RECAP:

Iggy and Larry caught up with Goombella and Kooper in time to save them from trouble. Larry then declared it was time for their group to come back together and take the fight to the ice monster ruling over the palace at long last. Goombella and Kooper struggled to express their true feelings to one another and silently resolved together that any admittance of their love would have to wait until after their mission. Thus, they armed themselves with blind hope that they'd survive until then.

Meanwhile, through sheer determination and persistence, Roy managed to teach himself how to bend snow in the same way he could already move and manipulate the earth. With this new ability, Roy was able to climb out of the dungeon floor of the palace. To his shock, he encountered and freed Daisy from an ice prison. Together, the pair escaped from their prison and rushed off to find the others.

Peach and Junior barely scraped by in a deadly encounter with Tatanga, until the latter was met with a fatal stab to the chest by an enraged Koopa Prince. He was forced to retreat, and Junior vowed to cast his past behind in the stillness that followed. Peach watched in unease as Junior took a grand step on a dark path to his perception of maturity. She could only hope he would still find peace and support at the end of such a vicious road.

Larry led the charge down the hallway with Iggy, Goombella, and Kooper following closely behind. He was surprised at how little opposition they were being met with now. Perhaps all of their previous encounters with Shy Guys had dwindled the army down enough to allow them to finally move about the palace more freely. Regardless of the reason, Larry was certain none of them were about to question their sudden bout of good fortune.

Without warning however, the Koopaling slid to a stop and motioned for the others to do the same. He shuffled up against the wall.

"What's up, Larry?" Kooper asked.

"Everybody be quiet for a sec. I think I hear something," Larry ordered. The group followed his command as they all quietly hugged the wall as well at his side. They waited; anticipating even more Shy Guys to be patrolling down the hallway just up ahead.

They waited…and waited…then waited some more. Perfectly silent and still. No one moved an inch.

Yet…nothing happened. No one came.

What gives? Larry thought to himself. I could've sworn I heard other footsteps just now. Unless…don't tell me they actually had the same idea to try and ambush us…

Larry breathed slowly and resolved to take a chance. He clapped and summoned his pistol; taking aim as he jumped out into the center of the hall.

At that same moment, Junior jumped out as well and pointed his paint brush at Larry.

"…Huh? Larry?" Junior muttered. The Koopaling's face lit up.

"Junior! You're okay!" Larry replied as he rushed over to hug his younger sibling. Peach, Iggy, Goombella, and Kooper gathered around at once to bask in their relief at each other's safety. They took a few minutes to swap stories of their experiences in the palace thus far after splitting up.

"Sheesh, I was wondering why you guys looked like hell," said Kooper.

"You sure you're alright?" Iggy asked, though his eye contact insinuated the question was aimed more at Junior specifically. The Koopa Prince gave him a slight glare before turning away to scan the hallway.

"I'll be fine. Quit worrying about me and just focus on the mission," Junior answered bluntly.

"Well…alright. If you say so. We won't pester you about it," Iggy responded.

"Has anyone seen Roy?" Peach asked, with worry slithering through her voice.

"No. And I was really hoping he would've already crossed paths with you guys," said Larry. "Now I'm getting really worried about him."

"Not to mention, we still haven't found Princess Daisy or Professor Kolorado yet either. Obviously, we can't relax just yet. We've still got work to do," Goombella declared.

"True, but now that the rest of us are together at least, we'll stand more of a fighting chance if we run into any more Shy Guys," Iggy pointed out. "I say we should find our missing people before we take on the ice monster."

"Midbus," Junior chimed in. Everyone stared at him.

"Huh?" said Larry.

"The ice monster's name is Midbus. He's the guy we need to take down," the Koopa Prince clarified.

"And you learned this from…who again?" Iggy probed.

"Tatanga. The soldier Junior and I just encountered," Peach responded this time. "He's apparently part of Contemno's inner circle, and he revealed this to us after we…'defeated' him."

"What was he doing here?" Iggy asked.

"He said he had some kind of business with Midbus," Junior continued. "But after we took him down, he bailed. We don't know what he was after."

"Well, at least he won't be getting in our way," Larry offered.

"True, but still. Contemno apparently has an inner circle. I don't think I like the sound of that," said Iggy.

"We can decide what we'll do with this information later. For now, we need to stay focused on the task at hand," Peach reminded. The group nodded together in agreement.

