Downfall of the Mushroom Kingdom

by geddiknight

As it feels like the worst is behind her, Now-Queen Peach resumes rule of the Mushroom Kingdom. Sadly, due to the costs of having upheld the Ultimate DoubleDash Tournament, everything seems to only be getting worse. With Rates of Violence reaching new highs and rates of approval dropping by the day, can Queen Peach handle her self-inflicted destruction? (Now rated M)

6. The Mushroom Accords Ver-2

Downfall of the Mushroom Kingdom

The Mushroom Accords 2.0

A/N: While Peach isn't currently 'present', we'll be looking at what was happening in the Mushroom Kingdom at the same time. Despite saying things were going to be chronological, we're keeping on pace with the time, just in different parts for different characters.

(In the Narrator's Perspective):

March 12, 2015 – Early Morning

What we see right now is Mario staying in the guest chambers. He never actually went home, for Peach was all that was on his mind for the rest of the evening. While Luigi was occupied elsewhere with Daisy, there was nothing he could use to distract himself. Pauline was miles away, and she wasn't picking up her phone. He knew that something was occupying her, but he wanted to see if she could make any time to speak with him. Perhaps her priorities were set and now that he was linking with Peach again, she didn't see an interest to hang out with him anymore.

He remained in his bed after getting up, debating whether to get out of bed or not. Even a few minutes after waking up, he couldn't stop thinking of Peach.

The time proceeds back a few hours to the night before, right as Peach dismissed Mario. He recalled having the door closed on him that night and contemplating what to do.

"Goodnight Mario." He remembered her addressing him before she was about to close the doors. After he said her goodbyes to her, he went down a few floors. Floor Sixteen: The Upper Guesthouse, a place he had frequently stayed at in the castle. The entire floor was known to him like the back of his mind. He recognised all of the guards, except for one which surprised him. This Toad guard wasn't usually on duty here, but it was one he had recognised around the castle before. He was typically a lower floor guard.

"You're the night guard, right?" Mario spoke to the Toad guard after seeing him bow before him. It was good for Mario that he got at least some respect from the Toads nowadays. Maybe they had more respect for him than what they have for Peach. Now that he was partially in charge, the people might have more of an approval for the government.

"I'm here tonight." He remembered the guard say back to him. Mario only nodded back before heading to a spare chamber for him. Thinking about it now, Toads wouldn't usually change their roles and shifts without any higher rank's approval.

Mario wanted to get out of bed now. He had an idea. The face of that Toad bugged him and stayed in his head almost as much as Peach remained in there. That Toad was specifically on duty as a night-watch operating on the ground floor. Mosko was his name, and he shouldn't have been there. While it was still early in the morning, Mario wondered whether he was still on shift or not. After a few minutes of getting dressed back into his yesterday clothes, he decided to head down to the ground floor quickly to find him.

"Mosko!" Mario called out his name while running through the halls of the ground floor hoping to find him. He ran past a few other morning-shift guards and turned a few corners to eventually find him. The Toad was looking very tired, but he noticed Mario approaching him.

"Hey, am I finishing early today?" Mosko yawned, waving back to Mario. "I heard the news. You're kind of in charge, right?"

"Yeah, a-kind of." Mario replied, rubbing the back of his head. "Say... you weren't-a patrolling the guest chambers floor last night, right?"

"Nope. I'm always down here." Mosko replied. "Tiko and Koko patrol that floor." This went perfectly with Mario's assumption. What he saw last night on that floor wasn't Mosko, but potentially another spectral figure in disguise.

"Thanks." Mario replied. "Keep on alert every night; we've got a bit of an issue. Gather round, people." He looked around and beckoned the other Toad guards near the main entrance. There were a few of them including Mosko and his other night-patrol partner, armed up and equipped with armour and heavy spears.

"What's the problem? Has the darkness returned?" A few of them started questioning Mario and spiralling into doubt and worry.

