Paper Andrew & The Thousand-Year Door

by Parent12D

AU. What if someone else went to Rogueport instead of Mario? What if someone explored the region in his place? What if someone else collected the Crystal Stars just to find Princess Peach? This story has the answers as an original character goes on the exact same journey that Mario went on in the Rogueport region in the tale of the Thousand-Year Door.

75. Andrew's Past Surfaces and Gloomtail

All right, fellow readers. This is the 75th chapter of this story!

Now, this chapter is going to be a rather big one. This is the chapter where Andrew's past is finally revealed to his friends, as they are filled in on the truth about his past, including mention of his mom's death and his older brother who bullied him throughout most of his early life and his adolescent years and in his early 20s.

This chapter is also going to touch on the Death Shroom that Andrew revealed to have in chapter 38, as some closure for Andrew there and how scarred he was from that scenario is settled.

And it'll show just how close all seven of his friends have grown towards him and that they will never leave him or become disloyal to him.

This will help allow Andrew to feel a weight being lifted off of his chest and feel much better about himself. Along with how he won't doubt himself again.

Aside from that, they'll go through the palace garden that has a moat surrounding it, and coming from the underground lake, they go through some hallways, and they encounter another dragon named Gloomtail; the brother of Hooktail. And of course, the reveal about Hooktail's true identity will surface for all eight heroes to know about.

And some other stuff will occur too. How will this go for the eight of them, especially for Andrew? Read and find out, now!

---

IN THE PALACE GARDEN - THE PALACE OF SHADOW:

After spending a good amount of time getting through the endless loop of that crazy mysterious room, the eight heroes were able to proceed into the next room. As they were taking deep breaths and panting, they got to take a glance at their new surroundings.

The palace garden was mostly filled with moat in the center, which is where the underground lake came from. Three bridges were going over the moat, as well as several blue stone pillars in front of a massive building in the center to the back.

There were two statues too. One was in front of the building which was an orrery. The other was on the opposite side of the bridge where that tower was, consisting of three stars, with one star stacked on top of the two other stars.

There were some lanterns, and Chain Chomp Statues on top of what possibly looked like pipes.

Regardless, the palace garden was huge, and the eight heroes caught their breath and decided to comment on what they had gone through in the previous room that they came from.

"Sheesh. That 'definitely' was quite the puzzle we got through," Andrew wiped his forehead. "I never thought that we'd have to do anything like that."

"You and me both," Goombella agreed. "We get out of one weird room just to find another one..."

"Golly..." Koops was fascinated by what was around him. "It's enormous down here..."

"Yeah. Who would've thought that the Palace of Shadow would be this enormous?" Andrew mused. "And to think that this palace used to be part of the town that rested above a thousand years ago. And now it has been turned into this."

"Duh... It's huge..." Goombella admitted. "I mean, it's like an underground city, right?"

"Yeah," Koops nodded. "It is like an underground city..."

"This area is like a massive underground city, hmmm?" Flurrie had to cross her arms and ponder this over.

"This area is almost like an underground city, huh?" Yoshiam scratched his head and rubbed his fingers across his red small mohawk.

"It's so big... It's almost like an underground city..." Vivian gawked as she rubbed her chin at this.

"This region is rather like an underground city, hm?" Bobbery had to squint his visible eye at the sight before him.

"It's so huge...like an underground city, almost..." Ms. Mowz observed while rubbing her muzzle with her hand.

"I think we're all curious about it," Andrew then asked. "What IS this place?"

"Well Andrew, this is the palace garden... but it feels so cold and icky," Goombella shivered slightly. "It's like time stopped here..."

"You think maybe it's the result of not seeing any visitors for at least a thousand years?" Andrew took a guess.

"Probably," Goombella shrugged. "Either way, we gotta do something about those Chain-Chomps in the middle if we wanna move on."

Andrew got a look and saw two regular Chain Chomps bouncing around, with each one residing in separate spots in between the bridges.

"Ah, that's no problem," Andrew assured, taking out his Ultra Bat. "We can dispatch them. Koops? Yoshiam? You ready to help me with this?"

"Sure, Andrew," Koops nodded. "I'll be willing to help with getting them out of our way."

"You got it, Presto," Yoshiam jumped and gave him another thumbs up. "Those Chomp dweebs will be gone before we know it. Just leave 'em to me!"

"Great," Andrew gave them a thumbs up.

With that, they got to work with handling them. Andrew made sure to use his Piercing Slam on both of them. The first one had Koops aiding him with a Shell Slam. And the second one allowed Yoshiam to use his Gulp attack to dispose of it.

As a result of the effort they put into them, both of the Chain Chomps were dispatched in a matter of minutes. Goombella then decided to comment on this.

"Yeah, that's right... We had to get rid of them..." Goombella then added. "But I don't just mean the moving ones... Look."

Goombella motioned him to the Chain Chomp statues that were on those blue pipes. Andrew took notice of them instantly as he figured out what he'd have to do to get rid of them.

"Yeah. I can handle those statues too," Andrew then turned to his Bob-omb friend. "Bobbery, if you wouldn't mind helping me with getting rid of those Chain Chomp statues?"

"Why certainly, old boy," Bobbery obliged as he approached him. "I shall be willing to give you assistance in disposing of those statues."

"Very good," Andrew then walked up to one of them, with Bobbery trailing behind him.

Thanks to Andrew hoisting up Bobbery and tossing him into the statue's mouth, Bobbery was able to use his Bomb attack to blow up both Chain Chomp statues. Andrew then decided to enter both pipes, which led him to the pipes in the background.

From there, he hit both of the blue switches that were nearby. And once he activated them, the two statues containing the three stars and the orrery crumbled. And in their place were two Boat Panels, allowing Andrew to reach that big building in front of them.

Still, he decided not to visit it just yet. There was something else that they should look into, regarding the door on the opposite end of the door that they came from.

As soon as Andrew went through one of the pipes, he regrouped with his friends as they crossed the bridges to get to the other side.

"Well guys, I guess that handles that," Andrew had dusted his hands off.

"Mercy me! I do believe we can access that colossal building over there," Flurrie pointed out. "Perhaps maybe we shall investigate it just to see what might be viable for us in there."

"We'll have to check it out eventually. But not just yet," Andrew said. "We should check out what's beyond that door that's on the other side of the palace garden. Perhaps there might be something in there that could aid us in getting by this palace."

"All right, Andrew. If you think that's what we should do," Vivian nodded. "We can check out what's in that room. Maybe we might find something that could be connected to that tower over there. And I think we'll have to visit that tower too once we're done with this."

"Yes. I can certainly smell something viable to us beyond that door," Ms. Mowz felt her nose twitch slightly. "Very well. Let's press onward, dearie."

"Very good," Andrew walked up to the door and opened it up. "Then let's continue from here."

All seven of them nodded as the eight of them went through that door. They were wondering what would be beyond that door, and what kind of secret they might find that has a connection to the tower that they just passed. But they would find out about it soon enough...

---

It turns out that the room that they had just entered was a simple corridor. Goombella even sarcastically pointed out how she was pretty observant about that fact. A foreign creature tried to ambush them in that corridor.

It was known as a Dark Wizzerd, a weird ancient cyborg creature of some kind, that was identified as being a floating, vaguely bean-shaped in the head and purple, with several three-fingered floating hands around it.

The Dark Wizzerd proved to be a tough opponent for them. But thanks to how all eight of them worked together in fighting it off, the Dark Wizzerd was eventually dispatched several minutes later.

A Chain Chomp was waiting in the next corridor that they entered, as it tried to lash out at them, begging for a fight. But Andrew and his friends were able to dispatch it too. They then made their way into the next corridor, which was 'completely' empty.

As they were going into the following corridor, and started walking through it, Goombella had plenty of stuff fresh on her mind. And it involved Andrew.

All this time she had been traveling with him to collect the Crystal Stars, she never did find out anything about Andrew's past or what happened that caused him to become a loner before going on this adventure.

True, she has learned bits and pieces about him during this adventure, such as how he's a massive fan of Flurrie, has watched plenty of Yoshi documentaries, or how his mom was a great cook. But it just wasn't enough. There was still more to him that left her curious.

Certain minor fits that he had during their adventure were never explained or expanded on, and Andrew usually treated them as one-note at most and never brought them up again.

So does that mean there's still more to him that she didn't know about? And would it help with explaining some things that she had witnessed with Andrew during their adventure?

Regardless, these thoughts had plagued her mind, as she couldn't stop thinking about them.

Jeepers. I've been traveling with Andrew all this time, and I still never found out anything more about him and his past. And our adventure is almost over... Goombella thought with a frown. I 'totally' don't think we'll ever see each other again after we're done. So it might oughta be a good idea for me to ask him about it. Subtly, at least...

After shaking her head with that thought in mind, Goombella cleared her throat and decided to say something to the muscular man who was in front of her.

"Soooooooo Andrew," she started rather slowly. "We've been through quite a bit of stuff since we started this adventure, haven't we?"

"Yeah," Andrew nodded. "We sure did. And we ended up exploring some unique places and made friends with the people who are traveling with us."

"And after we do this and save Princess Peach, that'll be it," Goombella tried her best not to sound sad. "You'll be heading back to the Mushroom Kingdom with the Princess, and all seven of us will be going our separate ways. And you might never see any of us again after this."

"That's true," Andrew had a frown on his face. "Things will be brought to a close. And there will be no more reason for me to stay in Rogueport. So I guess I would end up heading home after this adventure is finished..."

"No duuuuuuuuuuh," Goombella rolled her eyes as she tried her best not to sound awkward with her next comment. "And to think this was 'totally' made possible by you. And you never gave us your reason for allowing us to travel with you, y'know? Were you trying to be nice to us, and do the right thing? Or was there something else, that might relate to what you were put through before, y'know, you moved to the Mushroom Kingdom?"

Andrew had to stop walking as soon as she said that. Koops, Flurrie, Yoshiam, Vivian, Bobbery, and Ms. Mowz were also slightly curious about Andrew's past, but they never gave it much thought.

Andrew was quick to figure out what Goombella was trying to ask him. And for her efforts, Andrew had to conclude that she may have had a point there.

