Before anything, I just want to give a 'thank you' to those of you who have reviewed this story so far, along with those of you who have favorited or followed it. I've been meaning to reply to every review, but I end up taking so long to update most of the time and my short term memory is so atrocious, that I can hardly remember which ones I've already replied to, and I don't want to seem annoying by replying to the same one twice, so... But yes, thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed so far, and anyone who might do so in the future, I certainly do appreciate your feedback, since it's probably the biggest motivator I have to stop being lazy and actually write, ahuehue...

"Well, what now?"

Luigi looked back at Yassie and frowned deeply. He wasn't sure how to answer her question, far from it. In all the potential situations that Luigi had run through his mind when it came to possible complications with the mayor, this was certainly one he had never thought of. He and Yassie were still milling around in the empty lobby of the Town Hall, neither of them too keen on trying to talk to the mayor again lest they incur the wrath of 'Chompers', which the two of them presumed wasn't merely a cute nickname for his dentures.

"Hmm... This could be a problem." Yassie said, stating the obvious. "Something wrong is obviously going on here, but I get the feeling that we're not going to have even the slightest clue what that something is without the mayor's help."

"W-Well, we could at least look around the rest of the town to see if there's anyone else around that can help us..." Luigi suggested, not wanting to so much as attempt to talk to the mayor again unless it was their last resort.

"I suppose so." Yassie concurred, putting her hand to her chin thoughtfully. "It's not like we have anything to lose at this point."

And so, Luigi and Yassie made their way out of the mostly abandoned Town Hall and back into the lonely husk of Nimbihurst. Walking the empty streets, the two peeked in windows and knocked on the doors of all the residential houses, predictably drawing no response out of any of them. Even the item shop and the inn were completely abandoned, though they were both still technically open, apparently employing honor systems as to the use of their services, as judged by the notes left behind by their owners. Luigi and Yassie decided against buying anything from the shop however, due to the worryingly off-putting smells that seemed to be coming from most of the items, and they obviously had no time to be resting at the inn. And so it was that they quickly found themselves hemming and hawing in front of the door to the mayor's office once more, not a single iota wiser as to what was going on with the town.

"Nothing about this town seems very lucky to me..." Luigi muttered, not at all impressed by the apparent utopia that Yassie and E. Gadd had painted Nimbihurst as.

Yassie frowned and shook her head in agreement. "No, it doesn't really seem that way... But that just makes this whole situation all the creepier. There have literally never been any instances recorded of anything even REMOTELY bad happening here, so I'm almost inclined to think that whatever caused the townsfolk to disappear, that it was voluntary..." Yassie's suggestion sparked another thought in her mind as well. "Come to think of it, the mayor DID mention something about us trying to brainwash him or whatever... And something about some other apparent 'heroes' stealing his granddaughter and the rest of the town..."

Luigi let out a groan of dissatisfaction over the situation. "Yeesh, so we're apparently villains according to that nut of a Koopa in the forest, and the heroes around here steal and brainwash people? This place is starting to seem even more messed up than New Appelle..."

"Well, we're probably never gonna figure out what the heck is going on around here if we can't get an audience with the mayor, let alone find out anything about the Dream Caster." Yassie said. "We have to talk to him, Luigi, I have an awful feeling that whatever's going on in this town is directly connected to that shadowy group that Merlon saw in his vision."

Luigi gulped hard. "Oh, jeez... I have an awful feeling too, that we're about to get barked up the wrong tree, or worse..."

"Come on, Luigi, this is nothing!" Yassie said, urging Luigi to man up a little. "This is only the first sign of adversity we've encountered, and it's sure to be absolutely miniscule in comparison to what we're no doubt going to have to contend with in the future. If we can't even do something as simple as talk to an old man, then what are we even doing on this quest?"

Luigi sighed. He knew Yassie spoke the truth, and realized he was just going to have to bite the bullet on this one. "Alright, alright..." he muttered, as he slowly made he way back over to the mayor's door and hesitantly outstretched his arm, giving it the most tentative and impotent of knocks. The response from the other side, however, was anything BUT tentative and impotent.

"You again?!" came the agitated voice of the crotchety old Koopa, who leered out at the duo from his doorway with nothing but disgust in his gaze. "You idjits don't hear too good, do ya?!"

"W-Wait, please, Mr. Mayor, just listen to us, we're not-" Yassie began to plead, but the old man was having none of it.

"I warned you fools what would happen if you came back, didn't I?!" the mayor shouted, before abruptly stepping out into the lobby and letting out a shrill whistle. "CHOMPERS, C'MERE, BOY! I'VE GOT SOME NICE, TASTY INTRUDERS FOR YA!"

Luigi and Yassie let out simultaneous cries of horror at the sound of ferocious barking coming from the hallway in response to the mayor's whistle, and the two of them were gearing up for an impromptu battle... That is, until they saw the source of said ferocious barking. Bursting out from the door at the end of the small hallway was a Chain Chomp, but it had certainly seen better days. And perhaps 'bursting' from the doorway was a bit of a stretch, as it was probably more of a 'squeezing its pudgy body through the doggy door' of the doorway than anything. And the poor thing seemed to have trouble just doing that alone, by the time it had reached the other end of the hallway where the lobby was, its dull, greying body looked positively pooped, and its ferocious barking had died down to some vaguely threatening wumps. At the sight of Luigi, it promptly hopped over to him and began to viciously... Nap. Vicious in the sense that it had layed down on one of his feet, which would surely lose its circulation and go numb fairly quickly if Luigi didn't move it for a few minutes.

"Um..." Luigi began, not quite sure of what to make of the situation.

"Oh, for Grambi's sake, Chompers!" the mayor fumed, glaring down at the peacefully slumbering Chomp. "Some guard Chomp you are! Is it any wonder my poor Kobaltia got taken away from me so easily?"