"Iggy, which guard tower was Roy headed for originally?" Larry inquired. "We should probably double back to try and find him." But before Iggy could answer, the ice floor beneath them began to tremor violently.

Suddenly, a dozen Frost Piranhas broke through the ice and surrounded them. Junior, Peach, and Larry readied their weapons for yet another fight.

"This is seriously getting old!" Kooper complained.

"Any ideas?" Peach asked.

"…I don't think we'll need any. Look!" said Goombella.

"YAAAAAAHOOOO!" someone screamed.

Suddenly, Daisy and Roy dropped in from the ceiling above. When they landed, Roy stomped his foot and sent a massive shockwave across the ice that disoriented the Piranha Plants and perfectly curved itself around the group to avoid hitting them as it passed.

A second Piranha Plant sprouted out of Daisy's other wristband.

"Alright! Chomper! Bitey! Light 'em up!" she exclaimed. The Piranha Plants spat fireballs in rapid succession at the Frost Piranhas. The slightly burned pack of plants set its sights on them as they retreated into the ground and reappeared closer to Daisy in the blink of an eye. Chomper and Bitey's fangs began to glow a radiant orange.

They sunk their teeth into the roots of the Frost Piranhas; steam filling the air on impact. The inflicted Frost Piranhas began to wither and collapse.

The remaining Frost Piranhas blew a collective gust of wind straight at Daisy.

Without missing a beat, the princess twirled dizzyingly in place on the ice as her Piranha Plants extended themselves outward and fired off beams of cylindrical fire. The beams sliced through the remaining Frost Piranhas effortlessly; leaving only a perfect ring of steam in their wake. When the steam cleared, Daisy and her twin Piranha Plants stood as the victor.

"Great work, team!" she praised. With the snap of her finger, a pair of small, brown cubes materialized in her gloved palm. She tossed the cubes into the air and Chomper and Bitey each snatched one up instinctively; savoring their victory snack before sinking back inside Daisy's bracelets.

"You guys okay?" Roy asked as he rushed over to the group.

"ROY!" Larry exclaimed as he embraced his sibling.

"Heh…I shouldn't be surprised to see you. You're tough as nails, as usual," said Iggy, shaking his head with a smile.

"Where've you been? What happened?" Junior asked.

"Well…let's just say things didn't exactly go accordin' to plan for me. But I bounced back with a little help," he explained as he gestured towards Daisy.

"Same could be said for all of us, I think," Goombella joked.

"Daisy! Thank goodness you're alright!" said Peach as she passionately wrapped her arms around her friend.

"Wow, Peach. Miss me much?" Daisy replied with only mild surprise. "Feels like I just saw you the other day."

"I'm afraid it's been longer than that..."

"Yeah, no kidding." Daisy scanned the room around them briefly. "Last I checked, I lived in a palace. Not an igloo."

"Do you…remember anything about what happened here?"

"Not really. One day everything was normal. Then the next, this big blue pig monster got the jump on me and stuffed me in a block of ice," Daisy explained while she stretched out her spine and arms, as if just waking up. "Just feels like I've been asleep for a while if I'm bein' totally honest."

"That's a relief that you're not harmed," said Peach with a sigh. "We could really use your help to stop the monster who trapped you."

"Well DUH! I wasn't gonna just sit by and do nothing! That creep's gonna pay BIG TIME for messing with the princess of Sarasaland!" Daisy declared as she smashed her fist into her hand.

"I don't mean to get us sidetracked here but…," Kooper began as he approached Daisy. "You…didn't happen to see anyone else in there with you when you were trapped in the ice…did you?"

"…Nope. It was just me," the princess answered as her expression went blank.

"Oh…," Kooper responded, sighing mildly in defeat.

"Sorry, I'm Goombella and that's Kooper!" Goombella jumped in to clarify. "We actually came here with Princess Peach and the others because we're looking for someone too. We think the monster is holding Professor Kolorado hostage in your palace somewhere and we were hoping you might know something."

"Well if you ask me, I say we go beat the answer out of pig boy!" Daisy declared.

"Not so fast," Iggy interrupted. "We have no idea how strong this Midbus guy is. We need to come up with a strategy."

"Who needs a strategy!? We've got the advantage in numbers. All we gotta do is gang up on him!"

