like they couldn't live without it. Right there I realized something. I already had power over a foriegn entity. I already wanted to price-gouge those suckers within every extent of the law of the land. At some point, I wanted to step over and above that. I started cooking up a scheme that would let us nab their princess if they got catty. Somewhere along the way... IT must've started seeping into my head... first I wanted to abuse, then extort, then destroy. I'd completely forgotten about the sludge entirely. That Vast, whatever it was or what level of thought it had - it was bending my MIND."

"...tell me more." the Troopa had taken a pad of paper off a nearby countertop, and was now writing furiously in it as Bowser continued to recount his experience.

"My name is Royal Guard Krety. Just a few hours ago I'd walked all the way up to King Bowser's private quarters myself to ensure that he received the rations for that evening, after widespread accounts that he had been refusing to attend public mess for the past three days. Duty turned into casual conversation, and casual conversation turned into a first-person account of Bowser's downward spiral. I didn't really think about it before I'd reached the third page, but I was at the forefront of something that people in the Mushroom Kingdom were ready to kill for, pun intended - an empirical documentation of the possible effects of Vast contamination. I shared what I had with the rest of the Royal Guard and secretly sent off a copy of what I'd scribbled down to the Mushroom Kingdom itself. Within days I got a message back, stating that an associate of Troy wished to meet with me to discuss what I thought of what I had heard. His name was, as noted simply in the reply, 'Auron'."

"I appreciate the shout-out," Auron said flatly. "But when I said this wasn't to become public yet... I meant it."

"YET." Krety waved the journal sheet in front of Auron's face. The two were seated in the mess hall during lunch hour, and even though the situation seemed to counteract any semblance of privacy that would have prevented the entire facility from going into a panic over the sheer mention of Vast, the cacophony of several hundred other Troopas burying their faces in their food worked well to drown out anything the two said. "Why do you have to make this a big mystery anyways? If we could just fix up Bowser fast we'd be in a better position to fight this Vash."

"Vast."

"Whatever." Krety eyed the badge pinned to Auron's overcoat, an emblem of the Mushroom Kingdom. Though most of the Koopa authority would have been too dumb to interpret it as that, it was important that Auron made himself known as an emissary of the Mushroom Kingdom (even if he technically wasn't); and by association, Troy, such that when he brought up questions about Bowser's state he wasn't actually comprimising the security of the Koopa Kingdom even further.

"You said you conducted an interview with Bowser?" Auron interrupted Krety's daydreaming.

"Oh, uh... yeah, right here." Krety reached down the collarhole of his shell, digging around for a moment before lifting out another torn journal sheet. Auron reached over and took it from Krety's hand, and adjusted his shades as he glanced over the page.

"Constipated?" Auron said dully.

"Lemme see that." Krety snatched back the paper, squinting hard at a sweat stain on the sheet. "...constrained."

"Judging from your observations, I highly doubt that Bowser would return to a berserk state as he had endured previously," Auron mumbled. "I think with some... treatment however he may be able to make a full recovery. His condition is still crippling to his body and mind, however. Seriously, don't you have anyone else that can take over executive duties within the Koopa Kingdom until he returns to his former self?"

"He's totally adamant about keeping the seat of power to himself. I personally don't think anything suspicous of that, if we tried to split the power this early in the government's development this whole thing could crash down over our heads." Krety blinked. "What 'treatment'?"

"That's for me to know and you to pester me about yet not actually get anywhere." Auron straightened up in his seat, letting his arms rest on his lap. "You, and by that I mean the Kingdom, should actively be in pursuit of another keyblade-"

"This is about the keyblades again?" Krety rolled his eyes. "If that's the solution, let's just drag Troy back here to fix crap for us."

"It is important that there are enough Keypers on call at a moment's notice from the Mushroom Kingdom, as it maintains the shortest distance from all major Vast impact sites. Say what you want, but this is a backwater nation. Besides... you can't rely on one person if you insist that this city you have here can stand on its own two feet. Perhaps you should demonstrate that you as a people are capable of remedying your current situation AND arming yourself."

Krety's gaze started to lose attachment to Auron's. "What a bother..."

"Well, if you don't want to I GUESS I could hassle Troy, although I heard he was a little bitter after having to come out and inspect your sludge shipment that other day. In fact, he's stated he wants to avoid coming out here unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Is that so?" Krety spat.