"Has the Queen forsaken us?" Another cried.

"No! It's far less dangerous than that." Mario tried to calm them down. "We do have a minor threat though. Please remember your duties and roles, for there is a mysterious figure lingering in these halls. It takes disguises, and last night, I saw you in the halls of the sixteenth floor. You claimed not to be there last night, so it clearly has to be the figure in disguise. It may very well be the same one we saw earlier in the day at Mushroom Yards." The Toad guards kept muttering amongst themselves, some felt cowardly and others didn't believe him.

"A shapeshifter? One wouldn't be lingering around here if it wasn't for violence!" He heard one of the Toads cry out. "Any shapeshifter is a dangerous one!"

"Mario's just seeing things. Don't worry, it's not real." Another one said. "He's just crazy because Peach is feeling crazy as well."

"No, believe me. Why would I lie to you?" Mario tried to convince the others.

"No, he's right." Mosko spoke up. "Believe him. I... just, last night I kept having visions while I was awake and they were distracting me. I kept having visions of being on the sixteenth floor for some reason, and it was really creepy. I tried to ignore and forget about it, but only kept getting worse." The other guards began to listen to Mosko. Mario also observed his speech. They centred him in a circle of themselves, all hearing in.

"What else do you remember?" Mario asked.

"I remember little, but I remember places." Mosko said back, recalling more of last night. "I remember going upstairs to the highest floor and... dragging something with me. I was trying to enter Peach's headquarters. I would never do such a thing." He paused for a little while longer. The other Toads were all silent, paying close attention to him. Mario felt worried. All he could think of was things that could have happened to Peach.

"What else?" Mario asked again.

"I... went inside, but... she wasn't in the room. That's when it ended. After that, my mind was pretty clear back then and ever since I've been normal." Mosko shook his head, worried about himself. "I'm not going crazy, am I? I don't want to be like Queen Peach." A few of the nearby Toads laughed a little with him.

"Our boy Mosko is going to be fine." One of the guards replied. "Mosko would never lie." Mario gave him a nod.

"Continue with your duties. Expect a personal announcement later." Mario said. The guards saluted him before he dashed off again. There were a few things he had in mind now, the first of which being a quick trip back to the top floor of the castle by a lift. Now that he knew somebody went from the sixteenth floor to Peach's headquarters, there was a possibility that someone interacted with whatever this was along the way. The lift called to him on the ground floor, empty for him to get into. He selected the button indicating '20' and waited patiently for the doors to close. It went up swiftly, but began slowing down as he got to the seventh floor. The doors opened and he saw two more castle-workers in regular worker clothing.

"Oh, Mr. Mario. You're just the person we need." The first castle-worker addressed him.

"Could you please come with us?" They opened the way out for him, letting him get out of the lift before it would go to close and travel empty up to the top floor.

"What's the trouble, boys?" Mario asked them as he was being escorted by them. "I've got a new issue to fix myself."

"Well we might be able to help you on that if we're thinking of the same thing." The second guard worker to him. "Toadheim will want to speak with you on this matter." Mario upped his walking speed as he got to Toadheim's office. Once again, he met with the newly-elected Master of Security and member of Peach's new council, chosen by Peach herself.

"Mario, I'm so glad you're here." Toadheim saluted him. "Please appoint yourself to my seat. I want you to have a look at something." Toadheim paved the way of the other workers on the floor to let Mario through and walk up to his desk, sitting higher above everyone else's. There were multiple screens at his desk, with most of them being security camera screens.

"I kind of know what's happening here. Mosko told me about it. He claims it wasn't him, and I'm inclined to believe him." Mario said back to Toadheim and the two other workers, getting the attention of the rest of the workers in the room. They all turned in their chairs and faced him, all ears for him and all eyes on him. "We've got a spectral figure, disguising as other people. It's not as bad as the night before last, but it's a consistent problem."