The Chomp, rather than respond to the old Koopa's chastising, merely settled itself into Luigi's foot more comfortably, letting out a contented noise once it had found its comfort zone.

"Bah, so what?!" the Koopa yelled, not seeming particularly phased by this turn of events. Raising his cane, he pointed it threateningly at Luigi, eager to poke some more holes in him. "I don't need no mutt to fight my battles for me, I can take you two down all on my own! I'm a Koover, after all! Ain't no one tougher than us!"

As the mayor went to deliver a devastating poke to Luigi, who was unable to move due to his foot being occupied by a two ton Chomp, another unexpected visitor arrived to interrupt it, having also heard the Koopa's whistling call to arms.

"ARF ARF!"

Spooky burst through the main doorway, by which of course is meant that he phased right through it in a particularly forceful manner, bounding straight for the mayor, from whom he quickly snatched the cane, presuming it to be a stick that was just ripe for fetching, sparing Luigi from any further pain.

"Hey! Give that back to me, you mangy mutt!" the Mayor yelled in anger at the Polterpup, who merely looked up at him playfully, waiting for him to try and grab the stick back. "You villainous scumbags! I should've known you'd have backup!"

"Oh my gosh, WE ARE NOT VILLAINS!" Yassie said in exasperation, tired of being called by such an unflattering title. "If you'd just stop and LISTEN for a moment, you'll realize we don't mean you or your town any harm!"

"A likely story!" the mayor spat, as he tried in vain to snatch his cane back from Spooky. "That's what those other clowns all said, and just look where that's gotten my poor town! You ain't gonna fool me again!"

"Oh, come on!" Yassie groaned. "Don't you think if we wanted to do you any harm, we would've done so by now? Especially now that you're so, er, 'vulnerable'?"

"You're probably just waiting for me to let my guard down!" the mayor replied, finally managing to yank his cane back from Spooky's grasp, the Polterpup quickly getting distracted by Chompers in the meantime. Now rearmed, the mayor hastily did his best to wipe the sticky coat of ghost saliva off of the cane, making sure not to take his eyes off of Luigi or Yassie for an instant. "Grargh, I'll have you know this is my prized possession your mutt just slobbered all over and tried to make off with! You're even more fiendish than I thought, you won't even spare an old man of his few remaining worldly possessions, you even want to take them away from me now, don't you?!"

Luigi and Yassie cast curious sideways glances at one another at the words 'prized possession', though they made sure to hide their suddenly piqued interest from the mayor.

"Er, I don't think he was going to make off with it, Mr. Mayor." Luigi said, scratching his neck and chuckling nervously. "But I uh, apologize for his... Slobbering. Honest, sir, we're not villains, we really ARE he-" Luigi quickly cut himself off as he saw the mayor begin to point his cane once more in a threatening fashion towards him. "I-I mean, w-we really do have the world's best interests in heart! You see, we're... Well, i-it's kind of a long story, but basically, we're looking for a... Thing, a very powerful thing, and we have to find it before these other, really bad people get their hands on it."

"Yes, and I have a feeling these other bad people may have been the ones who were passing themselves off as heroes to you before, sir." Yassie continued quickly, before the mayor had a chance to start raising cane OR raise his cane again. "Heck, WE got attacked by their lackeys just trying to get here! That's the reason you haven't had any visitors in forever, mayor, because they have all their goons hanging out in the forest to keep everyone who tries to enter away!"

"...I figured as much." the mayor grumbled, shaking his head in disgust at Yassie's words but thankfully shifting into a seemingly more civil mood. Sighing, he looked at the two no longer with anger, but with extreme weariness. That weariness, somehow, managed to morph into an even drearier expression of anxious fret as he asked, "...Tell me, these goons, they... They didn't happen to have a young, blue shelled, female Koopa wearing a ridiculous 'ninja' outfit amongst them, did they?"

Luigi and Yassie looked at each other in curiosity, before nodding in confirmation to the mayor. "Yes sir." Yassie said. "She thought we were evil too, and kept saying she wouldn't let us into Nimbihurst. Do you know who she is?"

Letting out another deep, depressed sigh, the mayor walked over to the secretary's chair and slumped down into it like a sack of potatoes. "...Yes, she's my granddaughter, Kobaltia... I'm afraid she bought into those weirdos' propaganda even more than the rest of the townsfolk did, they've pretty much turned her into one of them at this point... Oh, if only she wasn't so easily impressionable..."

Luigi and Yassie both looked at the mayor with sadness. By this point, Spooky had finally given up on trying to wake the decrepit old Chomp up, and had merely settled for getting him off Luigi's foot, much to the Chomp's annoyance. Nevertheless, the Chomp hobbled over to its master and leaned up against him in a sympathetic manner before quickly falling back asleep.

"Gosh, that sounds terrible, Mr. Mayor..." Yassie exclaimed, feeling very sorry for the old Koopa. "But um, what in the world happened here, exactly, if you don't mind us asking? From all I've ever heard, Nimbihurst is supposed to be a paradise, not... Whatever it is right now."

"Ah, just call me Kolby." the mayor said, eking out a small smile. It quickly faded, however, as he began his explanation. "I'm not rightly sure where to begin though, when it comes to trying to figure out what exactly happened here... But I suppose it all started about a month ago, if memory serves... Like you said, Nimbihurst has been a paradise since long before I was even hatched, and has been ever since my very first ancestor, the great hero Kardarius Koover, that's his statue outside, founded the town. Heck, we're so used to nothing bad ever happening around here, that I suppose that's partially why this all happened in the first place. You see, the townsfolk here, they're a nice, friendly bunch for sure, but due to the sheltered nature of life that they've always lived in Nimbihurst, they're also quite prone to incredible flights of fancy, and the moment anything remotely interesting happens around here, they latch onto it as if it were the most exciting thing to ever happen."