"But think about this. You could possibly secure a new keyblade through leads that I've gathered, and it may bind itself to you if you make sure to treat it as softly as you can. You will be heralded as a new hero of the Koopa Troop for stopping the monopoly on keyblades that the Mushroom Kingdom currently has and potentially become an elite Keyper in the process, leading to a weakening of Troy's influence. Does that sound like an interesting proposition to you?"

"Y' mean... I'd be a Keyper and all that jazz?"

"I assure you." Auron lied.

"Well you got me sold then! You just gimme what buzz you have and I'll round up a troop to bring that keyblade home!" Krety sprung from his seat. "So, like, when I get this keyblade or whatever it'll be attracted to me? What's that feel like when it links up with you?"

"You won't feel a thing." Auron reached under his coat and took out a roll of parchment, shoving it across the table to Krety. He immediately took out another paper and began to write on it with a nearby pencil. "Alright, you go do that, I have some short business left here and then I must return to the Mushroom Kingdom."

"Awwwwwwwwwright!!" Krety pumped his arms. "Troy might think he's the Goomba's knees now but when when I get done with this keyblade business he's gonna be the target of a celebrity meltdown!" Krety continued to snicker to himself as he skipped away into the nearest aisle, mixing in with the swarm of other soldiers trying to find a seat.

"You really think he's gonna pull that off?" the Troopa sitting next to Auron hacked, crumbs spewing out of his mouth.

"Make sure this gets to Bowser." Auron passed the second pamphlet off to him. "When Krety returns, confiscate the keyblade and send it straight to the castle vault until you can determine who the owner is. Judging by the proximity of it, I'm nearly certain it will attune itself to another Koopa."

"Oh wow." the soldier glanced over the paper quickly before tucking it down his collarhole. "I'll get right on that then."

A cloud of dust slowly rumbled across one of the dust plains of Land's End, making sure to drift to the side now and then to avoid the massive crevices in the ground that were ready to swallow up anyone or anything that tried to pass straight over them. All the while the sun continued to beat down, baking the earth to an even deeper crisp that made sure that whatever passed through afterwards would be weaving all the more. Krety lead the handful of Troopas immediately behind him, waving his arms in the air as he goose-stepped ahead of the crowd.

"As a soldier I have heard"
"As a soldier I have heard!"

"Vast freaks and their deathly word"
"Vast freaks and their deathly word!"

"Ram a keyblade through their face"
"Ram a keyblade through their face!"

"We're war machines, we'll forfeit grace"
"We're war machines, we'll forfeit grace!"

"SOUND OFF!"

"One, two"
"Three, four!"

"Five six, se-ven eight!

"One, two"
"Three, four!"

"HOO-uh!"

"This is retarded." a Troopa near the front of the group wheezed. "Are we really gonna go on the hunch of whoever rolls up to Last Chance Ramparts as to where a keyblade might be found? We should really be leaving this to the Mushroom Kingdom, they seem to be the pros at this."

Maple quickened her pace, coming up alongside him with a mountain of medical supplies strapped to a rucksack on her back. "Seriously, Tern, we shoulda just got Troy out here."

"You're the freaking vice president of the 'official Troy fanclub', I know better than to keep listening to ANYTHING you say after I hear the word 'Troy'." Tern grunted, hoisting up his own backpack moments before Maple clobbered him to the ground with her own enormous baggage.

"Oh, you're both gonna be eating your words, let me assure you as much," Krety sneered. "When I get this keyblade and put it to good use, any household name that poor sap Troy has is OUT the window. Seriously, how do any of you think that Troy has any vested interest in the well-being of the Koopa Troop anymore anyways? That creep is probably being hand-fed grapes by the prissy royalty of the Mushrooms! I don't care what kind of crush you have on him missy, as long as you're out here you're going to be smiling and nodding at everything I say, got it?"

Maple sighed. "Yes, sir."

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

Maple's voice cracked. "YES, SIR!"

"Well I certainly appreciate your vote of confidence, MEDIC, as we have now arrived."

"What are you talking about, there's nothing for miles," Tern muttered. "except the possibility of fatal sunstroke."

"You, drop your crap over here." Krety tipped his head at one of the rear Troopas. With a strained growl he dropped his supplies, and Krety began digging through them and seperating a set of rappeling gear. "...alright, I think we got what we need here, you others in the back, start getting your harnesses on, we're going to be checking all the crevices in this immediate area. And before any of you start complaining, think of it less as life-risking spelunking and more as getting in the shade. Everyone will go to the holes I assign to them and we're gonna tear up this place."

Maple muttered under her breath. "Tern. Let's sta-."