"Have a look at this." Toadheim pointed Mario to one of his screens. He began displaying a recording of a security camera showing footage of one of the hallways on the top floor. On one end of it was a corner next to the entrance to Daisy's chambers and Peach's headquarters, and along it was also the doors to the left-side staircase. The camera didn't show footage of the end of the hallway where the left-side elevator was, but Toadheim had other cameras for the blank spots. Mario watched the screen and saw the recording play. There was one guard patrolling the floor, and he walked along the hallway. He randomly stopped at some point during the early hours of the night and turned to the staircase entrance. Mario and Toadheim watched the recording show the guard going through the doors. A minute later fast-forwarded with controls, the two see another Toad come out of the staircase entrance, heading towards Daisy's chambers. He skipped them and went straight for Peach's headquarters. "I... I thought that was Jutu." Toadheim worried.

"Fast forward a little." Mario pointed to the screen, watching the time go by and seeing the Toad eventually come out of the room and walk past the corridor corner to head to Peach's bedroom, out of the way of the camera's vision. "That isn't Mosko."

"It is Jutu." Toadheim felt corrected, believing himself more. "Here's where it gets weird." Toadheim changed cameras and got to a camera showing the opposite side of the corner. This part was the middle corridor of the top floor, stretching from one corner to the other and featuring the doors to the balcony. They both watched the Toad guard which they both believed looked more like Jutu the top floor guard than Mosko. He went all the way to the next corner and Toadheim changed the camera once again. This time, they could see the right-side lift at the end and the doors to Peach's bedroom on the side. The guard knocked on the doors and waited for a few seconds before entering the room anyway, despite there being a 'do not enter' sign pasted onto it. Toadheim pressed another on his keyboard, massively accelerating the speed at which the footage played. It went by almost an hour every second, and there was no activity with the door to her bedroom at all.

"He never leaves." Mario said at the screen.

"We were originally going to file for an arrest for Jutu, but Toadasha wasn't too sure about it. She was sceptical about it too, but she didn't say much as she went straight to sleep a few minutes later. I didn't want to tell Peach, because... you know... do not enter and all." He gasped at Toadheim. "We sent a few up to the bedroom but we didn't see either of them in there. We were going to send out an emergency call to the Brigade and the Patrol, but we then found something else only ten minutes later." Toadheim went back to the other camera and showed the view of Daisy's bedroom and Peach's headquarters. They now saw Peach in different clothes, walking along the corridor to her bedroom. She stayed in there for about a minute before coming out with a necklace in her hand. She was also talking to herself loudly in the corridor, thinking to herself about how she was wasting time. Mario felt initially confused, but she could tell that it was genuinely her.

"Good job." Mario patted Toadheim. "I'm being serious. That's definitely her and you saved a lot of people on their sleep. Peach told me about her actions and taking time off to recover, I know what she went in there for."

"Do you know what's happened to her?" Toadheim asked him.

"She's fine, at least."

"There's only one problem, we haven't heard from Jutu since last night."

"That's what I was going to go there for." Mario looked at the screens, feeling very concerned. "Go back to when Jutu comes out of the stairs." He ordered. "Zoom in on his face as well." He watched Toadheim rewind another ten minutes to when he first saw the Toad guard come out of the stairs. The Toad kept his face very covered and hidden out of sight, except for a small instance as he opened the door. Toadheim paused the recording and zoomed in on his face.

"That's Mosko."

"That's a spectre pretending to be Mosko. That means... when he entered the headquarters, he shapeshifted into Jutu." Toadheim leaned back from the computer and took off his Mushroom hat, taking heavy breaths in stress.

"This is going to be very difficult to handle." He looked back at Mario.

"The best thing we can do is keep Peach out of the population." Mario thought. "Whatever that spectre is doing here, it's looking for Peach and luckily he missed her by a narrow window of ten minutes."

"Well, where is Peach now if she said she was taking time away from leadership?" He asked Mario back, growing more concerned for his workers and his department.