"Uh-uh, no way," Larry denied. "We've been caught off-guard way too many times so far. I'm with Iggy on this one. I'm not stepping foot in that throne room until I know exactly how this is gonna go down." Daisy crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at this, but said nothing more.

"I've got an idea," said Junior as he approached the group from a distance. "I was just taking a peek inside that throne room back there. It's big enough to be an ice rink. As long as we coordinate each of our attacks just right without tripping over one another, we just might be able overwhelm him pretty quickly."

"What did you have in mind?" Peach asked. Junior motioned for the others to huddle closer together like a football team moments before kick-off.

"Here's what I'm thinking," the Koopa Prince began.

Tatanga limped and stumbled several paces along the palace rooftop; nursing his chest under his arm. He fell to one knee and gasped for air. His bicep was caked with blood, though he'd managed to stop the bleeding for the moment at least.

Despite his pride and his desire not to show his fear in front of his opponents back there, this was definitely a fatal injury he'd received. Tatanga knew he would need medical attention sooner rather than later. Otherwise, he'd surely meet a rather embarrassing and anticlimactic end.

To think it was a child who would be the one to have done him in. How absurd.

Or…maybe it wasn't so absurd. After all, that was no ordinary child. Tatanga had seen it in his eyes; a savage thirst for bloodshed.

Prince Bowser Jr. had stared Tatanga down with a ravenous desire to kill him.

But not just him. Likely, all of them.

Contemno, Eris, Midbus, the Broodals. Tatanga and his own squad too most likely. The goblin had heard about what Contemno was planning to do to Mario and especially Bowser. No way would any kid just sit quietly and let their dad be tortured, unless they were too scared shitless to actually do anything.

Junior wasn't like that. He wasn't some ordinary kid. He was far more dangerous, and it wasn't just because of who his dad was. A single pulse of pain erupting in Tatanga's chest from the impalement was all it took to remind him of that.

This kid was terrifying, and he would only become even more of a threat if something wasn't done about him, and soon. The question is, did Contemno realize this? Did any of them figure this out by now? If not, they would surely be in for a rude awakening soon.

Tatanga knew he had to get ahead of this somehow.

He needed to know exactly how strong this Bowser Jr. was, and how much stronger he could get. There was no better opportunity than right now to do some reconnaissance. His wound be damned. He couldn't leave yet, even though he knew he couldn't ignore it for long.

Tatanga limped a few paces towards the center of the palace and peered through a sprawling glass surface. It was a sunroof. Lucky for him, this spot gave Tatanga the perfect view of the throne room. He had a front row seat to watch how Midbus would handle the terrible storm that was coming his way.

The paralyzing pulsations faded slightly as Tatanga found himself able to relax. He flipped open his handheld communicator and dialed a number. A voice crackled through the speaker.

"There you are. I was wondering what was up. Your drink's almost out of foam. Where the hell are you?"

"Minor setback. I won't make it back as soon as I thought," Tatanga replied simply.

"…Are you in trouble?"

"Not anymore. I scraped by. But I'll need a lift back to HQ. Have the medic on stand-by for me."

"I'll bring the others," the voice proposed.

"No," Tatanga stopped him. "Leave them at their posts. I just need a lift back to base."

"Something happen to your ship?"

"I'm not in good enough shape to fly."

"Well now I'm definitely bringing back-up with me if you're that messed up!"

"I said NO!" Tatanga roared. "I gave you my orders. Remember your place and do as you're told, got it?" There was a moment of silence on the other end. Tatanga didn't wait for an audible response. The silence was submission enough for him. "I'll send you my coordinates. Call me when you're close."

"…Understood," the voice obliged robotically before the connection cut out. Tatanga returned his attention to the sunroof just in time to watch Junior and his followers storm into the throne room below.

"Alright, let's see what kind of power you're really packin', kid."

The frozen throne room began to lose its detail in Midbus's eyes as his eyelids drooped lower, but he forced them back up again. He patted his lips as his gaping mouth stretched wide open and released a low, rumbling yawn.

This was all so tiresome. It wasn't turning out to be anything like that masked man promised.

Grumbling, Midbus impatiently drummed the armrest of his throne with a single one of his massive, sausage-like fingers. His nostrils flared and snorted; emanating small frosty clouds with each breath.

Was this even worth it anymore? Just how long had he been waiting now?