He has learned quite a bit about his seven friends that he's traveling with throughout this whole scenario. He knows that Goombella enjoys exploring and has been into archaeology since she was a little girl.

He knows that Koops has a breakdancing hobby going for him; not to mention how he supposedly lost his father to Hooktail until he came back alive. He knows that Flurrie is a rather famous actress in plays, films, and as a touring actress that he (and his mother) greatly admired.

He knows for a fact that the egg Yoshiam hatched from was likely deported from either Yoshi's Island or Lavalava Island. He knows that Vivian had suffered for years from endless abuse at the hands of her oldest sister Beldam.

He knows about Bobbery's military service days when he was in the Navy; not to mention how traumatized he was upon learning about the death of his sweet wife Scarlette.

He even knows that Ms. Mowz grew up in a rather poor family. But none of them know about Andrew's past, and what he went through, with the death of his mom, the bullying he endured at the hands of his older brother, etc.

Combined with the fact that this adventure has changed him and made him more cheerful and willing to socialize with others, he had to think about this. Was now the perfect time to fill in his friends about his past? Seeing that he's been holding off on them for long enough, perhaps it was the best time to do so.

"Goombella? I know what you're trying to ask me," Andrew said with a low tone of voice. "And I guess this is one can of worms that I cannot keep sealed any longer."

"Oh no, Andrew," Goombella shook her head. "You don't have to tell me about your past if you don't wanna..."

"No. No. It's... It's fine," Andrew said softly as he lowered his head. "I've been keeping it from you guys for long enough. And since this adventure has changed me so much, I guess it's time to finally reveal to you guys about my past."

"Ummm... What?" Koops was confused. "Andrew? What's this all about? What are you trying to get at?"

Andrew had to sigh and hang his head down before he then made the reveal to them.

"The place that I lived in before I came to the Mushroom Kingdom," Andrew took a deep breath and then said. "...was a city called Shroodville."

"Shroodville?" Goombella asked as she and the others were surprised by that. "I don't think I've ever heard of any Shroodville."

"That's OK. Not many people do," Andrew said. "Shroodville wasn't a pleasant place to live. It isn't as awful as Rogueport was when I first got here. But it's 'definitely' not peaceful and friendly like Toad Town is."

"Don'tcha leave us hanging then," Goombella encouraged. "Tell us what things were like for you there."

"Well, to start, I lived in a house with a single mom," Andrew started. "My mom was a wonderful person. She was a great cook, as I had mentioned before. She enjoyed being courteous to others. And she was an overall great person and mother. And she always did the best she could for me."

Andrew had to stop and sigh with a smile on his face. "My mom was the kind of person ANYONE would want to be friends with. And I was glad that I am related to her."

"Whoa," Yoshiam let out a low whistle. "Sounds like your mom was the coolest."

"She was. And she has left quite the impact on my life," Andrew then decided to reveal something else to them. "My mom was also a big fan of Madame Flurrie, just like I am. 'In fact', my mom is the very reason that I became a massive fan of Madame Flurrie in the first place. And it's something that I don't regret at all."

"My, my! I am most certainly flattered by this revelation," Flurrie said with a slight blush. "I daresay, your mother has my utmost respect, especially since she gave birth to a kind and handsome-looking man. In any case, darling, I appreciate you revealing this to us."

"Yeah," Andrew blushed back. "She introduced you to me when she gave me some cassettes and videos of the movies and plays that you starred in when I was eight. I was over the moon with it, and I have grown to admire you since."

"Mercy me! I am most certainly flattered, indeed," Flurrie said as she massaged Andrew's shoulders.

"Hmm, yes. I am certainly intrigued by this myself," Ms. Mowz decided to ask him. "And you're implying that your mother thought the world about you as any mother should to their child?"

"That's right," Andrew smiled while nodding.

"Wow. Gosh," Koops said in awe and sounding slightly jealous. "Golly... Sure sounds like your mom was wonderful."

"I must say, your mother seems like the kind of lass that any terrific gent would be honored and proud to be friends with her," Bobbery admitted.

"Yeah," Andrew then sighed sadly. "My mom and I did live together for as long as she could..."

"Wait, Andrew! What does that mean?" Vivian asked. "And now that I think of it, where is your mother? Is she still alive?"

Andrew then started frowning, as he was going to be ashamed of revealing this to them. After letting out a sigh, he then gave them the reveal.

"She's dead," he said sadly. "My mom died a few years ago."

"Omigosh. Really?" Goombella gasped with a hitched breath as the others gasped at this. "She's... She's dead?"

"That's right," Andrew confirmed.

"How?" Goombella asked him. "How did your mother die?"

"Cancer. It was cancer that took my mom's life," Andrew said with a slightly shakey voice. "I don't know what kind of cancer it was that took her life. And neither do the doctors and nurses who did their best to cure her of it."

"Oh, my. How tragic," Flurrie admitted with a frown.

"Yeah," Yoshiam snapped his fingers. "Sure seemed like a downer when she died, wasn't it, dude?"

"Yes. But..." Andrew felt like he was choking, but cleared his throat before he continued. "But I still did the best that I could for her. And I tried helping her out any way I could, every step of the way. I made her final moments the best moments that she could have ever wanted in her life."

Andrew felt his eyes water, but he wiped his tears before continuing. "If you guys are wondering, her death happened a year before I moved to the Mushroom Kingdom. I was 25 when it happened. After her death, I prepared a special funeral that she would have been proud of having. Even though I'm sure she'd be proud of me, I still feel sad that she's no longer here, and, well, you know..."

"You feel an empty spot in your life now that she's gone, is that right, Andrew?" Goombella guessed as Andrew nodded.

"Gee whiz...That sounds sad. Depressing, even," Koops admitted. "Kinda reminds me of what happened to my 'own' mom..."

"Your mom, Koops?" Andrew raised an eyebrow at this.

"Yup. She sure was amazing," Koops said sadly. "Ummm...I tried being a good son to her. And have great memories with her. A shame that she's gone."

"You lost your mom?" Andrew had to ask her. "How? What happened to her?"

"Hooktail," Koops said quickly. "That's what happened to her."

"Hooktail ate your mom?" Andrew asked.

"Yes," Koops seemed sad when he said. "One moment, my mom was innocently tending her flower garden. The next minute, Hooktail swooped in and ate her. I never seen her since that fiend ate her..."

"When did this happen?" Andrew queried.

"Ten years ago," Koops frowned. "Seeing my mom get eaten by Hooktail...was what drove my dad to avenge her death and battle Hooktail, and defeat it once and for all..."

"So that explains everything," Andrew blinked before frowning. "But why didn't you tell us this before?"

Koops frowned before sighing. "I didn't think any of you wanted to burden yourselves with knowing."

"Oh," Andrew then went and patted Koops on the shoulders. "I guess you and me have something in common after all. I didn't want to burden you guys with the truth about my mom."

"Is... Is that why you allowed me to come?" Koops asked him. "Was it because of your mom?"

"Kinda," Andrew said. "I wanted you to be able to do what your father would think was right. So I had allowed you to battle Hooktail with me and Goombella."

"Aye. I suppose that might also explain why you were feeling sympathetic towards me when I had lost my dear sweet Scarlette," Bobbery spoke up. "And I take it that you also did become something of a recluse, eh wot?"

"That's right, Bobbery," Andrew nodded. "I knew what it felt like. So that's why I reacted the way that I did."

"In that case, old boy," Bobbery had to tell him. "You have my utmost full condolences for your mother's demise, I should say. Perhaps this should be my way of returning the favor, Andrew."

"I appreciate that, Bobbery. I 'really' do," Andrew said before frowning again. "Unfortunately, even when my mom was alive, life for me in Shroodville was never pleasant, and I was often met with problems and trouble in public."

Andrew lowered the brim of his cap so it could cover his eyes. "Didn't help that I was constantly bullied throughout my life, especially in my own home."

Except for Vivian, all of his friends gasped upon hearing what he had just said. The fact that Andrew was 'actually' bullied when he lived in Shroodville came as an absolute shocker.

By contrast, Vivian had remembered something important that Andrew told her once. And it was during that moment that he was reduced to a friendless lonely shadow.

"Hey, Andrew?" Vivian floated over to him and spoke softly. "When your name and identity were stolen by Doopliss, you told me that you had an older brother who used to bully and torture you. Is that true?"

Andrew had to glance at Vivian with a rather sad look. He was wondering if she'd ever bring that up with him again. And it seems like she remembered it and decided to bring it up. After letting out another sigh, he confessed.

"Yes, Vivian. It's true," Andrew said sadly. "I do have an older brother who used to bully and torture me when I was living in Shroodville."

Goombella was in complete shock as she found her voice. "A-Andrew? You...You 'totally' never mentioned anything about an older brother? You had one this whole time?"

"That's right, Goombella," Andrew nodded. "His name was Fred, and he had made my life miserable since I was born. At first, he just made fun of me, picked on me, took my favorite toys, stepped on my possessions out of spite, and he'd often give me a black eye and a bloody nose."

"Omigosh! You can't be serious!" Goombella found her voice being raised. "What a CREEP! I oughta Headbonk that jerk for that!"

"It only gets worse, Goombella," Andrew continued in a dark tone. "As we both got older, the bullying got worse. He started giving me wedgies, dunking my head into the toilet, punching me constantly, and treating me like a punching bag, and he would kick me at the bus stop into a pile of mud and humiliate me."

"Ummm... Gosh..." Koops shook his head. "Doesn't sound like an ideal brother. Sure wouldn't wanna meet him."

"You think that's bad? One time, my brother took all of my favorite belongings and committed arson," Andrew had a bitter tone in his voice as he was saying that. "Being that he set my favorite belongings on fire. All just to spite me."

"Oh, my word! What a complete heathen!" Flurrie yelled.

"Yeah! I'm beginning to hate this Fred chump," Yoshiam agreed. "He sounds like a total scumbag!"

"He was," Andrew agreed wholeheartedly. "And to top it off, he would often say horrible things about me. Like I am a disgrace, and that I was a mistake having been born. That kind of stuff."

"Why, this Fred lout best hope to never cross paths with me," Flurrie said with a dangerously low tone of voice. "Let's just say that he wouldn't be honored to see my improper side for saying such a vile thing about you."