"I'm not too sure, but whatever it is she is gone for, she doesn't want anyone to follow her. Wherever she goes, danger goes too." Toadheim buried his face in his Mushroom cap, sobbing at the worry of Peach.

"Everyone back to work." Toadheim ordered his department, getting up from his seat and walking out of the room with Mario.

"I need to go to the top floor to check up on Jutu. Let's hope that's still around, because on the bright side, Mosko is. Hopefully he is too." Mario led Toadheim to the lift and they took it up together. They said nothing to each other on the way up, but when it opened on the twentieth floor, they both hurried over to the headquarters. It was empty. Daisy's room was also empty. Peach's room was further around the other side of the floor, but that too was empty when they arrived.

"The staircase." Toadheim reminded Mario. "Left side." They both hurried over to the staircase and opened up the doors together. Nothing seemed suspicious and out of the ordinary. Mario stood near the edge and was able to see many parts of other steps going all the way down to the bottom floors.

"Nothing here." Mario said back to Toadheim.

"Wait." He stopped him. "The window. It's open." He pointed over to one of the intricately decorated architrave, bending out to where the window was placed. Half of it was indeed open and Mario tried his best to get over towards it to have a look outside. He could see most of Mushroom City from this viewpoint, but the look down below was what mattered. He could see something in the grass down there... and it looked like a body.

"Toadheim, assemble the council." He looked back at him, getting off of the windowsill. "We-a have-a dead body." Mario ordered the Toad away while he could get another look. There wasn't an easy way to get to look out of the window as there was no ground before it until the stairs below. He had to climb across the railings to the small area along the windowsill where he could it. He held the window while it was still open and looked down to get a closer look. It was definitely in fact a body down there, and it had bled through the night. Mario climbed out of the window and slid down the side of the building, doing a wall jump once he descended to the bottom to keep his gravitational force low. Now that he stood on the grass, cleaning his gloves from scraping the castle walls, he got a closer look at the body. This was the body of Jutu, and it suffered multiple broken bones and interior wounds as well as an open wound at the chest where most of the blood bled from. He was about to move the body around to assess the wounds, but upon looking at the main one in the middle of his body, he backed away. The wound was festering through the dead Toad's clothing, even making a faint sound of rot. The edges of the wound were also slightly purple; something Mario had seen before from Peach. The difference was Peach is alive and this Toad is not. All he could think of to do with the body was an autopsy, but it was best to leave it where it is. It was not worth the risk for him to move the body without proper medical equipment. For some reason, this one death in the bounds of Toad Town felt worse than the many he witnessed two nights before. This was something he would have to tell the council about. A meeting wouldn't be at least for another hour since Toad wasn't present in the city.

Mario rushed around the castle walls back to the entrance. He alerted some of the daytime castle-guards to block of access to the near-town-side of the castle and leave the body where it was. No citizen of Toad Town was allowed to see this.

A few minutes later, Mario called Daisy and Luigi, letting them know about the incident and summoning them to the castle grounds. Their time of flirty fun was over and for Mario the other two had a Kingdom to run in Peach's absence. One thing he definitely didn't want to happen was have Peach hear about this eventually. She would be just as bad as any other citizen, having more fear inflict damage to their minds. Mario waited by the picnic bench while Luigi and Daisy returned to the castle. The ground floor castle-guards did their work in sealing off the area behind him. Everything seemed to be going just fine in terms of progress while Peach was gone. Hopefully, every Toad in other departments of government would be able to handle their business without Peach's influence. Now the opinion of the town started to get into Mario's mind as well, but he wasn't experienced and for that, resilient. That worry can wait.

Luigi and Daisy finally arrived and before Toad did too. He was surprised to excited looks on their faces. At least, it might help him feel more relaxed.

"You've summoned us to work, brother." Luigi cheered to him upon arrival, offering a handshake to which Mario gladly accepted.