Midbus couldn't think of a simple answer to either question. Maybe it was a mistake listening to that runt after all.

On the opposite end of the room, the entrance doors were thrust open with thunderous fanfare. A group of silhouettes emerged from the white void of light that poured into the room. Midbus was tempted to not even dignify their arrival with a glance as he'd assumed it was those troublesome Shy Guys pestering him yet again about "giving orders" or "making a decree." Didn't they understand why he was really doing this? Couldn't they see what was in it for him in particular?

"Are you the one they call Midbus?" Junior asked authoritatively as he stepped forward from within his group.

Midbus said nothing, though he did finally look at the intruders. Upon doing so, his gaze was locked on this lead figure. There was something…familiar about it.

Even so, Midbus deemed it beneath him to respond.

"What, you got frost in your ears or something? I know you heard me," Junior continued.

"Who enter?" Midbus responded at last, though rather begrudgingly.

"The rightful ruler of this kingdom, tubby! That's who!" Daisy interrupted as she stormed up past Junior's side. "Now get your big, saggy blue butt off my throne!"

"Daisy, I've got this," Junior interjected, waving her off with his hand.

"Midbus no care," said the ice monster.

"…What did he say?" Peach asked aloud.

"Loud girl get chair back after Midbus get what Midbus want."

"Annnnd that would be…?" Larry probed.

"Waiting…," Midbus answered.

"…'Waiting'?" Iggy repeated. But Midbus fell silent again. The group was left to assume he would've objected if they somehow heard him wrong.

"What are you waiting for?" Junior bluntly asked.

"He coming…"

"Who's coming?" Larry asked again. "Do you mean…Contemno?" Midbus shook his head at this.

"…Is it Tatanga? Are you waiting for him?" Peach guessed. "If so, then you should know that he won't be joining you. So, you'll just have to make due with us instead." But again, Midbus shook his head.

"Who cares what this chump's waiting for! We can drag him out of town, throw him out into the sea, and he can wait at the bottom of the ocean for all I care!" Roy exclaimed. "Let's just thrash him already and get Daisy her kingdom back!"

"Roy, wait!" Iggy exclaimed, though his command was ignored.

The Koopaling extended his palms up towards the icicles dangling from the ceiling. They began to shake, then broke free seconds later with a thrust of Roy's arms. The frozen daggers flew straight down towards Midbus.

The monster raised one palm of his own and halted the icicles in their tracks. His sausage fingers contorted, and Midbus pointed one straight at Junior's group. The icicles immediately changed course; flying straight ahead. Junior and the others scattered out of the way.

"Go away. You no interest Midbus," the monster declared.

Guess it can't be helped at this point…, Junior thought.

"Yeah? Well, get interested!" Larry threatened. He summoned his shield and chucked it at Midbus in retaliation. The monster's expression didn't change. He simply reached for an object resting at his side and swatted the shield away with some kind of baton.

"No way! You gotta be kidding me!" Goombella exclaimed.

"What? What is it?" Peach asked.

"Look at what - or who - he's holding!" The group inspected the baton further and found that it was a Koopa Troopa in an archaeologist's hat; completely frozen solid in a cowering posture.

"Professor Kolorado!" Kooper panicked as his blood came to a boil. "Let him go right now! You hear me!?"

In response, Midbus placed the frozen Koopa down and leaned his massive weight up against it slightly in a casual manner; yawning.

"Midbus do what Midbus want with trophy," Midbus proclaimed.

"TROPHY!? Why you rotten-"

"Calm down, Kooper," Iggy stopped him mid-charge. "We can't lose our heads here. Let's do this the right way."

"Look, it doesn't matter who you were waiting for. Change this kingdom back to the way it was and drag your ugly snout face outta here now, or else," Junior threatened.

"Or else what, small turtle?" Midbus challenged with slight interest in his tone.

"Or else we'll make you leave," The Koopa Prince replied simply as he twirled his brush and pointed it straight at Midbus. Their eyes met, and Midbus's eyelids rose ever so slightly with intrigue.

There was something about this small turtle. Something…familiar about him.

"Who you?" Midbus demanded.

"I'm King Bowser Jr. And this is your last warning to step down. So, are you gonna come quietly?" Despite the absence of any immediate objection, Junior's seemingly self-appointed title had not gone unnoticed by the others. Yet, no one spoke up to address it; most likely to avoid undermining Junior's authority in front of the enemy.