"I must agree," Ms. Mowz mused rather darkly. "This Fred best hope that he doesn't cross paths with me in a dark alley. That's for sure..."

"But that's not all," Andrew continued. "Fred ended up growing a hatred for our mom too, claiming that my mom giving birth to me is what justifies his hate towards her."

Andrew then took a deep breath and said in a dark tone. "It also didn't help that he constantly got in trouble, and my mom would punish him appropriately for doing some bad things. I get that he might've been jealous of how I got Mom's affection over him. But even so, that didn't excuse his behavior, and the fact that he took his hatred for me too far."

"This Fred sounds like he's the most repugnant scoundrel if I do say so myself," Bobbery grumbled upon hearing this.

"But you wanna know what's awful?" Andrew asked rhetorically. "My brother had always blamed me for how our father left us, even though I never met him, and he left our mother before I was born."

"Your father?" Goombella raised an eyebrow. "Don'tcha know anything about who your old man could've been?"

"Only from what my mother told me," Andrew said with a low tone of voice. "And from what she told me, he was a 'terribly' abusive man who did some rather questionably amoral things. And he was so awful that my mom had to divorce him."

"Good on her. I respect any woman for divorcing from an awful creep," Goombella said rather sassily. "More power to her. I 'totally' respect her for it. I wouldn't hesitate to kick any abusive man down to the curb, y'know?"

"Yeah. I'm also not surprised, considering that our dad was a bad influence on Fred," Andrew said dryly. "And that most of his stunts were similar to what our father had done. But that's not all. There is one thing that Fred had done to our mother that made me lose all faith in him. You guys ready to hear this?"

"It cannot be any worse than what we heard already," Goombella encouraged. "So let's hear it."

"OK. Here goes," Andrew took a deep breath and revealed. "After my mom died, I held that funeral for her. And what Fred did was what I consider the biggest kind of disrespect that she could've been given. During the funeral, Fred never showed up. He never attended the funeral, nor did he give our mom his last tributes and respect to her. He didn't bother going to the funeral."

All seven of them had to gasp at that. They couldn't believe it. Did Andrew just say that his brother never attended their mother's funeral? As in their mother?

"I... I cannot believe this," Goombella shook her head distastefully. "I cannot stand this Fred person just from hearing about him. I 'totally' am starting to hate his guts."

"I must say, what this Fred cad had done was nothing short of despicable," Bobbery had to agree. "Why, I wouldn't have forgiven myself if I had done the same for my sweet Scarlette during her funeral."

"You did attend your wife's funeral, didn't you?" Andrew asked her.

"I most certainly did. I would never dream of not attending it," Bobbery recalled. "All who knew her and were close friends of Scarlette attended her funeral. Including Podley, who felt so ashamed when I looked back and saw him. But now that I think about all that I've been told, I've come to realize that he was ashamed that he never gave me that letter that she wrote for me."

Bobbery took a deep breath before admitting. "After my dear sweet Scarlette's funeral, I had become a recluse. Kinda like what you have become from losing your beloved mother. And I never set sail to sea afterwards."

"Until my friends and I gave you that letter, and convinced you to come with us to Keelhaul Key," Andrew proclaimed.

"Andrew?" Vivian asked him. "What did happen to your brother? Where did he go after your mother's funeral?"

"He moved far away from me, and never wanted to speak to me again," Andrew told her with a slightly cold tone. "Which doesn't bother me. After all the horrible things he did to me, and how much he disrespected our mom by not attending her funeral, I had pretty much grown to HATE him."

"No kidding," Yoshiam had to scoff. "This Fred scum deserves the hate. What a lowlife!"

"Yeah! Totally!" Goombella then realized something. "But Andrew? That would explain why you were so angry and hostile when dealing with Beldam in the Boggly Woods. It was because of the horrible way she was treating Vivian that reminded you of how awful your brother was to you. Right?"

"Yes. I couldn't stand seeing that," Andrew said before looking towards Vivian. "That's why the first chance I got, I showed Vivian some kindness so she doesn't have to deal with being abused by her older sister again."

"I understand, Andrew," Vivian nodded. "But you said you moved from Shroodville a year after your mother died. Is that right?"

"Yes, Vivian," Andrew nodded. "I had been living in the Mushroom Kingdom for four years since I moved in. For four long years, I had been a recluse and a loner, never socializing with anyone, and I had become a cynic because of how I lost my mom, and for how my brother would always bully me."

Andrew then took a deep breath before he decided to finish his explanation. "Then I got that letter in the mail, and I had to go to Rogueport to pick up Princess Peach. And you know how the rest of it goes."

Andrew was finally finished as he had his head down, sighed, and had a sad expression on his face. The others were shocked by what they heard, and they felt bad for what Andrew had been through.

"Jeepers. Andrew, why didn'tcha tell us before?" Goombella asked. "Weren'tcha 'totally' afraid that we'd regret asking about it, and that we'd see you in a different light?"

"Well, that and I don't expect anyone to feel pity for me," Andrew told him. "I never wanted anyone to pity me for my predicaments in the past. There's also the fact that you wouldn't want to be friends with me anymore if I did."

Andrew then decided to add. "After all, my brother often spread lies about me to the few friends that I did make while I was in school. Fred was manipulative, and he would successfully trick everyone who was my friend into turning on me. And it always hurt to know how many people would betray me in such a way."

"Sheesh," Yoshiam then realized something. "That would also explain why you were so upset when you found out the truth about Grubba and how he betrayed your trust."

"Exactly," Andrew nodded in agreement. "Still, I didn't want everyone to worry about me on top of that. And that's why I never told anyone about this."

"Oh," Goombella blinked and stayed silent for a few moments before saying. "Andrew? I'm like, so sorry that you went through that. You 'totally' don't deserve to be put through all that trauma! And just know, we would NEVER think any less of you. And we would 'totally' never stop being friends with you! No matter what slimeball tricks your brother would try with us! We're your friends, and that's that!"

"Yeah," Koops rubbed the back of his neck. "Man, it sure sounds depressing to know that you lost your mom and were bullied by your older brother. I couldn't have imagined that."

"Oh Andrew, you poor, poor man," Flurrie cooed sadly. "How utterly tragic. You shan't deserve to be put through such horrors and trials such as that."

"Yeah, Presto!" Yoshiam frowned. "Sure sounds like a bummer with what happened to your mom. But to know what kind of nasty things your brother did to you, that sounds uncool."

"Andrew? I'm sorry that you were put through that," Vivian had to place her hand on his shoulder. "You deserve better than being treated like that by your brother. I will always be here to support you."

"Indeed," Bobbery cleared his throat. "It is quite a travesty hearing about the ill-mannered fate of your mother, and for what kind of a scoundrel your older brethren was towards you."

"My sweet, it sounds awful knowing what happened to you," Ms. Mowz said calmly. "It's a miracle, seeing how strong you became even after being put into the face of adversity. Still, dearie, you shall not suffer any longer. Is there anything we can do to help you?"

"Yeah," Goombella had to ask him. "Can we do anything to make it up to you for what you were put through?"

Andrew did not answer. Truth be told, there was something else that had been bothering him for a long time that he never bothered bringing up to his friends. And it involved the whole stolen identity fiasco.

It was something that he thought was so shameful, and he regrets having come close to committing such an act, when his mood was at an all-time low, and he had no way of proceeding further with getting his name and identity back.

Since he was able to get his name and identity back, thanks to Vivian stirring up some new hope in him, and since he had collected the seven Crystal Stars with his seven friends, he felt that maybe it'd be best to inform them about it. Not to mention, just how traumatizing it was being put in that state.

Especially since after he manages to rescue the princess, he would be going back home to the Mushroom Kingdom. And his friends would be going their separate ways. So this would be the only time that he would get to reveal this to them.

---

After clearing his throat, he decided to come out with it.

"During the time where I was reduced to a friendless lonely shadow thanks to Doopliss, I had never felt so alone in my whole life," Andrew said calmly. "Goombella, Koops, Flurrie, and Yoshiam? Do you remember what I'm talking about?"

"Course we do, silly," Goombella rolled her eyes as Koops, Flurrie, and Yoshiam nodded. "But what's that gotta do with anything?"

"Everything. I had felt so much trauma during that time than I had experienced in a long time," Andrew explained sadly. "And when I was unable to proceed further before I helped out Vivian, I...I was gonna do something. Something drastic and I've come to regret doing such a thing to myself."

"Say wuh?" Goombella was confused by this, as were Koops, Flurrie, Yoshiam, Vivian, Bobbery, and Ms. Mowz, as they all gave him a confused look. "You were gonna do something drastic? Whatcha mean by that, Andrew?"

"Well... Seeing that I was in a dire situation and a hopeless rut, and there was nothing I could do on my own at that point, I knew that the only thing to do to myself was to make sure that I... I... I..."

"I what?" Goombella was growing concerned about this. "What are ya trying to say to us?"

Andrew said nothing else as he sighed heavily. In a matter of seconds, he remorsefully dug his hand into his back pocket until he touched something and pulled it out. He then regretfully showed what it was to his friends.

It was the Death Shroom that he had kept all this time. Goombella, Koops, Flurrie, Vivian, Bobbery, and Ms. Mowz all caught a good look at it and looked horrified by what they were seeing. Yoshiam, meanwhile, was a little confused and wigged out by the Death Shroom's appearance. Seeing that he was recently born in the Glitz Pit, he didn't have much time to wrap his head around the concept of the Death Shroom.

"Whoa," Yoshiam had to wipe his eyes. "That some kind of mushroom? Why does it look freaky looking?"

Goombella was the first to find her voice, albeit on the hoarse and speechless side as she started asking in a stutter.

"Omigosh...Andrew..." Goombella was frightened beyond words. "Is...Is that a...a...a..."

"Yes, Goombella," Andrew nodded sadly. "It's a Death Shroom. And I had possession of one this entire time."

Goombella had to wrap her head around this. She has read many books on the Death Shroom during her stay at the University of Goom. Anyone she tried to ask about it had balked, stayed quiet, or fled the scene. And it was for a good reason.