Walking over to a window, Kolby sighed wistfully at the sight of the barren, empty streets as he continued. "But it's been mostly peaceful here, and everyone was happy with that. At least, I THOUGHT that everyone was happy with it. I should've realized that my granddaughter wasn't the only one in town who was sick of how quiet it was around here... But anyways, yes, it all began about a month ago, everyone was just going about their business as usual when suddenly, we heard a deep, loud rumbling sound. Most of the townsfolk had no worldly idea what had caused it, but I knew instantly what it was... Mount Manjaw. Now, it's widely known that Nimbihurst is supposed to be blessed with good luck, having never suffered a natural disaster in its entire existence, some people say it's because of some sort of mystical treasure that my ancestor discovered, but that story's nothing but old hogwash. However, there's another supposed legendary treasure that's said to rest in the bowels of Mount Manjaw, and that's the one all the townsfolk love to go on and on about all the time. Apparently it's some sort of thingy that can make whoever finds its dreams come true, or some other such nonsense. It's always being changed and warped by the townsfolk and tourists, so goodness even knows how such a rumor started in the first place. Anyways, while they all thought nothing of the rumble, I knew what it meant... It signaled the end of Nimbihurst, if not the entire world."

Luigi and Yassie gasped in shock at this news. "W-What?! What are you talking about, Mayor Kolby?" Yassie asked. "I've never heard anything about Mount Manjaw rumbling being a sign of the end times!"

"That's because its been kept a closely guarded secret." Kolby replied, slinking back down into the chair and burying his face in his hands. "It's something my family has kept to themselves forever, out of fear that it'd cause panic amongst the townsfolk. Of course, I always thought it was nothing but nonsense, just like the whole ancient treasure malarkey, but after everything that's happened since, I... I don't know anymore... Along with the legend of my ancestor's treasure being the thing that's kept the town safe all this time, there was also another legend... One that stated that the volcano rumbling heralded a great coming calamity, one that my ancestor's treasure had no hope of preventing. Apparently, it was something my ancestor learned of as a result of finding the treasure. Now, I wasn't going to bother telling the townsfolk any of this, especially since I thought it was a load of guff in the first place, but then... Things started happening. Bad things. A few days after the volcano rumbled, we were... Attacked... Though, I'm not sure if I could even call it that. A band of thuggish Koopas and Goombas and their ilk barged their way into town, causing havoc and mischief all around, the townsfolk running around like a bunch of headless chickens due to their never having been in such a situation before. I tried to get them to settle down, but they of course wouldn't listen."

Growling, Kolby raised his gaze and slammed his fist on the table in anger. "Then, they showed up. Those no-good, rotten, lousy, lyin', stinkin' Koopa Brothers! Them and their fat little horn-headed, goggle-wearing Ratooey 'sensei'! They just showed up out of the blue, and suddenly they're using their fancy shmancy 'ninja skills' to fight the thugs off! Only, I swear there was somethin' off about the whole thing, like the entirety of it was staged! While all the rest of the townsfolk, my poor granddaughter among them, were being amazed and wowed by their little show, I was the only one who seemed to notice that the thugs were practically throwing themselves into those Koopa Brothers' attacks, and then flying away like they got hit by a train from the simplest, weakest punches! And then, just when it seemed that they had beaten all the thugs, about a hundred more flooded in from the forest and surrounded everyone, and those Koopa Brothers were pretending to be all scared and worried, until this giant, flying, metal monstrosity suddenly blocked out the sun and dropped off an even goofier looking bunch of color coded idiots, those confounded Axem Rangers! Then they started fighting the thugs alongside the Koopa Brothers, and they looked even WORSE, most of their attacks weren't even connecting with the thugs, but somehow they were all flying off into the distance like they had been shot out of a cannon! This went on for a half hour before they finally managed to 'drive the thugs off', or more like ordered them all to leave... After that though, all the townsfolk crowded around them all and started callin' them heroes, they even forced me to hold two separate parades AND a feast in their honor!"

As Kolby told his story, Luigi frowned deeper and deeper as he wracked his brain as to why the Koopa Brothers and Axem Rangers sounded so familiar to him. He grimaced as it suddenly hit him. "Oh no, I think I know who both of those groups are... My brother fought them both a while back, during completely different adventures. And you're right, Kolby, unless they've all suddenly decided to turn over new leaves, there's nothing heroic about any of them."

"I knew it." Kolby responded with a grimace of his own. "I knew there was something wrong about 'em, if only the rest of the town could have seen past their 'cool' exteriors... But no, they became the talk of the town in an instant, and they pretty much moved in. And what would you know, as soon as they did, more and more groups of thugs started showing up, every day at seemingly the same exact time, and their fights always seemed to last for exactly a half hour before the 'thugs' all got tired and went home for the day. Pretty soon, it became a daily ritual for the townsfolk to all sit and watch as those idiots all pretended to fight each other. I guess since none of them had ever seen actual fighting before outside of TV, no one could tell how awful and choreographed it all looked. All they cared about was how cool they apparently looked and sounded, my granddaughter being one of the worst ones tricked. Once they showed up, she never shut up about how 'awesome' the Koopa Brothers were, it was like she had been brainwashed. And all the time, all either group would say as to why they were there was that they had both just happened to be passing through when they stumbled upon the first group of thugs. I knew that was nothing but hot garbage though, and so I poked and prodded at 'em all until they finally admitted what they were really here for."