"Maple will be with me of course." Krety had already finished pounding a post into the ground and was working on firmly mounting one of the rappeling systems onto it. He winked at her as he started fitting his harness on, causing her to cringe and stumble noticably backwards.

One of the other Troopas stood a distance away, facing into the wind with a walkie-talkie-type device pressed up against his earhole. He nodded several times before cupping his hands over the bottom and turning back towards the group. "Oh you guys aren't gonna believe this. Last Chance Ramparts is having a big crisis right now, apparently no one's been able to find Bowser for the last 5 hours. People are starting to think that he's gone AWOL."

"That can't be," Tern grumbled. "We're the Royal Guard, we know him better than anyone, if he had any incentive to flee we would've been the first ones to know."

"This is troublesome," another Troopa moaned as he picked up a bundle of posts in each hand. "Maybe we should hold off on doing this until we can figure out what's happening at-"

"NO." Krety cast an arm to the side, still fumbling with his harness's connection. "No. No. It took long enough for us to get out here, now we're going to drop down and investigate this. The faster we get that keyblade, the faster we can go home and mope around the palace for another couple weeks until the next remotely exciting mission comes along." Krety's lips curled up as he added another bit under his breath. "...and the closer I get to both making Troy irrelevant and overthrowing that incompetent slab of lard Bowser."

Maple started buckling her own harness on. "Whatever, let's get this over with then." She continued snarling to herself as she watched Krety hop down into the gaping crack in the ground. She cast a glance around, watching as the other dozen soldiers paired up and headed off towards the other maws. Taking a pith helmet from the pile of supplies, she tested its lamp before following Krety into the darkness. Any semblence of tolerance and/or comfort that Maple could muster up didn't last long, however.

"What size of shell DO you have?!" Krety yelled up from the pit. "I can see up your legho-"

"SHUT UP."

And shutting up would occur as the two spent the next ten minutes in silence descending into the wound in the earth. Soon the daylight above was just a speck, and it was becoming obvious that the walls of the crevasse were not narrowing - in fact, they were becoming wider apart. Krety took one last step downwards - and screeched as he realized he was stepping off into thin air. He scrambled back up, staring down into the darkness.

"Ugh," Maple groaned. "Now what..."

"T-there's nothing below."

Maple rolled her eyes. "You were all gung-ho a minute ago... rappel down until you reach the end of your rope, I'll tie you to mine in case anything goes wrong."

Krety grimaced. "...yeah, that's right... I'm gonna get that keyblade..."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Are you ready?"

"Go ahead."

Krety continued his descent as Maple watched. After sinking another 15-20 feet into the darkness, Krety stopped with a clunk. He had reached the end of their line.

"So?" Maple sighed.

"Oh, hang on," Krety mumbled. "I see the ground a couple more feet down. I'm going to detach." Maple listened as Krety's harness came undone, and he tumbled down to the ground. Straightening himself, he waved for Maple to do the same.

"Now what?" Maple glanced around, carving a path through the darkness with her pith helmet. Krety kept his facing forward.

"Now we're going to have a looksee." Krety licked his lips.

"How do we get out, I mean." Maple said flatly.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Maple nearly stumbled off her feet. "Wait, WHAT?! You were supposed to think of that before you jumped down! What are you thinking?! Do we even have any way of contacting the others like this?! The batteries in these things only last 2 hours max and we have no way of getting back up to our ropes, and-"

"Oh, shut up." Krety had already started to jog off into the darkness. His eyes glowed as his feet plowed through the inches of dust, only a 3-foot-long beam of light in front to guide him. "What matters more... is what I can sense right in front of me..."

"Have you completely lost-" Maple gasped, shielding her eyes as a bright flash of pale green light filled the large cavern. For a brief moment Maple could see the endless caverns for miles around herself, and her ultravision faded as soon as it became available. Rubbing her eyes she could only see Krety with his arms hovering over a faintly glowing crystal lodged in the ground. Within, Maple could see the faint outline of the most basic of keyblades. "...what?! Is that it? Hurry, let's radio the others and get them to help us move that out of here, this place is seriously starting to creep me out..."

"No, I'm afraid that's not going to happen," Krety moaned. "'cause its owner is already preparing to take it..." with one swift motion, Krety tore the pick from his spelunking belt and raised it above his head - and smashed it into the crystal. "You see, Maple? You don't need Troy to keep this kingdom together, not when I have a keyblade for myself that I can use to govern and defend everyone with! A task that I'll perform better than Troy or Bowser ever could!!"

Maple's eyes flew open. "Krety?!"