The Death Shroom could kill in seconds upon consuming it. Due to how dangerous it was, it was never sold in stores, nor were people willing to talk about it. Goombella shook her head as she then asked the all-important question.

"Where?" Goombella asked. "Where did you get that?"

"I had found it near the outskirts of Shroodville a month before I moved out," Andrew explained shamefully. "It was one of the last remaining Death Shrooms left. And I had kept it all these years. But I could never eat it, since I had this gut feeling that doing so would be a horrible mistake that I make. So...that's how I ended up in possession of this one."

"I... I can't believe it," Goombella shook her head. "I've done plenty of research on the Death Shroom during my stay at the University of Goom. No one was willing to talk about it, since it brought fear. And upon learning that it kills in seconds upon eating it, I can 'totally' understand why."

"Yeah..." Koops gulped and grimaced at the sight of the Death Shroom. "Man... Never thought that I'd see one of those in person. I only heard tales about them. Sure gives me the heebie-jeebies, just from thinking of them."

"Mercy me! This is simply a horrifying twist of events!" Flurrie gasped. "I've heard some tell from lowlifes about those things during my days as a touring actress. Just the thought of setting my sights on one of those dangerous mushrooms was something that I couldn't 'possibly' fathom!"

"Whoa! You're telling me that the Death Shroom kills whoever eats it?" Yoshiam had to ask before sporting the same horrified look that the others had. "Yeesh! That is one mushroom that I can do without, man! I won't ever eat that!"

"Yeah. I've heard many awful things about those mushrooms," Vivian then confessed meekly while frowning. "There was this one time where Beldam threatened to punish me by making me eat a Death Shroom. If she had possession of one this whole time, she might've shoved one down my throat and killed me."

"By Blubbery's blotches! I too have heard about the cursed Death Shroom from many tales over on my sea voyages," Bobbery exclaimed, feeling his mustache twitch. "And be it as it may, the tales are as treacherous as the Death Shroom itself. All who have been witnessed eating the Death Shroom have certainly perished in a matter of seconds."

"Yes. I've heard about the Death Shroom as well," Ms. Mowz admitted. "And let me just say that I'm quite disturbed by what it does as well. Even a globe-trotting thief such as myself wouldn't be caught dead with having stolen one of those Death Shrooms."

"Yeah, guys. It's true. This is that same Death Shroom," Andrew then confessed guiltily. "When I was reduced to that friendless lonely shadow, I was unable to gain my name and body back from Doopliss. And since I was treated as an outcast by everyone. And because Goombella, Koops, Flurrie, and Yoshiam didn't recognize me, nor did they notice me as a shadow, I...I...I had planned on eating this Death Shroom as a sign that I had given up at that point."

"No. Andrew. You wouldn't," Goombella was horrified by what she had heard. "You wouldn't."

"No. But I was THIS CLOSE to doing it before I decided to help Vivian find the Superbombomb," Andrew admitted. "Even after I had helped her, I was still planning on going through with it and eating the Death Shroom."

"What?!" Goombella yelled in horror. "You...You mean..."

"If it wasn't for Vivian stepping in to help out, I wouldn't be here," Andrew told her gravely. "I would be dead right now if it wasn't for her."

All seven of them remained silent as they stood there in shock, horror, and concern for the muscular man. Even Yoshiam understood the severity of the situation and that Andrew did have a deeper problem going on in his head, in regards to the stolen identity scenario.

As if hearing how he lost his mom and was bullied by his older brother was bad enough. Now they find out that Andrew had possession of the Death Shroom, and had planned on attempting suicide when he was a friendless lonely shadow when Doopliss stole his identity. Needless to say, this shook all seven of them to the core.

"Ahem," Bobbery decided to speak up about this. "It would appear that the old boy is struggling with a conflicting setback, hm?"

"I can't believe it," Goombella uttered, shaking her head. "I 'totally' can't believe it. I had a feeling that Andrew was struggling to cope with the incident. But jeepers! This sounds so gnarly."

"I know. I'm sorry," Andrew sighed as he had his head down with his eyes closed. "I had hoped that you guys wouldn't have found out about this in this manner."

"Ummmm..." Koops was unsure of what to say, as he felt his head spinning from comprehending what he had just learned. "I dunno what to say. Man...this is deep and depressing."

"How dare you? How DARE you try to do something so horrible to yourself, Andrew?!" Flurrie had to scold him with reason and concern. "Do you have any idea how distraught we ALL would've been if you went through and brought such a tragedy ON yourself!? How could you?!"

"I didn't know what else to DO!" Andrew yelled in a broken manner. "Doopliss had my name, my body, everything! He even had you guys! And I may have gotten my identity back thanks to Vivian, but it doesn't change the fact that Doopliss SCARRED me with the incident in the first place! The loneliness that I had felt in that part of my life was the worst thing that I could've EVER endured!"

Vivian had to frown as she twirled her fingers anxiously. "And yet you still helped me... Even though you had plans to commit suicide..."

"I didn't want you to be as miserable as I was at that moment, Vivian," Andrew told her in a tone that was cracking. "I was out of hope at the time. And really, I appreciate your help, even though it didn't repair the damage I endured."

With that, Andrew went ahead and tossed the Death Shroom into the wall nearby, causing it to slide and crumble as it fell. Andrew then slid on the ground, onto his knees, and covered his eyes with his hands.

Then he did the one thing that he hadn't done in so long, which he hadn't done since the day his mother died. He cried. He was sobbing lightly, but it was still happening. He didn't want anyone pitying him, so he held onto this pain he was feeling for so long. So he felt ashamed for having done this.

All seven of his friends had to stare at their leader and close friend in sympathy, feeling bad for what he had gone through, on top of what happened to him during the whole stolen identity crisis.

"Oh dear. It appears that Andrew is very much upset about what he has revealed to us," Ms. Mowz sighed and shook his head. "A lot has transpired for him, and it has been a harrowing experience. I think it might be a good idea for us to perform an intervention with the handsome muscular superstar."

"Ms. Mowz? I have to agree with you on that," Goombella admitted, willing to put her distaste for the Little Mouser aside to make things right with Andrew.

With that, Goombella whispered something to Vivian. In a matter of seconds, Vivian unleashed her Fiery Jinx on the crumbled Death Shroom, setting it on fire, and engulfing it in flames. The Death Shroom was now nothing but ashes that were blown away by a gust seconds later.

After that was done, all seven of them approached Andrew and Yoshiam decided to get his attention.

"Presto?! Why didn't you tell us about all of this sooner?" Yoshiam asked him in a rather concerned tone. "We're your best friends, dude! We always got your back!"

"Well," Andrew wiped his eyes of all the tears that were in them. "I thought that you guys would've thought differently of me and that you wouldn't want to be friends with me anymore."

"Andrew? I want you to look at me for a second!" Goombella got his attention and told him straight. "If we didn't want to be friends with you anymore, we would've left you before we started. We 'totally' wouldn't have gone on this adventure with you. And we so wouldn't have done all of the crazy stuff that you had gone through on this adventure! But guess what? That's NEVER gonna happen!"

Goombella cleared her throat before she continued. "Remember what I told you? We're never leaving your side! And we NEVER will! No matter what may happen, whatever gnarly scheme Doopliss had pulled on us, that will 'totally' never change! And you'd best remember that too, Andrew!"

"You...You 'really' mean that?" Andrew raised an eyebrow.

"Like 'heck' I do," Goombella made a 'pffft' sound with her mouth. "And don'tcha forget it either!"

"I...I always thought that I wasn't a good leader in the beginning," Andrew had to confess to them. "And that you guys deserve better than me..."

"That is 'totally' NOT true, Andrew! YOU are the only leader that any of us could've wanted!" Goombella yelled. "I mean, jeepers! You've practically changed our lives with what you've done for all of us! Lemme remind you, Andrew. You 'totally' saved me from being abducted by Lord Crump!"

"Yeah," Koops agreed. "You allowed me to avenge my father by defeating Hooktail with you, Andrew! And even though my father is still alive, I still appreciate being able to do such a thing, thanks to you. That's why you're the man!"

"And if I may add, you were also the dashingly handsome hero who found my necklace for me," Flurrie had to remind him. "That's one heroic feat that I shan't ever forget. And you shan't either, Andrew!"

"Yeah! You saved me from being turned into a Hot Dog condiment by that Hoggle guys, and you allowed me to hatch!" Yoshiam declared. "Even though it's all good between me and ol' Hoggle, it still doesn't change the fact that you made it possible, man! That's why you're the coolest, Presto!"

"Andrew? You were the first person to have ever shown me kindness," Vivian told him meekly. "Even though I didn't want to burden you with my problems, you still went and found the Superbombomb for me. It was so sweet of you to go to those lengths just for me. So, please don't go, Andrew."

"Aye. I think I speak for all of us when I say that you're heroic deeds shall not go unrewarded," Bobbery proclaimed. "You had convinced me to go back out to sea, which is what Scarlette would've wanted from me. And you also allowed me to see the light, Andrew. I had given you a Bob-omb pledge, and it isn't to be taken lightly, and it's one that I shall never break, old boy."

"Yes. I happen to agree with everyone else, Andrew," Ms. Mowz told him with no slyness in her voice. "You had earned my respect by showing me how many badges you have collected on your journey. Not to mention, you decided to take responsibility for me on the Excess Express, even when you didn't need to. That's something that I'm grateful for, my sweet. So be sure to remember what we've told you."

Andrew had to sit up and look at all seven of them. It was true. They 'really' had grown close throughout this adventure. And he 'really' did prove himself to be an effective leader who would aid each of them whenever it was necessary.

"Wow..." Andrew made sure he no longer had tears in his eyes. "That was amazing guys. I'm touched."

"You should be touched, 'cause it's true, Andrew," Goombella told him. "We got your back no matter what. Just promise us one thing, Andrew."

"What is it?" Andrew asked her.

"Never doubt yourself again," Goombella insisted. "We're sticking with you to finish this journey, and that's THAT."

"OK. I won't. Not anymore," Andrew smiled. "Guys? Have I ever told you that you are all the best group of people that I could've ever recruited and had gotten to form this team with me?"

"Wouldn't kill ya to say it more often, y'know," Goombella told him in a rather teasing manner. "Kidding Andrew. But seriously, we are a great team. And why's that?"