Luigi and Yassie both knew what Kolby was about to say. "The ancient treasure. Er, that is, the one that's supposed to be in the volcano." Kolby said. "According to the Ratooey, with his 'buhuhuh'ing and weaselly words, the leaders of all the thugs, apparently a great, red fat man with a sinister mustache, was currently in the volcano as he spoke, and he was the reason that it had rumbled, because he was trying to find the ancient treasure inside to use for nefarious deeds, and doing so upset the volcano. He claimed that if he were to get his hands on it, the volcano would erupt and bury all of Nimbihurst in magma, and so they were there to stop him before he had a chance to do so. He claimed the only reason they hadn't done so already was because someone had to stay behind to guard the 'poor, defenseless townsfolk' in case the thugs showed up again, because apparently after a half hour of 'fighting' they couldn't do anything else for the rest of the day. This is around the point where the two groups started arguing with each other over who should be forced to stay behind to guard the town while the other group went into the volcano to find the treasure and stop the red guy, and soon enough it become a ridiculous civil war, with half of the town taking the Koopa Brothers' side and the other half siding with the Axem Rangers. Those moronic brothers even convinced my granddaughter to join them as the fifth member of their ghastly group, presumably because they needed a fifth member to even out the sides with the Axems and she was the only Koopa in town with a shell that wasn't green or red, not counting me, of course."

"After that, it started getting real ugly." Kolby continued. "The next day when the thugs showed up at their regularly scheduled time, the so-called 'heroes' were so busy fighting with each other, that nobody paid any attention to them and they slowly disappeared back into the forest on their own accord. Of course, by this point, I had tried convincing the townsfolk these guys were up to no good numerous times, but no one, not even Kobaltia, would listen to a word I said, telling me that I was just too old to understand. Pah! Well, soon enough, the in-fighting had reached its boiling point, and both groups decided to race off to the volcano, each determined to beat the other to the treasure for the glory of their 'team'. Conveniently enough, once that happened, the thugs 'mysteriously' stopped showing up, and now me and Chompers are the only ones left. I begged and pleaded with Kobaltia and the rest of the townsfolk not to go with them, I even chased 'em all the way to the volcano, but they all just laughed at me and told me to go home. Well, except for Kobaltia, she just told me to go home before I got myself hurt. She just wouldn't be convinced to come home with me, so I finally gave up and headed back, where I've been ever since. On the one hand, I'm glad to hear that Kobaltia isn't in the volcano, but on the other hand, the rest of the town still is, and as their mayor, it's supposed to be my civic duty to protect them. I've failed miserably at that, it seems..."

"Don't say that, Mayor Kolby!" Yassie exclaimed, shaking her head vigorously at the mayor's claim. "It's not your fault, like you said, you tried your hardest, and they just wouldn't listen to you!"

"Yeah, it sounds more like the Koopa Brothers and Axem Rangers just... Well, brainwashed everyone, like you said earlier." Luigi concurred.

"Still, I should've been able to do something to prevent things from going this far..." Kolby said miserably. Spooky, sensing the Koopa's grief, wandered over to him and licked his hand affectionately to try and cheer him up, which caused Chompers to do the same with his other hand, not wanting to be shown up. "Eugh, I appreciate the sentiment, you two, but I could do without the drool... Anyways, that's all in the past anyhow, there's nothing I can do to change any of it now. And ever since everyone went into it, the volcano's been rumbling more and more. I'm starting to believe the legends now, about it signaling the end of days, because its sure seemed like it ever since it first started."

"Don't think that way!" Yassie said, giving the mayor a look of compassion. "There's still plenty of time to talk some sense into your granddaughter and the rest of the townsfolk, that's what we're here for, after all!"

"Yeah, that's right!" Luigi agreed, before slowly doing a double take. "...W-Wait, it is?"

"Of course it is, Luigi!" Yassie said with a confident smile. "It's our duty as real heroes to do whatever it takes to keep everyone safe! And obviously we're going to have to stop those guys anyways if we want to get our hands on the Dream Caster before they do!"

"O-Oh, right." Luigi stuttered, nodding in agreement before turning to Kolby. "Yeah, don't worry, Mayor Kolby, we'll help you get your town back, and we'll stop both of those groups of fake heroes!"

The mayor, however, didn't seem to have been paying attention to Luigi, however, as an odd look came over his face when Yassie had mentioned the Dream Caster. "Dream Caster...? You two... Don't tell me YOU'RE after that treasure too, are you?"

"Er, well, kinda sorta..." Yassie said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Like we said, it's kind of a long story... But basically, there's some evil, shadowy group out there that are trying the gather all the Dream Casters together to do... Something. Something really bad. And we're on a journey now to keep them from doing so, by collecting the Dream Casters before they do. I know that kinda sounds really similar to what those other jerks claimed they were doing, but we swear, we're telling the truth!"

"Y-Yeah, honest!" Luigi added, looking nervously at Kolby in fear that he might turn hostile on them again. Fortunately, that didn't happen this time.

"...I suppose I believe you." Kolby muttered after a moment of hard scrutinizing. "You certainly seem like a far more honest lot than those other two, at least. But goodness, do you really think that Dream Caster thing is in the volcano?"

"Well..." Luigi began, looking over at Yassie in hesitation, unsure if they should say anymore yet. "...We think it's somewhere around here, at least. Or at least, we HOPE it is. We didn't really have any other leads to go on regarding any of the other Dream Casters, but I can't imagine that it's a coincidence that those other guys happen to be here now as well."

"...Hmm, well, I guess you two know what you're doing..." Kolby responded with a shrug after another long moment of silence. "But heck, all I really care about is getting Kobaltia and the rest of my town back, if you guys can do that, I'd be eternally grateful. I don't rightly know how I'd ever be able to thank you for doing so, but I'm sure I could figure SOMETHIN' out."

"Don't worry about thanking us until we get back, Mayor Kolby." Yassie said, shaking her head and smiling. "We'd just be doing our jobs as heroes, right Luigi?"

"Oh, yeah, totally." Luigi said, nodding his head inattentively, his mind temporarily elsewhere.

"Hmm? You okay, Luigi?" Yassie asked curiously, noticing the blank expression upon her partner's face. "You're kind of... Zoning out there."