Both of them jerked, however, when a pained roar echoed through the catacombs. Krety grit his teeth, turning around to find that the pick had barely pierced the outer layer of the crystal. He furiously tried to tear it away as the bellows rose in the distance, with no luck. The sharp instrument was securely jammed. "...no! NO!! This is MY power!! MINE!! Does it need some kind of magic word or something?!"

"Is that the only reason you agreed to come on this mission?" Maple shook both of her fists. "You're despicable!"

"I'll tell you what's despicable!" Krety shrieked. "Those two lunkheads claiming they're capable of ruling and/or fighting their way out of a paper bag! I will bring GLORY to the Koopa Kingdom, and myself!"

Maple covered her earholes as the howling swept over her like a tidal wave. Before she could give out a scream in response, the ground collapsed under their feet. Maple and Krety tumbled through the air for what seemed like minutes before slamming into even deeper dirt, both their pith helmets buried under the debris. The two slowly pushed themselves back to their feet, tending to their bruises as the keyblade's casing sat at the top of a pile of stones, continuing to pulse peacefully.

Krety coughed out a mouthful of sand. "You get me? Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, is going to get in my way!"

"...m-m-maybe that-t m-might." Maple stammered.

"What are you blabbing ab..." Krety looked over his shoulder, slowly turning around to face what he saw in the darkness. A gigantic being of the same pitch black surrounding them, but with a faint white outline that made it appear clear as day. Its gigantic statue-like body was firmly lodged in the ground, its torso held up by a pair of black, pillar-like arms that entrenched themselves firmly in the dirt. A pair of solid white eyes shot open, and a gaping maw full of shining white teeth revealed itself as the creature let out another deafening blast.

"...you!" Krety snarled. "I'm not afraid of you!!" Krety began to limp towards the keyblade yet again, leaving Maple paralyzed where she stood. "If it just goes for Maple first... I can get the keyblade and fight my way out of here... urgh..."

Yet again, Krety would be proven dead wrong as the creature lifted its left 'paw', screaming in fury as it shot the massive tree-trunk-like appendage at where Krety stood. Krety's face paled as he realized that the beast was obviously not tracking him by sight. As he prepared for the worst, however, he faintly saw a small cluster of pebbles fall through a small ray of light. The beast's arm suddenly snapped up again as the ground above it exploded and a large object struck it straight in its hunched back. Falling to the ground, it let out a pained screech and the massive projectile quickly rolled away.

"That's..." Maple blubbed.

"You!!" Krety groaned. He let out a hack as a taloned paw reached out and wrapped firmly around his shell, lifting him into the air.

"How about you say that to my face?" Bowser snarled, his red eyes burning.

"Hi-High-Highne-" Krety felt the wind leaving every orifice of his body as Bowser slammed him into the ground with all of his weight. Another mushroom cloud of dust consumed everything nearby. Bowser threw the unconscious Koopa to the side and turned his focus to Maple.

"Who authorized this mission?!" Bowser bellowed.

"K-K-Krety said he-he... hic... Krety said he had been cleared by-"

"Krety was under review for dismissal for comments regarding dissention..." Bowser turned his focus back to Maple. "He was not to leave the Rampart grounds without standing trial! I should have known he would try more bold moves to run me out once he saw me in terrible physical condition..."

"Are you alright?" Maple coughed, starting to regain her breath.

"...I can't tell..." Bowser wheezed, starting to sulk. "I just.. knew I had to come here, because I knew... that... what Krety was trying to do was-"

"Taking something that was your own."

"Who else is there?!" Bowser spun around. He was ready to deliver the same fate to the next person to sneak up on him. What he found instead made him loose all tension in his body. The crystal sitting atop the mount glowed with its eerie green light once more, cracks slowly starting to grow from where Krety's pick pierced it. It tumbled down the rough incline, continuing to shatter as it smashed against the rocks on its way down. What remained of the coating shattered into splinters, and the short keyblade stuck itself into the dirt inches away from Bowser's massive hind legs.

The earth shook again as the black beast slammed both its appendages into the dirt, fully standing once more. Bowser's pupils dilated as he spotted the black ooze seeping out of the ground from where its pillars were mounted. "...that..."

Tendrils shot out of the abomination's face as it pounded the ground impatiently. It shifted onto one leg, striking down at Bowser with the other. Bowser in the meanwhile tried to rip the weapon off the ground, nearly shifting off balance as it was far heavier than its short stature gave away. As Bowser finally tore it out of the dirt with both hands, it exploded in a shower of sick green light, stretching out into a spire of twisted, rusted metal. As a massive red spike suddenly tore out of the top end of the blade, its weight normalized in Bowser's hands, and it quickly became light as a feather in his grip.