"It's great to see you two come so quickly. We're not too used to this, so we need to handle it well." Mario replied politely.

"So... another poor soul met their end last night?" Daisy questioned based off of the phone call. "I'm sorry to hear it."

"I need to show you two something. Follow me." Mario turned serious quickly, leading the two towards the blocked off part in between the walls of the castle on the left side and the hedge-fence of Toad Town. Getting past some tape and some newly-placed fencing, Mario showed Luigi and Daisy the body of the Toad castle-guard.

"Oh, yuck." Daisy looked away quickly for a few seconds. "What happened?"

"He took a fall." Mario got their attention and pointed all the way to the top of the castle. "We're inclined to believe that he was pushed off of the top window of this tower. Surveillance footage makes us believe that the culprit is a spectral figure, most likely the same one that pretended to be Toadsworth yesterday."

"Mamma mia." Luigi gasped. "A recurring criminal. Maybe this was what caused the power cut?" He reminded Mario of something else that he thought was completely different. He thought about it for a second in case the two cases had anything in common, but he didn't believe it.

"No, I doubt it." Mario replied. "We need to go inside. I need you two by my side at the council chambers. We're having a meeting held inside and Toad has been summoned to attend as well. You'll likely see him inside. Let's-a go."

...

Mario opened up the doors to the council chamber, situated on the first floor opposite the throne room. For so long both rooms felt empty. Now at least one was filled again. Here, they saw large table newly designed for occasions like this. There were several seats grouped in sections. Each master or mistress of a government sector occupied a section where they and a few others in their department sat together. To their left they saw Toad, giving them a greeting. He was sitting next to Toadette on his left and Toadsworth on his right, with two more Toads on their other respective sides. A few more seats along was Toadasha and her representatives. This was the first time Mario and Luigi saw her as the newly-elected Mistress of Coin. Following them was the centre of the table where they were to sit. A few empty seats occupied the area. On the other side were Toadheim and some of his department workers as the Master of Security section, and then Tranko, the 'new Captain Toad', the Captain of the Toad Brigade, with some of his highest ranking officials including Toadskip, who Luigi recognised. Right in front of the three were some empty seats as well with only one label on their part of the table that read 'Master/Mistress of The People'. Mario indicated Luigi and Daisy to go to the other side of the table to sit down in the seats next to where Peach would have sat. It was a shame for all of them that she wouldn't be able to attend their very first council meeting in this new chamber. All they needed to do was to wait for the people's representative to arrive with their group and then he could start addressing the issue at hand. He went over to join Luigi and Daisy and noticed that they were both sitting on opposite sides of the seat in the middle. He stopped for a second.

"Daisy... you should sit here. You're her most trusted." He whispered to her whilst the other groups were still muttering amongst themselves.

"She'd want you to take her seat in her absence. Don't worry." She replied back softly. Mario nodded and agreed to it, getting ready to sit down on the larger seat. He coughed lightly, hoping to get the people's attention. It followed with a few seconds of complete silence.

"Peach hasn't yet appointed a representative of the people." Toadasha spoke out first, informing Mario, Luigi and Daisy.

"Oh, right." Mario smiled and thanked her. "Anyways... Some of you might not know why you have been summoned here today, but we have a significant danger imposed on these very premises in Peach's absence. Does anybody here not know what I mean when I refer to the terms 'spectral figure' or 'shapeshifter'?" He looked around the room and only saw one hand up from one of Tranko's representatives. Mario acknowledged the Toad's hand and nodded to him.

"I mean... I know what it is but it's not the first time I've heard the term get mentioned. I've been told about it from somewhere else." The Toad replied to him.