"Because we got each other's backs," Andrew said as he stood up. "And you know? I feel that a massive weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. I guess it was a good idea to tell you guys about this after all."

"You think?" Goombella gave him a look before smiling. "Either way, it's good to know that you finally told us about this. I'm just surprised that you made the decision yourself."

"Well, it's like I said, this adventure has changed me," Andrew exclaimed. "I'm no longer a loner and a recluse. I stopped being so cynical. And I got to see some cool places around the Rogueport region. So you can say that I became a better person."

"You can say that again," Goombella winked at him. "Now then, don't we have a cataclysm to stop or something?"

"Yeah!" Yoshiam jumped up and down. "Let's take care of that cataclysm before that Grodus chump gets to it!"

"You're right," Andrew dusted his pants off and faced the door at the other end of the corridor. "Let's get a move on."

"All right," all seven of them cheered in unison as the muscular man headed for the door, and opened it for them to get through.

Goombella, Koops, Flurrie, Yoshiam, Vivian, Bobbery, and Ms. Mowz followed right behind him as they left the corridor behind them, and they were all glad that the air had been cleared regarding Andrew's past. As well as what he went through during the stolen identity crisis.

Now that Andrew has gotten the weight off of his chest, he no longer has a reason to doubt himself. As long as his seven friends were willing to stick by his side until the bitter end, that's all that mattered to him...

---

The following corridor they stepped into wasn't any different from the other three that they went through. There were two Phantom Embers present, waiting to ambush the eight of them. But Andrew was able to dispatch them instantly, with some help from Bobbery.

Aside from that, there was nothing else standing in their way as they approached the door that was on the other end of the corridor.

Unfortunately, Koops got a whiff of the air that was beyond the door, and not only did he feel queasy. He also felt a little nervous, as the scent beyond that door was too eerily familiar. He couldn't help but voice his thoughts on this.

"Ummmm... Andrew?" Koops got his attention.

"What is it, Koops?" Andrew gave him a curious look.

"I got a bad feeling as to what's in the room beyond that door," Koops voiced himself. "Man... My stomach is feeling queasy from the scent, and the scent itself seems so...familiar. Like I've recognized it from somewhere before... But from where?"

"Hmmm..." Andrew was able to pick up on it too. "Well, now that you mention it, the scent does seem vaguely familiar. It also seems very...suspicious."

"Well regardless, only one way to know about it for ourselves," Goombella made the suggestion. "Let's go in there and check it out."

"Good idea," Andrew then grabbed the door knob and started to open it up. "Let's go."

As soon as he opened it, Andrew stepped into the room, with Koops keeping close behind him, while the rest of them followed, also remaining on guard for whatever was resting in the room ahead of them. They were about to be in for a massive surprise once they got settled in that room...

---

As soon as the eight of them had entered the room, they closed the door behind them. The room that they stepped into was massive in size.

It was also really dark in the room. There was no light source in there whatsoever, save for the small chandelier dangling way up high in the middle of the ceiling, as the candles on it were dimly lighted.

"Whoa," Andrew uttered quietly. "This room is massive. It's also really dark in here, guys. I can barely see anything."

"Wowsers. Don't I know it," Goombella squinted her eyes. "It also smells in here. Smells gnarly, like I've 'totally' recognized it from somewhere before, y'know?"

"Yeah..." Koops trailed off quietly.

The others were silently trying to take in what was in the massive room that they had entered. The room was giving all of them a rather uneasy feeling. It's as if something was lurking in the darkness of this room.

Andrew, meanwhile, had studied the scent of the room for himself, and he started thinking back as to where he had smelled it from before. It was then a possible theory that had struck his mind, and it left him a little horrified from thinking of it.

Wait, I remember where I smelled this scent from before... Andrew thought to himself. But no. It can't be. That's not possible. Could this rather draconic scent 'possibly' be from...?

"Who are you?!" A thunderous voice suddenly boomed, cutting Andrew off from his thoughts.

Andrew then looked up to where that voice came from along with his seven friends. What they saw right in front of them left them speechless.

It was a dragon. 'And' the dragon had a strong resemblance to Hooktail, with the same snout, the same body, and the same hook-looking tails that were dull-blue. But there were several differences with this dragon.

For one thing, his body and wings were black instead of red, with the lower half of the wings being yellow instead of dark purple. His belly and under his chin were purple instead of barf-green.

His claws were yellow instead of dull blue. The three bell-like things on the back of his head were red instead of yellow. And his eyes were red instead of green. Otherwise, this dragon looked an awful lot like Hooktail.

At that moment, this dragon looked up towards the ceiling and let out a bellowing roar for the eight heroes to hear, just like Hooktail did when Andrew, Goombella, and Koops cornered it in its lair. Once it was done with that, the dragon looked downward and glowered at the eight trespassers that invaded his lair.

"No one's disturbed me here in eons!" The dragon howled before demanding fiercely from them. "Who dares defile this sacred place?!"

It was that comment that broke Andrew out of his trances as he felt the need to ask his Goomba and Koopa friends a very important question.

"Uhhhh... Goombella? Koops?" Andrew started to ask them. "Does this dragon look incredibly familiar to you?"

"Yeah! Isn't that Hooktail?" Goombella had to admit, recalling how they had taken care of Hooktail previously. "We 'totally' beat it before! What's it doing back?"

"Ummm... Isn't that Hooktail? The very fiend who ate and devoured my mom?" Koops twirled his fingers nervously before commenting. "I KNOW we beat it before. It coughed up my dad! What's it doing back?"

Flurrie, Yoshiam, Vivian, and Bobbery only needed to take a glance at the dragon to realize that it resembled Hooktail, based on the descriptions that Andrew gave them in the past.

"My, what a fearsome dragon..." Flurrie winced before asking with her arms crossed. "But isn't that Hooktail, whom you said you beat before?"

"Yeah!" Yoshiam agreed while snapping his fingers. "I thought you beat it, dude!"

"Yes," Flurrie then listed off the description with her fingers. "Big, with nasty eyes and ripe breath..."

"Huge, dragonish, gnarly..." Yoshiam continued while counting with his fingers.

"Gigantic, with mossy teeth..." Vivian added with her index finger pointing towards Andrew.

"Enormous, with rather grimy toes..." Bobbery concluded for them as he commented. "Yes, that suits this fellow to a T!"

As for Ms. Mowz, she had recalled hearing about how Andrew and two of his friends were planning to take it down, especially after what Andrew revealed to her on the Excess Express. She was just as confused as the rest of them.

"Isn't that Hooktail, dearie?" Ms. Mowz rubbed her nose in confusion. "I thought you beat Hooktail... What's it doing here?"

"Yeah. I know for a fact that Goombella, Koops, and I took care of Hooktail and prevented it from terrorizing anymore peaceful villages," Andrew proclaimed. "And we destroyed Hooktail in its 'own' castle in the process. How did Hooktail come back from the dead?!"

The dragon, by contrast, felt a rather low and deadly growl come from his throat. He did not just hear that. He did NOT just hear how these intruders had previously taken down and killed Hooktail, who was likely related to him since he looked a lot like Hooktail.

This was something that didn't sit well with the fierce-looking dragon. He was about to let them know how furious he was about hearing this revelation, as well as reveal a rather shocking truth about Hooktail.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" The dragon roared furiously as he glared daggers at the eight intruders. "You destroyed my precious younger sister?!"

"SISTER!?" All eight of them yelled in shock at what was revealed to them.

"I had no idea that Hooktail was a girl," Andrew had to admit, processing the fact that Hooktail was a she this entire time.

"But wait! If Hooktail is a girl," Koops felt like asking. "Then why did my dad refer to Hooktail as a 'he'? Come to think of it, Koopie Koo referred to Hooktail as a 'he' too. Why is that?"

"Your dad and Koopie Koo probably didn't know the truth about Hooktail's gender, and they had concluded that Hooktail was a guy," Andrew deduced. "After all, Hooktail had only been terrorizing Petalburg for ten years before Goombella and I showed up."

"Golly, guess that makes sense when you put it that way, Andrew," Koops said.

"But something else came to me," Andrew then looked at Goombella. "Goombella? Does your Tattle Log ever refer to Hooktail as a she?"

"Not necessarily," Goombella shrugged. "The Tattle Log refers to Hooktail as an 'it'. The person who created the Tattle Log was unclear about her real gender identity. So he didn't take any chances of making a mistake, and referred to Hooktail as an it."

"I see," Andrew sighed. "I guess that clears it up that Hooktail was a girl all along."

"I wondered why she hadn't written recently..." The dragon growled, getting their attention.

"I am simply surprised that dragons can write at all," Flurrie had to admit. "I've seen some very odd things in the Boggly Woods, but that sounds quite preposterous!"

"All right then," Andrew pinched the bridge of his nose and demanded in determination. "Since you're 'definitely' not Hooktail, then who are YOU supposed to be?!"

"Quake in fear, mortals! For I am Gloomtail!" The dragon introduced himself as Gloomtail before announcing what he was about to do next to the eight heroes. "I will avenge my sister by taking your lives...and then gnawing on your bones!"

"Very well then," Andrew cracked his knuckles and took out his bat. "If you want a fight, we'll give you one. If I could defeat Hooktail, then I can defeat you too!"

"Yeah! Bring IT ON!" Yoshiam cracked his knuckles. "I've been wanting to pick a fight with a dragon since I heard Presto took down Hooktail! Now I get to do the honor along with him and our other friends!"

"Careful, Yoshiam," Goombella had to warn him. "This might seem like Hooktail, but he's a different dragon. And something tells me that he's 'totally' dangerous!"

"Yeah," Vivian agreed meekly. "We better be careful with dealing with Gloomtail."

In a matter of seconds, Gloomtail stomped within three feet away from them. He then decided to make another announcement before the battle could start.

"GWAAAAH HA HA HA HA! My first fresh meat in ages..." Gloomtail bellowed fiercely.

"I take it that your master or whoever owns you hasn't fed you a 'single' morsel in over a thousand years, eh?" Bobbery gave Gloomtail a curious look.

"Hmph!" Gloomtail brushed that off. "Allow me to take my time... And toy with you awhile!"