"N-No, I'm fine, don't worry about it." Luigi said, snapping back to full attention and smiling reassuringly at Yassie. "I'll... Tell you about it later. Anyways, yeah, don't you worry about a thing, Mayor, my brother handled both of these groups before, so they're nothing to worry about. Your town'll be back to normal in no time!"

"Well, it's good to know you're confident about this, at least." Kolby said, as he bowed gratefully at the two. "If there's anything I can do to help you, just ask."

"Ah, well, would you happen to know anything about Mount Manjaw that we should know before we venture into it?" Yassie asked, wanting to be fully prepared before going anywhere dangerous.

"Nothin' much, I'm afraid." Kolby answered regretfully. "There's an entrance right down the Manjaw Mountain Trail, which is the road that connects from the mountain to Nimbihurst, but its been boarded up and closed since before my time, and no one's been allowed in at all since I've been alive. The entrance is wide open now though, thanks to the, ahem, 'heroes', so you really shouldn't have any trouble getting in, unless they've closed it back off again. I actually haven't been back there since that day, so who knows what they've gone and done to the place since then. I'm sure it's plenty dangerous inside, though, especially if it's on the verge of erupting, so you two'd best be prepared for a long, hot trek. And if they got their goons out in the forest, then I'm sure they have more helpin' them in the volcano, so you'd better be ready to fight, too. And of course, there are the idiots themselves, though judging by how bad they were at pretending to fight, I doubt you'll have much trouble with any of them in a real one. Other than that, I don't really know what to say besides good luck."

"Oh boy..." Luigi muttered to himself. This wouldn't be the first volcano he ventured into, and he still had rather painful memories of the last time he did so. But at the very least, he wouldn't have to wear a dress this time.

...Hopefully.

"Wait, what?! What do you mean, you let someone get into Nimbihurst?!"

Kobaltia winced at the predictably unhappy tone of voice that her red clad superior spat at her. The blue shelled Koopa stood in the doorway of a small, ramshackle looking room, which was sparsely decorated and appeared to have been ransacked, the only thing of note in the room being the small, makeshift cell that stood in the corner of the room, which was currently occupied by a few haggard looking Toads and Koopas. It had taken her all of her energy, but once she had finally been able to calm herself down, she had managed to right herself back onto her feet from where she had layed for seemingly an hour in Nimbi Grove. Immediately, she had taken off into Nimbihurst, looking for the mustachioed fiend and his smart-mouthed dinosaur accomplice who had 'defeated' her, seeking to finish what she had started. She was unable to find a single trace of them, however, and assuming they had went after her grandfather's 'sacred treasure', hastily booked it to his house. Thankfully, the 'treasure' was still in its rightful secret hiding place, but horribly enough, her grandfather was nowhere to be seen.

Taking it that the fiends had kidnapped him to try to divulge the treasure's location, Kobaltia wasted no time in rushing to the Koopa Brothers' secret hideout to tell them of this awful development. Of course, she knew that first she would have to inform them of how they got into Nimbihurst in the first place to pull off such a brazen crime, and as such, was anticipating the less than pleased reaction that the Koopa Brother's defacto leader, Red, would give her. He stood in front of her, giving her a look of supreme agitation, likely due to her news, his brothers lazing about behind him, though they each perked up at the sound of their brother's angry voice. Each of them were dressed in an almost identical fashion to Kobaltia, only they were clothed in red, green, yellow, and black respectively rather than blue.

"Y-Yes, I am highly, highly ashamed to admit it, sir, but I'm afraid I was tricked in the most dastardly fashion by these cowards..." Kobaltia stated, looking downwards in shame. "I was not aware of it, but they had had a secret weapon, and they waited until I was at my most vulnerable to unleash it upon me. Were it not for such a cowardly act of desperation, I assure you I would have kicked their butts from here to New Appelle, sir! But ah, as it stands, it seems that in their pathetic desperation to steal my grandfather's most sacred and prized possession, they've taken him hostage somewhere, no doubt torturing him as we speak as to its location! Please, I implore you, my masters, please help me find my grandfather and rescue him before he succumbs to their vile villainry!"

"You idiot, Blue!" Red shouted, seemingly ignoring much of what Kobaltia had said. "We gave you one job, to make sure no one got into Nimbihurst until we were done, and you can't even do that?! Why do you think we should help you?!"

'Blue' was taken aback by Red's especially angry reaction, but quickly attributed it to him having to work and toil in such an unpleasant environment for so long during he and his brothers' search for the villainous Crimson Stache, the fiend who was trying to blow up Mount Manjaw and destroy Nimbihurst with the volcano's ancient treasure, along with having to deal with those troublesome Axem Rangers and their pathetically brainwashed followers on top of that. In understanding, she bowed deeply to Red in apology.

"A-Ah, y-y-you're right, I'm s-sorry for asking such a selfish request, I realize you all must be terribly busy as it is..." Blue said with deep regret. "I suppose this is a problem that I must deal with on my own, as it was brought on due to foolishness of my own accord. Perhaps this is the test that I must take in order to truly become a hero! Oh, how exciting! Don't worry, I'll find that awful, mustachioed jerkwad and his buttheaded lizard pal and show them what happens when you cross a Koopa Brother! - Or, sister, I suppose..."

"Er, you're not a Koopa Brother, ya weirdo." Black sneered from the back of the room.

"Yeah, and just remember, you're only a trial member right now, don't forget your place!" Green added, glowering at Blue.

"B-But if I do good, you guys'll make me into a full fledged official member, right?" Blue said, a hopeful, excited smile upon her face.

"Uh, yeah, sure, whatever." Red said, not sounding as if he cared in the slightest.

"Hey Red, don't you think we should tell Master Sliver about this?" Yellow asked, drawing an irritated look from Red. Before he could respond, however, another voice piped up from seemingly out of nowhere.