"If Troy can make minced meat out of me with one of these things..." Bowser's grin threatened to turn his face inside out. "...just imagine what I can do to you." Bowser let out a guttural roar as he hurled the massive blade forward, ramming the iron spike through the bottom of the monster's limb. In response the leg extended more from the torso in an explosion of black sludge on both ends, eventually sending Bowser flying back into the dirt with a thunderous crash and a shower of rubble. He opened one of his squinted eyes, peering up into the darkness as the flat bottom of the pillar plunged down through the air at him, ready to pound him into the earth. "...I've had just about enough... of this VAST CRAP!!." He grabbed onto both ends of the massive keyblade, letting out a yell as he thrust the pointed edge of it into the bottom of the column. Finally running out of sludge to cut through, Bowser smirked in grim satisfaction as he felt the weapon rupture a fleshy layer underneath. The beast let out a mortal screech as that limb suddenly flailed up in the air, more of the black substance spraying out in a jet from the gaping wound.

Bowser rolled back, hurling himself forward back onto his feet. He clamped his hands back onto the hilt of the blade, holding it high in the air as he leapt forward at the remaining support. Sending himself into a spin, he struck it dead-on, and in one colossal blow caused the entire lower half of the beast's limb to explode in a shower of ebony sludge. With its support completely destroyed, the upper torso fell the ground with an earthshaking impact. Bowser quickly righted himself and leapt toward the beast's exposed face. His eyes widened, however, as more tendrils shot out from around its head and wrapped firmly around Bowser's limbs. He suddenly jerked forward several feet, dropping his keyblade and was subsequently seperated from it. "...rragh!!"

Maple leapt from her hiding spot, ignoring her common sense for a moment before the monster let out another ear-piercing screech, stopping her dead in her tracks. Holding back her trembling, she darted forward again, struggling to cradle the gigantic weapon in her arms. She slowly jogged forward, nearly falling forward as she hurled it back at Bowser. She winced, however, as she realized its trajectory would lodge the top spike firmly in Bowser's side. Instead of piercing into him, however... it simply hung in midair, with the point barely pricking his skin. Bowser quickly shot a glance to Maple, and spasmed in place as the blade simply shot into his hide, leaving behind nothing but a ripple.

"What?!..." Maple stumbled back again.

"It's... what is this feeling? Is it... lending me its power directly?" Bowser's pupils dilated further as a surge of adrenaline tore through him. "All... this... strength!! RrrrrRRRRAAAAGGHHHH!!" Bowser let out a howl that shook the foundations of the cave. Slowly he pulled his arms back, the muscles underneath bulging to nearly double their existing size. In one enormous shift, he ripped the tendrils toward him, causing the golem to shift in his direction. Planting his feet into the ground and falling in the other direction, he tore the monster nearly 30 times his size off the ground entirely and into the air. Maple screeched and dove for cover as Bowser began to spin around and around, turning into a blur before letting the colossal projectile go in a hammerthrow. Bedrock caved in as it impacted the far side of the chamber, burying the lower torso of the creature under tons of debris. Several final boulders fell, trapping the head in place. Bowser reached his hand under his rippling skin, tearing out the keyblade once more.

"Now, if you'll excuse me..." Bowser clamped his meaty hand down firmly on the hilt of the blade, giving it one final throw across the expansive cavern. "I have executive matters to attend to!!" The beast screamed as the iron spike lodgeditself firmly into its forehad with an audible crunch, and slowly its main body began to dissolve into the base sludge. The haunting screech began to fade away as its head faded into thin air. Bowser caught the blade as it dismounted and hurtled back at him, shifting one foot backwards to absorb the momentum. He stuck it firmly in the ground and let out a tired wheeze.

"S-sire, are you alri..." Maple jogged forward, but stopped as Bowser slouched forward.

"It makes my blood boil..." Bowser sighed. "...that people would try to rip apart this kingdom not only when it's just getting started, but when that unity's the only thing keeping us alive with the Vast tearing up the place. I kept myself locked up, thinking that it was going to be my corruption by who-knows-what that undid everything... but now I realize... that's exactly what it wanted to do, keep me from taking more affirmative action against it. I thought I was doing the Troop a favor by not them risking another rampage caused by me, that someone else would take charge until I could get in better shape... but it's too early. The kingdom is not stable enough... the temptation is still too great for others to seize power for themselves. Troy's the one who could make things right, but he has greater aspirations than that! I should've made my own squad to hunt down those keyblades, that way something like this never would've happened! The course of action I took was selfish."