"That's good at least. We'll get back to it later. Anyways, for those who haven't heard about it yet, Jutu of the Toad castle-defence was found dead outside the leftmost tower of the castle after taking a fall all the way from the top. The reason why we mentioned a spectral figure is because according to our security footage, we believe that he was murdered and pushed out of the window of the tower by such a figure that had disguised as Mosko prior to this. This figure was then seen patrolling through the top floor of the castle in the late evening hours of last night, taking the form of Jutu shortly after. The figure then disappeared from the premises shortly after and hasn't been found since. What we can learn from this are two important things. One is that the spectral figure matches the same features that we saw in Toadsworth when a figure disguised itself as him in Mushroom Yards yesterday afternoon. Two is that when the spectral figure takes a disguise of a victim, the said victim becomes somewhat aware about it. We learned that Toadsworth's behaviour drastically changed yesterday when the figure pretended to be him, and Mosko had reported seeing visions of exactly where the figure went to last night. I request for a message to be sent out to the Toad Brigade to be on alert. Though it is unlikely that it might happen, the figure could disguise itself as anybody. Pay extra attention to anyone who has close connections with Peach, for this figure is on the search for her." Mario finished his speech to the council and awaited any questions from them. The groups mostly talked amongst themselves, but he would get a few questions over time.

"Are you implying that we can no longer trust eachother around ourselves?" Toadasha asked the first question to him.

"No. I just want you to be careful. I too witnessed the figure for a little bit last night. At the time, I didn't really know it was a figure, but its behaviour was very different to how the person it disguised as would act. For instance, I saw Mosko on the sixteenth floor when he was never to guard or patrol there. I asked the figure about it and it just eerily smiled, saying that it got moved. It's not stupid, but it might be noticeable." He watched Toadasha go back into a conversation with her colleagues.

"Would you expect this figure to be everywhere in the lands or just here in particular?" Tranko asked on behalf of the Toad Brigade.

"For now, I would say just here, or at least wherever Peach is."

"Do you know where Peach is?" Tranko asked again.

"Not really, but that takes away work for all of us. If we don't know where she is, then the figure probably doesn't know either." Mario watched Tranko shake his head, even getting the attention of Toadasha and the Toad-bankers.

"This isn't right. Our purpose is supposed to be to protect the Queen, yet she is not letting us do that. What should we do otherwise?"

"Not sure what your purpose is?" Luigi spoke in response for Mario. "I suppose we should work on protecting the people then. They matter just as much as she does right now." A few others in the room gasped, all listening to him. Some even applauded. Tranko felt impressed, giving Luigi a firm nod.

"A very good answer." He said. "While you take her responsibilities, it gives us less of a divide upon who we should take care of. Very well said." He made Luigi feel very happy, and with that, Daisy was proud of him.

"Yes, a very good idea." Mario mentioned. "However, the figure still lingers. If we can find this somehow... someway... then we can learn more about it." He got the attention of the room, taking over in speech mode again. He noticed the same Toad from before raise his hand slowly. "Yes, your mention of the figure?"

"This might sound a bit heavy, but the last mention of this spectral figure was in relation to the incident in Nivurbia. I don't know if Peach ever told you guys about this... but a spectral figure was supposedly seen by the few that pursued and tracked Koopak Asquia and his close family to their safe haven there. What I'm trying to say is when I think of spectral figures, I now think of Koopak. We all know what he and his family were like. The truth is... it's even worse."

"Koopak's gone." Daisy said back to the Toad. "Wherever that spectral figure went, it took him with it. Good riddance to him."

"Let's not take our thoughts away from it now. Whether the figure you mention is the same as the one we found here or not, we've still got at least one to deal with." Mario tried to reassure the Toads working in the Brigade, but it didn't seem to satisfy Tranko.

"I can't afford to risk more lives in hunting down this figure. We already have issues of our own concerning actual criminals instead of the ones we can't catch. On top of that, I have to manage the mountains now. Without the Red Martyrs, we're not going to be able to defend if I send nothing. I'm sorry Mario, but the Toad Brigade and Patrol will not be used in tracking down this figure." Tranko broke the news to the three at the front.