"Tell me what, pray tell?" came the voice, which sounded highly staticy in nature. All eyes in the room turned to the small, ancient looking monitor that sat upon the room's only table. Displayed on it, in a blurry, red tint, was a 'Ratooey', or at least, something that vaguely resembled one. Contrary to most Ratooeys, who were slender and svelte, this one was short and exceptionally corpulent, and his sickly grey fur had a very patchy, off-putting look about it. Not only that, but his ears appeared to have purple horns sticking out of them, which had to be painful, and the skin around his shiny round goggles appeared to be disturbingly loose, so much so that it actually seemed to be bunched up around them. The only part of him which didn't look tattered and sewn together was his short, spiky, red cape, which seemed to be about three sizes too small for him and was pulled up over the lower half of his face in an attempt to appear more ninja like, presumably. Though it was impossible for any of the Koopas to tell how he was feeling by looking at him, due to literally not being able to see any kind of facial expression at all, it was clear from the sound of his voice that he wasn't in the best of moods either.

"Er, I'm sorry, sensei, but Blue somehow let a couple of shmucks into Nimbihurst a little bit ago." Red stated, casting an accusatory glare at Blue.

"She what?!" Sliver shouted in much the same manner that Red had when he first heard the news, only somehow even angrier. "For the love of Gro... Er, Grambi! I can't leave you morons alone for a second, can I?"

The Koopa Brothers all shrunk in their seats, but Blue quickly spoke up on their behalves. "Sensei, it's not their fault, it was all my doing, I'm the incompetent one! So please, if you must punish anyone, make it me!"

"Yeah, that sounds swell, remind me to do that when I get back there." Sliver said dryly. "But anyways, do tell, what did these 'couple of shmucks' look like, exactly? And you had better not say that it was a man with a mustache and overalls being followed by some sort of know-it-all Goomba."

"Oh no, sensei, it was a man with a mustache and overalls being followed by a know-it-all Yoshi!" Blue said, before any of the brothers could stop her. "I think they've kidnapped my grandfather in an attempt to-

Sliver interrupted Blue, making some sort of agitated grunting noise, which sounded very bizarre coming out of the crackly reception of the monitor, and he wearily rubbed his temples, shifting the skin underneath around in the process. "Alright, that is not cool. That is just... Completely bogus. Yeah, that STINKS! I thought that that particular individual had been taken care of this time, to prevent this very thing from happening! But gah, no, I should've realized from the incompetence of those idiot Axems that those other guys couldn't be trusted to do anything right! Speaking of which, change of plans, losers! It seems as if 'You-Know-Who' is going to be coming to crash our party after all, so you'd get in here and get ready to stop him! It's time for you to put your new training to the test, my, uh, pupils, and show the world the true might of the Ninja Koopas! Buh, buh huh huh huh!"

"Um, we're actually called the Koopa Brothers, sir." said Red.

Sliver instantly shot back in an uncaring tone, "I don't care, just don't let that stupid plumber beat us to the treasure! And with that, POW! I'm gone!"

Instantly, the monitor shut itself off, and the Koopa Brothers all huddled around Blue.

"Ah, what luck!" Blue said in excitement, oblivious to the dirty looks she was getting from the brothers. "It looks like you'll be able to help me find my grandfather after all! Do you want me to go scout ahead? Because I can totally go do that, it's no problem at all!"

"N-No, no, that... That won't be necessary, Blue." Red stuttered, shaking his head before putting his hand on Blue's shoulder and giving her a super serious look. "We have to go stop those two, but in the meantime, we need somebody to stay here and watch the prisoners to make sure they don't escape and go blabbing all our secret plans to those no-good Axem Rangers! So uh, why don't you stay here and do that, don't worry about your gramps, we'll find him and get him to safety, because that's what heroes do! And that's definitely what we are, yessireebob!"

"Ah, alright, roger that, master! You can count on me!" Blue said eagerly, saluting her 'superior' as they exited the little room, each of them grumbling and muttering not very nice things at Blue under their breaths for making them have to go back into that awful volcano. And so, Blue sat down and directed her deathly steel gaze at the prisoners in the corner of the room, making sure to keep her eye on all of them. She wasn't going to let herself screw up again, that was for sure.

After saying their goodbyes to Kolby (his parting words being that if they were to encounter Kobaltia again or any of the other townsfolk, to please not fight them unless they absolutely had to), Luigi, Yassie, and Spooky made their way out of the Town Hall and towards Manjaw Mountain Pass, a rather foreboding, rocky valley that seemingly stretched all the way to Mount Manjaw way off in the distance. Most likely against their better judgment, the group made a quick detour at the item shop to purchase a few more recovery items just to be on the safe side, along with the shop's (regrettably) last remaining POW Block, and after laying their coins on the counter, exited the shop and headed off down the bumpy, rocky path.

"The Manjaw Mountain Pass..." Yassie began, as the party stared up at the imposing, sky high mountain in the distance that was to be their destination. "Unlike Nimbi Grove, this place shares none of Nimbihurst's good luck. There are frequent rockslides, and rowdy Goombas, Koopas, and Clefts are known to make their home here. And that's not even counting the ones that are with the goonsquad. Thankfully, it's a pretty clear cut path from here to the mountain, but obviously, the closer we get to the volcano itself, the hotter it's going to get, and there's next to no shade anywhere around here, so I hope you brought lots of water, Luigi."

"Er, we have a few Tasty Tonics and Super Sodas, at least." Luigi replied, honestly embarrassed that he could have forgotten such an essential as water. "Those... Don't go bad in the heat, do they?"

"Uh... Hopefully not?" Yassie responded, not sounding particularly thrilled with Luigi's answer. Deciding to change the subject, Yassie brought up Luigi's odd behavior from earlier. "But hey, what was with the spaced out look earlier, Luigi? You said you'd talk about it later, remember?"

"Oh, right, that." Luigi said. "It's just that, it seems odd that the Koopa Brothers and Axem Rangers would be working together, or heck, even be in the same place at the same time for that matter."