"...then what now?" Maple mumbled.

"What's it look like?!" Bowser roared. "Now that this thing's in my hands, I can stand up to whatever's trying to split this world up myself!! First things first, I... we gotta scrap together enough keyblades to make our own anti-alien squad! Once the Koopa Troop is self-sustaining, we don't have to worry about where the keyblade that saves us is coming from! We won't be the whelps sitting in the shadow of the Mushroom Kingdom screeching for help, we'll settle things ourselves and be just as every bit powerful as them! We're gonna be allies alright, but it's gonna be THEM asking US for every little bit of assistance!"

As Bowser continued to rant, he seized up every once in a while. Maple watched with wide eyes as clumps of Bowser's hide turned coal-black, flaking off and leaving fully-healed flesh underneath. "Sire, you're..."

"Well, look here," Bowser chuckled. "Apparently this gunk knows it's fighting a losing battle! That's right! Get OUT OF ME!!"

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Not entirely." Bowser coughed for a moment. "...but everything's going to be alright."

The two looked up as beams of sunlight began to cascade down. Dirt rained down as another hole was broken in the roof of the underground chamber, and three of the Royal Guard could be seen beginning to rappel themselves down inside. Bowser and Maple waved to their rescuers as the darkness of the cavern began to unravel. Cracks and rumbles echoed throughout the chamber - it would likely not be a chamber much longer.

It was easy to see that the Koopa Troop had discovered their first keyblade simply by listening to the town gossip of Last Chance Ramparts. You see, I had already known full well by talking to people around the Koopa city-state that Krety had ambitions to rule the new Koopa kingdom, but obviously didn't have the means of directly usurping a ruler that happened to be 20 times his own size and getting away with it. With the discovery of keyblades all around the world, however, Krety would have had a means of gaining influence in the kingdom that could have very well resulted in a shift in power in the Koopa sanctum. It's theoretically possible that Troy could very well have attempted the same thing, although the circumstances under which he obtained his own keyblade left him little understanding of the keyblade's power, let alone the impact possessing one would have on his reputation.

Bowser, on the other hand... if he were truly interested in the well-being of the Koopa state he would overcome his affliction and easily stop Krety. Even though the keyblade would not have activated in Krety's possession, there's no telling what he would have done with it afterwards. Even if it were brought back to the fortress, it would go straight to the vault and Bowser himself would likely have no contact with the keyblade itself, leaving it possibly lost forever. I gambled both the stability of the Koopa Troop and the keyblade itself on Bowser, and Bowser pulled through. I sincerely believe and/or hope that the Koopa Troop manages to become as diverse and powerful as the Mushroom Kingdom itself, and so far it looks to be on the right track. Bowser has gained limited immunity to both Heartless and Vast contamination by gaining ownership of a keyblade, and now leads the nation's Keyper squad. Striding into battle in the heaviest, most powerful custom-built alloy-composite armor created by the Koopa Troop, he has become the backbone of their anti-contaminant forces, and a devastating weapon in this world's defense force, while still maintaining control over the diplomatic actions of the kingdom. Since the incident he has granted additional executive powers to the members of the Royal Guard, and their screening has become much more thorough.

I believe his ailment has lost most of its negative effects, although he is still likely not entirely pure. He will likely continue to make his passive-agressive tendancies known, although not quite as blatantly as before. It is possible that he may lash out again in the future. Perhaps he already has.

Magistrate of the Covenant

Auron

Krety's eye slowly opened, revealing nothing but darkness. The rocks around him shifted with dull cracks. He breathed a sigh of relief, preparing to shift his arm upwards to brush away the debris.

It didn't move.

"...hm?..." Krety ignored the pounding in his head for a moment, trying to turn his head and regain his bearings. Again, no response. "...okay, this is totally not funny. Ugh... how did Bowser even figure out what I was trying to do... I told those peons not to say anything to anyone about my plans. Now, I just gotta climb out of this pile of rocks I got knocked into. Hrgh..." Krety tried to shake away the debris, again with no luck. He winced as dirt crumbled down and caked around his eye. "...what? Man, I wonder how much dirt got kicked up by that thing eating Bowser... now, I just gotta dig outta this heap and find that keyblade!"

Exactly how much of that 400-meter 'heap' he would get through was best left to the imagination.