"The same goes with us. While we can provide you with our monetary assistance, it will not be much help for you in finding a mystical shapeshifter." Toadasha shook her head and apologised to Mario as well. He then looked towards Toadheim, who felt ready to speak.

"At least... we can provide security and our footage if we ever find any suspicious activity. We'll take extra care and caution in monitoring Mushroom City in particular. If we even spot the slightest supernatural movement, we will let you know." At least that was good news for Mario and the others. Now, the last person to turn to was Toad. While he sat silently with Toadette and Toadsworth, just seeing them felt like help to him. He had already seen Toadsworth be affected by this, dating back all the way to the night of the final race. Surely they can help them out.

"Well as for Royal Affairs..." Toad began. "...There's not that much I can help you with. All we can really do is set out new laws, but with criminals and mystical beings, they don't obey the laws." That gave Mario an idea. He was happy that Toad said that.

"If we can separate those who obey the law from those who don't, then we can separate those who are genuinely themselves from those who aren't." He said back to Toad, loud enough so that the others could listen. "We've got some changes to do while these threats are present." He looked back to the rest of the people in the room and felt ready to conclude the council meeting.

"You want to commit more to this problem because its bothering Peach a little? This seems very selfish if you ask me." Toad interrupted Mario, stopping him from making his announcement to the people.

"The rest of the departments are already doing what they can to keep things secure. The bank department are dealing with returning the funds back to the people and for those that need it the most. The Toad Brigade and Patrol will be reinforcing the borders in an attempt to stop the Koopas from the north from invading, and the department of security will be keeping the eyes in the sky and on the ground for the other towns in these lands. We will have everything under control, what matters to us at the moment are the capital and those living there." Mario responded back to Toad before getting ready to address everyone else. "On that note, this meeting has finished." The Toads in the other departments nodded back and thanked Mario, getting up and leaving to go to their respective areas. Toad's group stayed seated, being hinted to by Mario and Luigi to the side. Toadheim's group stayed as well however, despite not being indicated to leave appropriately by Mario. They sat and waited for him to speak again, expecting him to say something back to Toad and Toadette.

"I've got an idea." Mario said to Luigi and Daisy, expecting the others to listen in to him. "We can either track these spectral figures around, or we could implement some changes in the local area to lure them out."

"What do you mean by luring them out? I'm not liking the idea of this." Toad complained back at him.

"Well you won't have to worry because it won't concern you now that you've moved out of the capital." Mario wasn't happy at all with how Toad was responding back to him. Ever since the end of the races, he felt like Toad thought that Peach was to blame for the faults of the ending and the unfortunate passing of Toadbert. Though the two were very close, it made Toad have a lot less respect for her which passively redirected at Mario, infuriating him because he thought that she would always do what was best for everyone. "These changes I had in mind would only affect the capital, but since you're going to be very aggravated about change, then I may have to make it everywhere so that it's fair." He shut Toad up.

"What do you plan on doing?" Luigi asked Mario. "A new law set?"

"I want to implement a curfew while these dark, dangerous things are at bay."

"Oh brilliant." Toad complained again, even annoying Toadette a little. "You want to put more fear into the people. Freedom is what we want, which is why I moved. Imposing curfews will only make people hate it more and lose respect for the crown. If there was a representative of the people, he'd certainly disagree with you."

"Talk about freedom, I don't feel very free with you around dictating everything that we do. I was never up for moving, but I did it anyway for you." Toadette snapped back at him, catching his attitude by surprise. He was startled. He turned around to look back at her with less of an angered face.

"You never said anything about it when I made the decision!"

"Oh brother, you never listen, do you?" Mario witnessed the two get into an unexpected argument, making Toadsworth feel discomforted and anxious as well as making the other three feel very awkward.

"I'm trying to assist what's best for the people but we've got humans trying to tell us what to do, yet again!" Toad complained again to Toadette.