"What do you mean?" Yassie asked curiously.

"Well, the Koopa Brothers were Bowser's minions, and pretty low level ones at that." Luigi stated, continuing, "But the Axems, on the other hand, were followers of this guy named... Uh... Shmitty, or something like that. I can't remember exactly, I wasn't around for that little adventure and I only have my brother's words to go by, but according to him, they were pretty high up in his ranks, and were also supposed to be pretty tough. The thing about them is, I thought they had been banished back to whatever dimension it was that they had come from in the first place when Mario and his pals defeated Shmitty. But obviously, that must not be the case, or else they wouldn't be here... But then, Bowser was actually one of Mario's ALLIES during his fight against Shmitty, believe it or not, so I have no idea why his followers would be teaming up with Shmitty's. And plus, that 'buhuhuh'ing, horn-headed, goggle-wearing Ratooey that Kolby mentioned was leading them, I don't remember him AT ALL, and I'm pretty sure Mario would have mentioned someone as bizarre sounding as that if he had run into him. But no, he only ever mentioned the Koopa Brothers themselves. So this whole deal, it just seems..."

"Fishy?" Yassie finished for Luigi, who nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'm kind of weirded out by it too now that you bring all that up. Particularly since we have no idea who they're working for this time."

"I mean, I guess I wouldn't put it past Bowser to try and steal something like a Dream Caster..." Luigi said slowly, before shaking his head. "But this seems way too sophisticated for him, and besides that, he shouldn't have any way of knowing about them in the first place. So I agree with what you said to the mayor, I'm pretty sure whoever their bosses are, they're the same shadowy group that Merlon saw in his vision."

"Well, I'm sure we're bound to find something out if and when we run into either of them." Yassie said, shrugging. "For now, we should probably just focus on getting to the volcano. One step at a time, right?"

Luigi nodded and smiled. "Right."

The trek up the perilous mountain pass was nowhere near as nice as their walk through the forest was. Well, the first part of the forest, at least. As Yassie had claimed, it was indeed getting hotter the further they got from Nimbihurst. The sunshine, which had seemed so beautiful and perfect in the abundantly tree shaded Nimbihurst and Nimbi Grove, now beat down harshly upon the group, with little to no protection from it in sight. The path itself was, while virtually a straight line, anything but smooth, as the ground dipped up and down in great, jagged leaps, and Luigi and the others frequently were forced to put their jumping and climbing skills to the test. Numerous times already, one of them would trip over a seemingly invisible rock or crack in the ground, or in the absolute worst cases, a disguised Cleft. And along with the annoyingly hard to damage Clefts (Luigi quickly put E. Gadd's Power Smash badge to good use), they also had to contend with a variety of Spiky, Para, and original flavored Goombas, along with the far more dangerous Koopas and Parakoopas who dotted the path, though neither Luigi nor Yassie could tell if any of them were affiliated with the 'heroes' or not. Already, the group had had to use up a couple of their Mushrooms due mostly to mere clumsiness on their part, in their rush to get to the volcano. They were, however, able to come across a few Fire Flowers, a Sleepy Sheep, and another POW Block laying about on the path and in item blocks along the way. The Fire Flowers, Luigi realized, were likely going to have minimal use in a volcano, but he was always happy to have POW Blocks at the ready when going against Koopas. He figured he'd save the Sleepy Sheep for later, personal use, in the off chance that he couldn't get to sleep for one reason or another, because goodness knows they never worked when he used one in battle.

Despite Yassie's advice to take things one step at a time, Luigi couldn't help but let his mind wander about many things, all of them troubling to him. Were the Koopas and Axems really working for the shadowy group? And if so, WHY were they working for them? The only people either group had affiliations with couldn't possibly have been involved in any way... Could they? "No." Luigi decided, shaking his head. It was as he had told Yassie, Bowser was too dumb for this, and 'Shmitty'... Well, Luigi was pretty sure he wasn't around anymore.

On another note, Luigi was troubled by the fact that Kolby seemed to know little to nothing about the Dream Caster that he was supposed to be in possession of. On the contrary, he didn't seem to believe it existed at all, and if it did, it was in the volcano. He had let it slip that his cane was a prized possession, but it didn't exactly resemble a star, and while certainly ornate, it didn't look particularly old at all, so Luigi had trouble believing it could be the thing they were looking for. But if Kolby didn't have it, then where could it be? Could it truly be the treasure that's said to be inside Mount Manjaw? It would certainly explain why there would be next to no records about it if that were the case. Perhaps Kolby's ancestor lost or purposefully placed it in the volcano after finding it for one reason or another... Regardless, if that was true, then Luigi knew they were going to have to hurry if they were to have any hope of finding it before the villains and their near month long head start did.

...But then, if they had been searching for it for so long, how come they hadn't found it yet? Luigi let out a frustrated groan. Every question he asked only led to more questions and no answers.

"What's the matter, Luigi?" Yassie asked, having heard the plumber's cry of irritation.

"O-Oh, nothing, just stumbled over another crack..." Luigi muttered, deciding it'd be best to just leave the questions alone for right now and just focus on the trek ahead, as Yassie had suggested.

As the group made their way further and further up the path, the enemies began to thin out as the heat began to swelter more and more. Even Spooky, who had been sticking relatively close by Luigi and Yassie this time, seemed to be starting to become affected by it, as his usual boundless energy was suddenly nowhere to be seen, and he trotted gingerly behind Luigi, panting heavily with his tongue hanging out further than a hungry Belome's. The group had soon enough finished off their stock of Tasty Tonics, with Luigi deciding to save the Super Sodas for once they were in the volcano itself, since they seemed more likely to stay cool longer.