"Bowser…," Midbus repeated. "Familiar…" In spite of his desire to take control over this situation, Junior still found himself caught off-guard and forced into silence by Midbus's random and frustratingly vague responses once more. "Little turtle look like him…"

"Hold on, is he saying he knows King Bowser?" Larry asked. "How is that possible?"

"Who knows," Iggy replied. "Hard to tell what he means when he's only giving us 1-2 word responses."

"How do you know Bowser?" Junior pressed.

"Midbus fight Bowser. Midbus lose. Now Midbus waiting for Bowser come so Midbus get revenge," the ice pig explained. Now, the group was surprised by how much he was willing to elaborate.

"You think Bowser is coming here? Why would he do that?" Daisy asked.

"Masked man say so," Midbus answered.

"Contemno…," Peach surmised. "Now I understand. He brought you back and told you that you would get to fight Bowser again if you came here and waited for him."

"Yes," Midbus affirmed.

"Love to break it to you, pig. Contemno was lying," Junior argued. "Bowser has no interest in fighting you and isn't coming. You've been tricked."

"No true," Midbus denied. "Bowser come if Midbus wait. That deal."

"If you really think that's how it'll play out just because Contemno told you that, then you really don't know him at all," Larry reasoned.

"Masked man no matter. Bowser want fight Midbus, so Bowser come."

"And just how long have you been waiting so far, huh?" Roy asked. Midbus only responded with a low grunt.

"You really think he would keep you waiting this long if he respected you at all? No chance. Bowser doesn't respect anyone," said Junior. "Face it, Midbus. You've been duped."

"Small turtle wrong! No know anything!" Midbus accused; now clearly agitated.

"No, you're the one who's wrong. I know him better than you ever could," Junior retorted calmly. Midbus slammed his fists on the armrests of his chair.

"HOW!?" the ice monster roared. Junior smirked as their eyes finally connected one-to-one with each other and stayed there. The Koopa Prince took several steps towards Midbus.

"Because I'm his son; his own flesh and blood. I know things about him you couldn't possibly understand!" Midbus's pupils vibrated as he scanned Junior from head to toe multiple times.

"Bowser…son…?" the pig repeated. "Bowser…son…If true, then maybe you worth fighting too…"

"If you wanna fight a royal Koopa that badly, then I'll give you a fight myself!" Junior provoked.

With a loud roar, Midbus leaped off the throne, flew through the air, and landed in front of Junior with a violent tremor. Larry and the others quickly hurried to Junior's side to engage their enemy together. Midbus snorted and a fog engulfed the throne room within seconds.

Tearing through the fog, an airborne Midbus descended upon them like a meteor. He delivered the first punch at the end of his descent. Junior blocked the massive blue fist with his paint brush. The impact created a small shockwave that sent the others flying back and sliding across the ice.

As he tightened his grip, the end of Junior's brush transformed into a mace. He swung it immediately. While the spiked ball made contact with the side of Midbus's face, it hardly seemed to faze him. The pig reached out and grabbed hold of the brush handle; hoisting Junior up off the ground with it. With his free hand, Midbus slugged Junior's chest and sent him flying across the throne room; separated from his weapon.

Larry lunged off the top of the wall and dove towards Midbus; armed with his pistols. But, Midbus chucked Junior's weapon straight at him. Larry fired shots behind himself; using the recoil to change his course out of the way of the airborne mace. The Koopaling landed a few feet away from Midbus and fired rapidly at him.

Midbus clapped and made a raising motion with one arm. An ice wall sprouted up in front of him and caught the bullets before any of them could land. Midbus then punched his ice wall, and it slid directly forward with blinding speed; shoving Larry back until he hit the wall with a thud.

Roy directed rectangular ice pillars to protrude out from the walls with each of his arms. This time, Midbus stopped each pillar with his own palms. While he was occupied, Roy slid in towards him and delivered a swift uppercut. Midbus shoved the ice pillars away and shattered them. With his hands now free, he managed to block Roy in time before the latter could follow up with an additional punch. But Roy kept up the pace by throwing a continuous series of punches. Midbus managed to block each one.

Suddenly, Midbus thrusted his head straight down in front. He clobbered Roy over the top of the head with his snout and planted him firmly into the ice floor. Midbus then cupped his hands together and planned to strike a fatal blow to the dazed and restrained Roy.