"Well, too bad. This is one cat-and-mouse game that you surely cannot win in the slightest," Ms. Mowz huffed proudly. "Isn't that right, Andrew?"

"Yeah. We better get started," Andrew then noticed Gloomtail trying to figure out who to try eating first, which bought him some time. "But first of all, as always, Goombella? Do you have any information on Gloomtail?"

"Hang on, Andrew! I'm way ahead of you!" Goombella took out her Tattle Log and opened it up. She then flipped through the pages to see where the information on Gloomtail was located.

Eventually, she found what she was looking for and reacted to it. "Ah-HA! I found it! You ready to hear it, Andrew?"

"You know it," Andrew smirked while giving him a thumbs up. "Let's hear it!"

"Right. Ahem," Goombella cleared her throat before she started reading from her Tattle Log. "That's Gloomtail. I think he's Hooktail's brother. I see the family resemblance..."

"I think we all do, considering that we originally confused him for Hooktail," Andrew had to deadpan while smirking.

"You said it," Goombella agreed with him before she continued. "Anyway, he'll bite or stomp you, and he may also breathe poison on you. Great."

"Terrific," Andrew said sarcastically. "That's just what we need right now."

"It gets worse, Andrew," Goombella then warned him. "When he's starting to feel low on energy, he may throw in some other attacks, as well. Wouldn't surprise me."

"Me neither," Andrew then took notice of Gloomtail getting ready to unleash his Poison Breath on them. "Guys, we better get out of the way!"

With that, Andrew grabbed Goombella and got her and himself out of the way in time, while the rest of them were fast enough to evade the attack that Gloomtail tried to unleash on them. Once the poisonous green breath was gone, the eight of them managed to regroup together.

"Well, I'm still not surprised," Goombella smirked at the muscular man. "Still, thanks again, Andrew."

"No problem," Andrew then asked her. "Anything else we should know about?"

"Yes!" Goombella then looked at her Tattle Log again. "We especially have to watch out for his megabreath move, 'cause the word is, it's GNARLY!"

"OK," Andrew winced. "That doesn't sound good..."

"It's not," Goombella shook her head as she then finished her explanation from her Tattle Log. "And he also stores extra power for some attacks, so use Vivian to hide to avoid those."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Andrew then turned to face Vivian. "I can trust you to help me with that, right Vivian?"

"Of course," Vivian nodded in determination. "I would be happy to do that for you!"

"Great! But that's only when he's charging for a Mega Breath attack," Andrew declared as Goombella put away her Tattle Log. "But for now, we better get this fight started. Let's go!"

Andrew then got the fight started by charging for Gloomtail and performed his Power Jump on Gloomtail's snout. He then took his Ultra Bat and performed a Power Swing right across his maw and right paw. Needless to say, Gloomtail didn't expect this.

"Huff! So, you can fight, you little morsel!" Gloomtail snorted. "Well, no matter! This battle is just getting started, fools!"

"That's right. We are just getting started," Andrew then motioned to his friends. "All right, guys! You know what to do!"

They all nodded as Goombella walked up and approached Gloomtail. Once she was in front of him, she went up and performed a painful Multibonk on Gloomtail's snout. She managed to strike him 11 times in a row.

Goombella then did a backflip out of the way and landed near Andrew just in time for Koops to step up and go into his shell. Recalling what he did when he was fighting Hooktail, Koops charged up in his shell before launching himself at Gloomtail, ramming into his right paw with a Shell Toss.

Koops was able to do a breakdance routine and was able to use it to maneuver himself out of the way of Gloomtail's Stomp attack and the Poison Breath that he tried firing at the Koopa.

As soon as Koops was done, Flurrie floated up and decided to take her turn to attack. With that, she soared through the air and then landed on Gloomtail's snout, crushing it with her Body Slam attack, which left behind some significant damage. As soon as she did that pose of hers, she got off of Gloomtail's snout and floated away.

"Grah!" Gloomtail snorted and shook his head. "All right! Let's see if you enjoy some of this!"

Gloomtail then stomped over and used his right paw to perform a Stomp attack on Andrew. The muscular man was caught off guard, so he got crushed underneath Gloomtail's paw, struggling to get out.

"Andrew, dearie?" Flurrie floated over and pried him out from underneath Gloomtail's massive paw. "You all right, hon?"

"Yeah. I think so," Andrew felt a slight scratch mark on his back, but otherwise, he was feeling OK. "Dang. That is one strong attack! Gloomtail is rather powerful, guys!"

"Well then lemme at 'em!" Yoshiam bellowed as he was getting ready to attack. "I'll show this dragon a thing or two!"

In a matter of seconds, Yoshiam started to flutter-jump through the air, in an attempt to land a Ground Pound attack on Gloomtail's snout. He was able to swerve out of the lashing out that Gloomtail did with his paws.

As soon as he was over his snout, Yoshiam unleashed his Ground Pound attack, landing a total of six strikes in a row. He then did a backflip out of the way and landed several feet away safely onto his feet.

It was Vivian's turn, as she sank into the shadows, and popped back up in front of Gloomtail. Before Gloomtail could react to this, Vivian went and decked him square in the face with a Shade Fist attack.

Gloomtail could feel that his head was on fire, but he tried his best to downplay the significant impact it was having on him.

"Gruff... You think that setting my head on fire is gonna stop me?" Gloomtail leered. "Hmph! How utterly pathetic!"

With that, Gloomtail then decided to unleash his Poison Breath on the Shadow Siren. Vivian was one step ahead of him, as she had sank into the shadows before the attack could make an impact.

Bobbery then went behind Gloomtail and marched up to him while lighting his fuse. He then got on top of him and marched over to where his head was.

Once he was on top of his head, he started flashing red, and immediately afterwards, Bobbery unleashed his Bomb attack on the dragon, getting Gloomtail to recoil at the explosion and the impact it left on him.

Bobbery regenerated himself and landed right where Andrew and the others were. It was Ms. Mowz's turn to strike, as she walked up and then jumped on top of the snout, impaling it slightly with her high heels.

Gloomtail couldn't react to this as Ms. Mowz used her Love Slap attack, smacking him a total of three times before doing a backflip off him while whipping him in the snout with her heart-shaped tail.

Gloomtail shook his face as he decided now it was time to see what Andrew tasted like. He then tried lashing at him with his Chomp attack, which involved him biting him.

Andrew was able to jump out of the way in the nick of time. However, he did catch a big whiff of the draconic breath that Gloomtail had, and he gagged.

"Holy cow!" Andrew coughed at this. "I don't suppose anyone introduced breath mints to Gloomtail in a thousand years."

"Can't argue with you there," Goombella agreed with a snicker.

"Still, I think it's time that we show Gloomtail what we're capable of," Andrew then took out his Magical Map. "This is the perfect time to summon one of the Crystal Stars to aid us!"

"Omigosh!" Goombella gasped as Andrew held the Magical Map over his head as he summoned the Gold Star. "Does that mean...?"

"Yup," Andrew nodded confidently. "It's time for us to give ourselves a little Power Lift!"

Gloomtail was so startled by what he was seeing, that he was unable to attack them. The Gold Star then started dropping some orange up-arrows and blue up-arrows. Then just like the last time he used it against the Atomic Boo, Andrew ran and touched each one of them before they fell on the ground in a yellow-orange sparkle.

And because he used it before, he knew which arrows power up what.

Eventually, Andrew managed to touch a total of 14 orange arrows and 13 blue arrows, as he and his friends felt more strength coming up, as well as feeling covered by thick armor.

The Gold Star vanished in the blink of an eye as it sprinkled yellow-orange sparkles around all eight of them. As soon as Andrew pocketed the Magical Map, he flexed his muscles to show how much stronger he had gotten thanks to the Gold Star's Power Lift ability.

"All right! Now that should do the trick!" Andrew yelled proudly. "Let's kick this fight up a notch!"

With a sprinting dash, Andrew charged over and managed to land a punch on Gloomtail's snout before he jumped into the air. From there, he landed a rather strong Power Bounce attack on him, striking him at least 8 times in a row.

Gloomtail couldn't help but wince at how much stronger these trespassers have gotten. But he was barely able to react when Goombella walked up and landed her Headbonk attack, striking Gloomtail on the snout yet again. Goombella then beamed as she did a backflip and landed several feet away.

Gloomtail had to admit, these eight fools were far stronger than they appeared to be. However, that didn't mean he was going to give up. There was another trick up his sleeve that he decided to demonstrate to them.

"GWAAAAH HA HA HA HA!" Gloomtail laughed it off before he admitted. "You are tough meat, my little tasty morsels!"

"Yeah. Well, we were never meant to be on the menu anyway," Andrew had to retort wryly. "And it's what happens to those that underestimate us."

"Maybe so!" Gloomtail then bellowed. "But how will you fare against THIS!?"

"Say wuh?" Andrew had a confused look as Gloomtail jumped up several feet until he was near the ceiling.

In a matter of seconds, Gloomtail landed a powerful Earthquake attack by furiously slamming himself back onto the ground. Andrew felt the attack, as he fell over in heeping pain.

Except for Flurrie and Vivian, all of his friends were also impacted by it as they fell onto their backs. Koops, in particular, was being rendered helpless as she struggled to get off of his shelled back.

"Andrew, my darling?" Flurrie went and helped Andrew onto his feet along with Vivian. "Are you all right? Did that draconic brute hurt you in any way?"

"Yeah," Vivian agreed. "You OK, Andrew? You're not hurt, are you?"

"Oh... Ow... I guess I should've expected that sort of attack from him," Andrew rubbed his back as he was thankful for them helping him out. "But I think I should be fine. Thank you, Flurrie and Vivian."

"Anytime, Andrew," Flurrie and Vivian said in unison.

"Hey Koops," Andrew went over to help his Koopa friend out while Flurrie and Vivian helped the others get back onto their feet. "Are you OK?"

"Ummmm... I should be..." Koops was brought back onto his feet as he rubbed his head. "Golly... Didn't think Gloomtail could do such a thing... Never witnessed Hooktail try to do something like that. That's for sure."