The heat, however, was not the only thing the group had to contend with at this point, as there were now frequent rock slides, no doubt being brought on by the volcano's sporadic rumbling, with all manner of rocks and boulders tumbling down the pathway, causing the party to expend even more energy to get out of their way, lest they want to become fresh volcano bakemeat. It was, as Luigi thought to himself, as if it were the world's least fun obstacle course (though he had at least found a small prize along the way in the form of a Charge badge). This world's, of course, and not the galaxy in general's, as Luigi still remembered far, far too well of the nightmarish gauntlets that he and his brother had had to endure on past interstellar journeys. Suddenly, this seemed like an absolute trifle in comparison to him, and he managed to power through the final stretch using that thought, Yassie and Spooky catching up to him a few moments later, all three of them gasping for breath as they stood in the merciful shade of the large, rocky overhang the jutted out from the mountain itself. Unfortunately, the shade did little to help with the heat at this point, as they had reached the previously boarded up entrance that Kolby had mentioned, where heat was just flooding out of like an open oven door.

"Oh... Jeez..." Yassie wheezed, hands on her knees and hunched over like a marathon runner who had just finished a twenty mile race. "I'm already... Exhausted..."

"Me... Too..." Luigi gasped, the hot air that he was forcing into his lungs seemingly making it harder for him to breath if anything. Spooky merely collapsed at his feet, panting heavily and whimpering slightly as he looked worriedly up at his master and Yassie. Looking around for anywhere that might possibly be a better place to catch their breath, Luigi spotted a small, run down little shack with a busted up sign above it that used to read 'Souvenirs' a short ways to the left underneath the overhang, and he quickly pointed it out to Yassie and Spooky, who followed him over to the building, which thankfully was not locked.

As they entered and slammed the door behind them to keep any additional heat from getting in, however, they probably were wishing that it had been locked.

"Oh, no..." Yassie bemoaned, as she caught sight of the blue shelled Koopa in front of them, who let out an overly dramatic gasp in recognition.

"YOU!" she cried, pointing accusingly at the trio as she hopped angrily out of her seat. "How DARE you defile the Koopa Brothers' sacred dojo by traipsing upon it with your dirty, villainous feet! And oh my gosh, that's RIGHT! What have you two and your evil little devil dog done with my poor, defenseless... Uh, I mean, with the poor, defenseless village leader?! I know you've stolen him and hidden him away somewhere, so fess up, you don't want to make this any more painful than it's already going to be!"

"Wait, what?" Luigi asked, completely confused for a moment at the Koopa's bizarre accusation before getting his bearings back. "W-Wait, no, you've got it all wrong! We didn't kidnap your grandpa, he's still safe and sound back at the Town Hall in Nimbihurst!"

"Yeah, we literally just got done talking to him about everything that's been going on around here like an hour ago, did you seriously not check to see if he was there?" Yassie added incredulously. "I mean, you are Kobaltia Koover, aren't you?"

Blue let out an even hammier gasp at the sound of her name. "H-How did you even-?! ...N-No, you're obviously lying again! My grandpa wouldn't have said a single thing to villainous scumbags like you, especially not my secret identity!"

"Yeah, now I know you have to be his granddaughter." Yassie said with a scoff. "You're the only two people in the world who would look at us and immediately scream 'VILLAINS!', especially in such a ridiculous way."

"Liar!" Blue shouted, jumping towards them and assuming a fighting stance. "I'm sure PLENTY of people say just that when they see you, you're the most sinister looking villains I've ever come across in my life!"

"...Really?" Yassie responded blankly, nearly at a loss for words at that point. Shaking her head, she looked back in anger at Blue. "Man, they really must have brainwashed you, because nothing you say makes any sense whatsoever! And if you're so concerned about your grandpa, why don't you just go back home to him? You know he's worried sick about you, don't you?"

"Why, of course he is concerned about me, but it is just something that he will have to deal with, for a hero's life is fraught with danger, and those who are close to the hero must learn to accept that!" Blue stated, folding her arms and trying to sound wise.

"Oh, come on, open your eyes, girl!" Yassie cried, thoroughly annoyed at the Koopa's speech by this point. "All of Nimbihurst is deserted with the sole exceptions of your grandpa and his Chomp, can you really not tell that there's something wrong going on here? Whatever the Koopa Brothers are telling you, it's obviously nothing but lies! You say we're the bad guys, but your own grandfather says otherwise! He knows the Koopa Brothers AND the Axem Rangers' true natures, why won't you or anyone else listen to him?"

"Grr, that's enough!" Blue yelled, before charging at the exhausted group. "I won't have you speak dirty of my masters in their own dojo, and I won't listen to anymore of your lies!"

"Uh oh." Luigi uttered, remembering what Kolby had said about not fighting Kobaltia unless they absolutely had to, and also not at all prepared or in any shape for another battle, and looking over at Yassie, neither was she. Not even Spooky could get up enough energy to help this time, and before either of them knew what hit them, Luigi and Yassie were tangled up in some sort of wire, Blue spinning around them in a circle in her shell as she tied them up, neither of them having enough energy to break free or fight back. Spooky walked over and whimpered at his fallen master, as both Luigi and Yassie squirmed in futility on the floor to try and get loose of the rope that now held them tightly together.

"Ha, how pathetic!" Blue said in triumph, putting her hands on her hips and looking down at her work. For a moment, she was distracted by Spooky's whimpering and big, sad eyes, and a small pang of doubt and regret hit her. She quickly shook it off though, and went out of her way to avoid Spooky's gaze entirely as she grabbed a hold of the two trapped heroes and, with great effort, dragged them over to the room's tiny jail cell, where she quickly rolled them in and shut the door behind them before any of the other assorted prisoners could think of escaping. All the while, one single, defeating thought echoed in Luigi's mind.

"This would have never happened to Mario..."

A small note just to satisfy my 'need to explain everything' OCD, the part where the mayor is explaining what happened to the town would have occurred in a short flashback sequence if this were an actual game, since I realize that part seems exceptionally wordy in just... Well, words.