Lucikly, Peach managed to dive in and deflect Midbus's arms off-course with her frying pan before they could make contact. Midbus immediately blew a gust of freezing cold wind. Though Peach tried to evade, the slippery ice floor impeded her evasion. Her leg was frozen solid in seconds. The rest of her would have shared the same fate if Kooper's speeding shell hadn't braved the blizzard and bashed Midbus's face; sending him backwards a few inches away.

"You okay, Princess?" Kooper asked when he landed and emerged from his shell.

"Mostly…," she said as Peach eyeballed her frozen limb with uncertainty.

"Does it hurt?"

"Not really, but I won't be much help here unless we can break this ice!" she explained frantically. He quickly hoisted Peach into his arms and carried her away as quickly as his own legs would allow.

At the same time, Daisy skated past them and her Piranha Plants sprouted from her bracelets; ready to strike. Midbus fired navy blue energy beams from his palms, but Daisy dodged and weaved past them. Her plants lunged forward and wrapped themselves around Midbus's neck like serpents. Daisy then launched herself into the air in a sling-shot maneuver using the plant vines and struck Midbus directly in the face with her knee. Midbus stumbled backwards again and toppled over onto his back this time.

With his defenses dropped, Junior wasted no time in seizing the opportunity. He retrieved his paint brush and jumped into the air. But he realized shortly after liftoff that from the height he would reach with this jump, the impact when he landed wouldn't do much damage. He needed to go higher, but it was too late. Larry took notice of Junior's advancement and an idea immediately struck him. The Koopaling transformed his pistols into the shield.

"Junior, head's up!" Larry called as he tossed the shield in the Koopa Prince's direction. Junior smirked in affirmation of what his sibling had in mind. With perfect timing, Junior landed on top of the shield and spring boarded himself higher into the air. His brush transformed into a hammer this time as Junior rocketed back down towards Midbus.

Left in a vulnerable daze, the group capitalized on the golden opportunity and took turns landing blow after direct blow on Midbus. Junior clobbered him with his hammer again. Larry fired a barrage of magic bullets and followed up with back-to-back roundhouse kicks to the pig monster's face. Roy delivered concentrated jabs to Midbus's chest; the force sending Midbus sliding further back along the ice.

With Iggy and Kooper's help, Peach's leg was freed from the ice and she quickly joined in on the assault. With blinding speed, the princess summoned and attacked Midbus with each of her weapons in a quick succession combo: her golf club, tennis racket, frying pan, and parasol.

Daisy's Piranha Plants snatched up icicles from the ceiling and shattered them against Midbus's arms and thighs. She repeated this onslaught half a dozen more times before jumping out of the way in time.

Kooper's shell rocketed onto the scene with Goombella surfing atop it. She leaped high into the air right as Kooper's shell collided with Midbus's chest. As the Goomba's descent reached full speed, the resulting Headbonk proved to be a powerful finishing blow.

Junior raised his hand up and signaled for the group to stop their assault. They waited for the fog to settle. The room fell silent; an eerie stillness encapsulating them all. Suddenly, a thunderous roar surged across the grand hall. Hurricane-esque winds sent each of them flying and tumbling backwards. Junior transformed his brush into a scythe and used it to keep himself grounded.

Midbus burst through the fog; glowing in a menacing sky blue aura.

"No way! He's still standing after all that!?" Larry commented.

"If he once went toe-to-toe with Bowser, then I'm not surprised he's so durable," said Peach.

"Then we'll just have to hit him that much harder!" Roy exclaimed.

"No, this isn't getting us anywhere. We need a new strategy," Iggy reasoned.

"No time! Look out!" Kooper warned.

"NO MORE GAMES!" Midbus roared.

Before Junior could react, lightning surged from Midbus's fingertips. He zapped each of Junior's companions one after the other. In the blink of an eye, they were each frozen solid. Larry, Roy, Peach, Daisy, Iggy, Goombella, and Kooper. All were imprisoned in a state of suspended animation.

Junior immediately noticed he himself had been spared. Midbus didn't fire at him, even though he would've been the closest target.

He was all alone now.

The Koopa Prince's eyes met the primal rage in Midbus's crystalized retinas.

"No more friends," Midbus declared. "You fight alone. Prove worth."