"Yeah," Andrew then requested. "Anyway Koops, I need you to get into your shell. And I'm gonna send you straight into Gloomtail for you to unleash your Shell Slam attack. Got it?"

"Sure, Andrew," Koops nodded as he then went inside his shell and started spinning in place.

"OK," Andrew got out his Ultra Bat. "Here goes nothing."

With that, he held his Ultra Bat like a golf club and struck Koops's shell like a golf ball, sending Koops flying and soaring right for Gloomtail. He had already charged up enough power to deliver his Shell Slam attack.

In a matter of seconds, Koops made a significant impact with Gloomtail's snout and plowed into it with his Shell Slam attack. Once he was done dealing plenty of damage, Koops's shell started flipping through the air until he landed on the ground.

A few seconds after he landed, he got out of his shell and got back on his feet. By now, the others were also back on their feet, raring to fight Gloomtail some more.

"Oh, my! How 'absolutely' marvelous!" Flurrie gleamed excitedly. "Now then, I do believe it shall be my turn to show this scoundrel a thing or two!"

With that, Flurrie approached Gloomtail's snout and puckered her lips. When she grabbed both sides of it, she then started to unleash her Lip Lock attack. She was smooching Gloomtail's snout while leaving him rendered helpless. A few moments later, Flurrie had managed to drain some of his energy before she added it to her own.

Yoshiam then took the opportunity to lay four Mini-Eggs to be able to use his Mini-Egg attack. Once all four were laid, Yoshiam went ahead and tossed all four of them towards Gloomtail.

All four of them struck Gloomtail across the face, as he tried using his paws to block them. Unfortunately, this meant that his paws were also struck by the Mini-Eggs, which still did some damage to him. Slamming his paws down, Yoshiam got out of the way right before Gloomtail could squash him with his Stomp attack.

Seeing that Gloomtail was distracted by Yoshiam, Vivian decided to take the opportunity to unleash her Fiery Jinx on him.

She waved her right index finger around, until a magical spark emerged from it, and Gloomtail felt his head being engulfed in flames, as if he had been set on fire yet again.

"GWAAAAAAAH! AWAY WITH YOU, FOOL!" Gloomtail howled as he tried to smack Vivian away with his tail.

Sadly, Vivian saw this coming and sank into the shadows at the last possible second, almost coming close to being impaled by his giant hook-shaped tail.

"Well old boy, I believe it is my turn yet again," Bobbery stepped up after he saw Vivian sink into the shadows. "Now, I would appreciate your assistance in getting me up to the snout of that dragon fiend, eh Andrew?"

"Of course," Andrew stretched his arms. "Just light your fuse, and I should be ready to toss you up there."

"With pleasure, old boy," Bobbery then lit his fuse as Andrew picked him up.

Andrew used his throwing arm to hurl Bobbery up towards Gloomtail's snout. By the time he was approaching him, Bobbery was flashing red.

Once he collided with him, Bobbery unleashed his Bomb attack on him. Gloomtail yowled as he stumbled backward while grunting at the blast that he endured. Bobbery had regenerated and landed right next to Andrew again.

"Hmm mmm mmm, I think I can take it from here," Ms. Mowz stretched her fingers. "I'm sure this next trick that I have will suit Gloomtail with no problem, yes?"

With that, she unleashed her Tease attack, as she created three copies of herself and they started running around Gloomtail, getting him all dizzy.

"Gwaaaah! You little rats!" Gloomtail boomed. "HOLD STILL SO I CAN BLAST YOU!"

With that, Gloomtail unleashed his Poison Breath at Ms. Mowz and her copies, making a complete circle around him, but then realized that they vanished once he was done.

In a matter of seconds, they landed on Gloomtail's back and they dished out a Love Slap attack right on his back, dealing some more impeccable damage, as Gloomtail howled again.

Ms. Mowz's copies had vanished, and the Little Mouser did a backflip off of Gloomtail and landed on the ground, right near where Andrew was standing.

"Good job, Ms. Mowz," Andrew gave her a thumbs up as his friends were now standing beside him. "We got him on the ropes!"

Gloomtail was panting and huffing in exhaustion. He couldn't believe it. These eight trespassers were 'actually' putting up a fight against him, and were 'actually' besting him.

Despite this, there was no way Gloomtail was going to go down that easily. Not without a fight, at least. He had yet another attack that could make this battle fall in his favor.

"Gwuhhh..." Gloomtail huffed. "You are not the easy prey you appear to be..."

"Had enough yet?" Andrew asked with a sneer. "Do you finally get the message that I'm not to be underestimated, Gloomtail?"

"Bah..." Gloomtail sneered back. "I would never be able to show my face again if I was bested by you whelps..."

"Well I hate to disappoint, but us 'whelps' are gonna best you anyway, whether you like it or not," Andrew retorted.

"Not if I can help it," Gloomtail growled darkly. "...So I will show you the true extent of my power!"

In a matter of seconds, Gloomtail inhaled and took a deep breath as he was charging up power for his next attack. All eight of them could see some lime-green poisonous gas leaking from his nostril and his maw. And that meant they were in for it now.

"Goombella? Is that the Megabreath attack that you mentioned earlier?" Andrew had to ask her.

"Yes! And it looks like we're about to get obliterated by it!" Goombella screamed. "We'll be poisoned to death for sure! That is so gnarly!"

Andrew then needed a second to think as he recalled what Goombella said earlier. To make sure that all eight of them were safe, they would have to do what he insisted that they do.

"OK. Here's the plan," Andrew declared. "I want all of you except for Vivian to grab a hold of me!"

Except for Vivian, all of them wasted no time in grabbing a hold of Andrew, who then turned to face his Shadow Siren friend.

"All right, Vivian! You know what to do!" Andrew yelled. "Use your Veil ability on us!"

"Got it, Andrew," Vivian nodded with no hesitation as she grabbed a hold of Andrew.

In a matter of seconds, she performed her Veil move by dragging Andrew and the others into the safety of the shadows with her. As soon as they were safely in the shadows, Gloomtail decided to demonstrate a piece of his true and raw power to them, oblivious to the fact that they were hiding in the shadows.

"MEGABREATH!" Gloomtail roared before opening his mouth.

With that, he unleashed his Megabreath from his mouth. It was lime-green, and it took the shape of a thick poisonous gas cloud of some kind, as it managed to strike a good radius of the room that was surrounding Gloomtail.

Everything that was in the Megabreath's path would've been completely obliterated if there was more stuff in the spacious empty room. And of course, Andrew and the others had safely avoided the attack thanks to Vivian's Veil.

Moments later, Gloomtail was finished with the attack and closed his mouth, with the Megabreath attack ceasing its fire.

"Gwah ha!" Gloomtail cackled before asking haughtily. "Do you understand my true power now?"

By now, Vivian brought herself and the others back to the surface, seeing that the Megabreath attack had come to an end. Andrew wasted no time in commenting on it in return.

"Oh yes. We understand your true power all right," Andrew told him dryly. "But that's still not enough to stop us!"

"You said it, Andrew!" Vivian agreed with him as she sank into the shadows again.

Once she reappeared in front of Gloomtail, she then decked him again with her Shade Fist, leaving behind another nasty burn on his head.

"Awesome! Way to go, Vivian!" Andrew cheered which got Vivian to blush. "Now allow me to do the honor!"

Andrew then dashed over again and jumped into the air. He then clonked Gloomtail on the head with his right foot to unleash another Power Jump attack. Gloomtail howled in agony as Andrew then went and punched him right in the snout before he did an acrobatic flip through the air and landed on his feet.

Gloomtail was huffing and coughing at this as Goombella then walked over and dished out another Multibonk attack, hitting him at least 9 times. Once she was done, she flipped through the air and made her way back onto the solid ground. By now, the effects of Power Lift have worn off, causing Andrew and his friends to have their attack and defense to be reverted to normal.

By this point, Gloomtail was nearing exhaustion and defeat, unable to grasp the thought of how powerful these eight trespassers were. The only thing he could do was continue to fight back until he eventually would drop.

"Mmmmph..." Gloomtail moaned. "How can this be..."

From there, Gloomtail then tried to use his Chomp attack on Koops, as he planned on making him into a Koopa dish. Koops jumped back away from him before retreating into his shell.

In a matter of seconds, Koops rammed himself into Gloomtail's right paw with his Power Shell attack. Gloomtail yowled in pain as Koops did his breakdance routine to get out of the way in time.

Flurrie then soared through the air and landed on Gloomtail's snout with her Body Slam attack, squashing his snout just slightly as he felt more pain from that attack. As soon as she did another pose for Andrew, she floated out of the way just in time for Gloomtail to attack again.

He was now about to use his Stomp attack with his right paw on Yoshiam. Unfortunately, Yoshiam was a step ahead of him as he jumped out of the way and managed to land on his paw.

With good speed aiding him, Yoshiam then ran across his leg and got onto Gloomtail's back. Gloomtail didn't even feel his presence on his back until it was too late.

Yoshiam then flutter-jumped into the air before he unleashed another Ground Pound attack square in the face. He lashed at him six times in a row before jumping off the dragon's head, and back onto the ground.

Gloomtail was groaning in so much pain, that he didn't even notice Vivian unleashing her Fiery Jinx on him yet again with the wave of her right index finger. Once more, his head was engulfed in flames, leaving behind a nasty burn in its wake.

Bobbery then approached Gloomtail and lit his fuse as he then marched over to Gloomtail's right paw. After flashing bright red, Bobbery unleashed his Bomb attack on the paw, impaling some more damage to the dragon.

"Great job, Bobbery," Andrew gave him a thumbs up as Bobbery regenerated and landed right near the muscular man. "Well Ms. Mowz, looks like you're up again."

Ms. Mowz simply nodded as she walked up before jumping onto Gloomtail's snout, where she then approached his face. In a matter of seconds, Ms. Mowz unleashed her Love Slap attack, smacking him square in the face three times before whipping him with her tail.

Gloomtail howled once again in agonizing pain as he was blinded while Ms. Mowz jumped off of him. Andrew noticed that Gloomtail was pretty much on his last leg. It would only take one more attack to finish him off once and for all. And it was something Ms. Mowz took notice of too.

"Hmm mmm mmm, well Andrew, my sweet," Ms. Mowz motioned him to the nearly defeated Gloomtail. "Perhaps it'd be best for you to get to deliver the final blow, no?"

"Sure," Andrew smiled as Gloomtail came to his senses. "Time to finish this up!"

"Oh no! I won't go down like this..." Gloomtail took a deep breath and prepared to unleash another Poison Breath on Andrew. "If I go down...you're coming with ME!"

With that, Gloomtail went to achieve his last hope of saving himself by unleashing his Poison Breath on Andrew. Sadly, Andrew activated his Ultra Boots and was able to Spring Jump out of the Poison Breath's destructive path.

He skyrocketed through the air until he was above Gloomtail. From there, he aimed his feet towards the dragon as he collided with Gloomtail's head with a stomp, before he jumped up, spun around, and landed on his face with his butt one last time.

Seeing that he had done enough damage, Andrew decided to jump down as he landed on the ground where his seven friends were. He made it just in time to see Gloomtail fall in defeat for themselves.

Gloomtail couldn't believe it. These eight trespassers were successful in besting him. Could this be the same kind of defeat that his younger sister was bestowed at the hands of these fools? Regardless, he knew that his time was up. And this meant that he was going to be reuniting with his sister soon enough.

To show that he was going down, Gloomtail started bobbing his head left to right, with his tongue hanging out as his eyes started spinning. It's as if he was getting dizzy.

"No... No... Is it true?" Gloomtail then let out his final breath by asking a final question. "Can I...expire?"

"I guess dragons can expire like everyone else," Andrew admitted with a shrug of his shoulders.

Then just like Hooktail, Gloomtail let out an agonizing roar before flipping over in the air, as he was about to crash down on the ground of his room. Andrew was alerted about this as he had to issue it to his friends.

"Guys, we better get out of the way," Andrew proclaimed. "Gloomtail is about to crush us!"

With that, the eight of them zipped out of the way, just in time for Gloomtail to crash land on the ground. This caused a massive tremor to shake throughout the whole palace, and it was likely that the area where the Thousand-Year Door was felt it too.

---

As soon as the tremor settled down, Andrew rushed out of the safety zone and went toward where the defeated Gloomtail was lying. Goombella, Koops, Flurrie, Yoshiam, Vivian, Bobbery, and Ms. Mowz followed right behind him as they saw Gloomtail for themselves.

Gloomtail was lying on his back while twitching his back left leg. This was the second time Andrew took down a giant dragon, and this time he had seven friends aiding him instead of two. This was quite an accomplishment.

"All right, guys! We did it!" Andrew gave them a thumbs up. "We managed to take down Gloomtail!"

"You betcha!" Goombella beamed and winked. "If we could take down Hooktail, then Gloomtail was 'totally' no match for us!"

"Ummm... Wow. I'm feeling brave all of a sudden," Koops had to admit. "Guess taking out two dragons in one journey can do that to a fellow, huh?"

"My, my! I'm feeling simply divine from what we have just achieved!" Flurrie boomed joyously. "We shall forever remember this moment where we managed to prevail against that dragon scoundrel and slayed him before he had the chance to devour us. We mustn't let that happen to us! So that's why I am overjoyed by what we have accomplished!"

"Aw yeah! Taking down that dragon was a blast!" Yoshiam did a fist pump with his right hand. "I had always thought about how rad it'd be if I was to take down a dragon! And now I was able to! It's all thanks to you, Presto! That was an awesome fight, dude!"

"Great job, Andrew. We sure took care of that," Vivian proclaimed shyly. "Now I don't suppose Gloomtail will be hurting anyone anymore, since we put him down. And now we're safe from him. And I was happy to aid you when you needed it, Andrew."

"Aye! I must say, this'll probably be the last of which this Gloomtail cad dares to trifle with the likes of us," Bobbery admitted. "In any case, I am most certainly cock-a-hoop about our latest triumph over this dragon that we vanquished! It does do us some good, knowing that he won't be imperiling anyone else, eh?"

"Hmm mmm mmm, was there any doubt for us?" Ms. Mowz asked slyly and rhetorically. "We seemed to have taken care of this matter fairly quickly. And for that matter, Gloomtail has been defeated thanks to us."

"Yeah," Andrew then turned to face the defeated Gloomtail. "Now that we got straight out, now we can...huh?"

Andrew then trailed off and took notice of something happening to Gloomtail. His friends noticed it too as they looked at what was going on with the defeated dragon.

Something ended up crawling up Gloomtail's gut and made its way up his throat. Once that something was now in his mouth, Gloomtail spat it out of his mouth, as the object landed on the ground.

This time, it wasn't a Koopa shell. Instead, it was a giant treasure chest, which got Andrew a little perplexed by this.

"Huh?" Andrew tilted his head at this. "A treasure chest? Wonder what's inside of it."

"Only one way to find out, right Andrew?" Goombella encouraged him. "Go ahead and open it and see what's in it!"

Andrew nodded as he approached the treasure chest and opened it up for himself. Once he opened it, he leaned in and grabbed what was inside of it. It was 'apparently' called a Star Key, and it took the shape of a small star-shaped stone that was yellow. Andrew observed it and allowed the others to see it too.

"It appears to be some kind of starstone," Andrew mused. "Perhaps it's a kind of Star Key for something important."

"You betcha, Andrew!" Goombella beamed. "Might as well figure out what it goes to, huh?"

Andrew nodded and did some thinking. Before he could say anything else, Ms. Mowz smelled something in the air and realized that there were some valuables nearby. And the valuables in question were just beyond the wall on the other side that had a crack on it.

"Hmm, wait! What's this? Sniff. Sniff. Sniff." Ms. Mowz sniffed as she approached the cracked wall for herself. "Andrew dearie? I'm sensing something valuable just past this cracked wall! You just need to blast a hole in this wall to get by!"

"Very good, Ms. Mowz! And I know how we can bomb a hole in that wall too," Andrew then turned to face Bobbery. "Bobbery, if you wouldn't mind doing the honor for us?"

"I would be honored, old boy," Bobbery nodded as he marched over to the cracked wall while lighting his fuse. "I'll be sure to remove this cracked wall in a jiffy!"

In a matter of seconds, Bobbery unleashed his Bomb attack, which successfully created a hole in the wall where the crack was. And it was big enough for all eight of them to fit through.

"OK! Now we're in the clearing," Andrew declared as Bobbery regenerated and landed next to Andrew. "Let's go check this out for ourselves."

The seven of them obliged as they went through the tunnel passageway until they ended up in a secret room that was massive. There were two ?-blocks in the secret room, and Andrew was convinced that those were the sources that Ms. Mowz was picking up.

The one on the left contained an Ultra Shroom. 'And' the one on the right contained a Jammin' Jelly. Andrew managed to claim them both as he put both of them into his backpack for safekeeping.

"Wow," Vivian admitted. "Who would've thought that we'd find such rare items such as those in here?"

"No kidding," Yoshiam gave Andrew a thumbs up. "Score! We hit the jackpot with those babies! Way to go, Presto!"

"Mercy me! Those are certainly lucky finds, indeed," Flurrie gushed. "We are very fortunate to have stumbled upon them, aren't we darling?"

"Yeah, they were lucky finds for us, weren't they?" Andrew proclaimed. "And I think they'll be useful to us later on."

"Can't argue with you there," Koops agreed. "Sure look useful to me, too."

"Anyway Andrew, a hunch had just occurred to me!" Goombella felt like sharing with him. "The Star Key that you obtained from defeating Gloomtail, I'm 'totally' sure that it goes to the massive building we saw in the palace garden earlier! Might be a good idea to check the building out for ourselves, don'tcha think?"

"Good idea, Goombella. That will be our next destination to head to in this palace," Andrew nodded and motioned his friends to follow him. "Let's go check that strange building out, guys."

"All right!" All seven of them cheered simultaneously as they followed Andrew out of the secret room.

They then walked around the defeated Gloomtail as they made their way out of his room and back to the palace garden where that strange building was located.

They were completely unaware of the scheme that was going on in the shadows, and that they were being played for fools. But it's something that they'll find out about soon enough. And once they do find out about it, it would be too late. That's for sure...

---

END OF CHAPTER 75...

All right! That's it for this chapter! Whew! This was yet ANOTHER long chapter. But hey! There were a lot of important details that I had to add here, and they involved Andrew revealing his past to his friends, along with the truth of what he was 'really' going through when Doopliss stole his name and identity. Still, I hope you all enjoyed it, even with its massive length.

Still, I hope I didn't overdo it with the angst here. As I've been depicting here, Andrew doesn't want anyone to feel pity for his problems or circumstances, nor does he want anyone to feel sorry for his rather upsetting past. Still, he had enough courage to come out and finally tell them about it.

Yeah, as for Koops's mother, it was something that came to mind. His mother never appeared in the game and she wasn't even mentioned. So I'm willing to guess that Hooktail must've eaten her and Koops decided not to bring her up. And it would be the driving force for Koopley to want to battle Hooktail himself. I hope this makes sense, especially since one other fanfiction did something like this in more explicit details.

There are many other aspects that I added, such as Bobbery attending the funeral for his dear sweet Scarlette. But those are 'basically' one note and stuff that I add to give more depth to the characters. I hope you all can understand that.

Yeah. There's no doubt that Andrew's seven friends are gonna stick with him no matter what. And they have displayed true loyalty to him for what he had done for them in the past. I'm glad that I was able to depict that here.

As for the fight with Gloomtail, I think I did a good job of depicting it here, given the circumstance of Andrew's past being revealed to his friends here. Especially the revelation that Hooktail is a girl. It was still fun to write out the fight.

Anyway, the next chapter will involve the heroes exploring the Riddle Tower and having to solve some riddles to obtain keys and reveal a secret passageway. All the while 'Professor Frankly' lets someone know about how Gloomtail has been defeated through a talkie, and some plan is in the works, right under Andrew's nose.

And a few other things will occur. How will this go for Andrew and his friends? Read and find out next time, readers!

For now, only if you like, you can leave a review for this chapter, and what you thought about it overall.

Otherwise, there's nothing else for me to say. So until next time, I do hope you all will take care of yourselves. And on that note, thank you once again for reading, everyone!