"Toad, these aren't Earth-humans, it's Peach and Mario! We've been loyal friends to them for years, and our families have always been close to them. Why have you changed all of a sudden? It's... disturbing." Toadette replied to him.

"Oh, Toadette. Don't give me that talk." He crossed his arms and looked away from her.

"Toads, please!" Luigi tried to calm the pair of them. "Now's not the time for arguments. You can settle that when you get home."

"You got me all the way from Toogle for this waste of time. I never should have agreed to Peach to be on this council. It's only going to make me worse than how she is already." Toad kept on complaining, annoying the others and Toadette even more.

"Oh, stop it! You're acting like a damn child! Six months ago you were happy with everyone here and your job but as soon as times get tough you don't want to change for it? You're making so much up, it's untrue." Toadette growled back at him, provoking more distress.

"Alright, I'll separate you two if you won't get along." Daisy got up from her chair and walked over to them. "Toad, apologise to Toadette now."

"Daisy." Mario grabbed Peach from the side and pulled her away from the two. "We're not here to sort out petty arguing, send them away."

"Alright, true." She turned back to them and grabbed both of them. "Actually, we're not here to listen to this. I request politely that both of you leave. Whether you go together or on your own paths does not matter to me." Daisy pointed the doors out of the council chamber.

"I'll govern everything for us for now." She overheard Toadheim whisper to the rest of his colleagues, sending them off as well but to their offices as opposed to out of the castle.

"Oh my goodness. I'm sorry you've had to witness this, Toadheim." Daisy realised and apologised to him. "We'll get to actual plans very soon."

"No worries, Princess Daisy." He smiled back to her, sitting patiently in his seat as Toad and Toadette left the room. Now, all that were left inside the council chamber were Mario, Luigi, Daisy, Toadsworth, and Toadheim.

"Are you feeling better now that they're gone out of here?" Mario looked back at Toadsworth, noticing that he looked visibly calmer.

"Truly. I didn't expect that much between them." Toadsworth replied.

"There's something fishy about Toad recently. He's become very against us. I don't know what to do about it..." Mario sighed. "...Anyways, I wanted to implement a curfew in Mushroom City to keep our streets empty. Maybe that way we'll be able to find out about the whereabouts of these figures if we see them lurking in the streets at night."

"I don't think we're going to be able to find them that way." Daisy looked back at Mario, moving over to a different seat in the room. "I know it sounds weird, but affecting the people will not affect these figures. Heck, I haven't seen any before yet. I'm still puzzled as to whether they're real or just a faker criminal with a weird niche to his style."

"What if it is something to do with an Earth-human?" Luigi suggested. "Have we heard from any of them since what happened that other night?"

"I don't think so." Mario wondered. "Thinking about it, what if they're all gone as well? That really puts a big issue off of our shoulders."

"Ignore them for now. You've got the Kingdom mostly under control. The biggest threat would be assisting the Red Martyrs. We could get the new trainees in the Brigade to assist them but I guess Tranko and the Patrol have already done that." Daisy slouched in her seat. "Why did Peach leave the responsibilities on us? I don't know how to do any of this as well as she does."

"Me too." Luigi added. "I can't think of anything we can do. Everything really seems to be covered by someone else's job."

"I guess that's why it's run so well..." Mario joked.

"Not quite." Toadheim finally spoke back to them. "I've got an issue I would like to put across to you guys." The other three and Toadsworth looked back at him, ready to listen. "I was a bit weary to mention this, but I roughly know what Peach's intentions are as of recent. I think I know where she is."

"What?" Mario rushed over to Toadheim. "Where is she?"

"She's... out of town." He replied anxiously. "I thought she was always one step ahead of us, so she's taking the threat away from the capital. That's if you assume she's taking the threat knowing it's looking for her. I think it's a good thing; the castle and the capital will be a lot safer."

"We've... we've got to look for her." Mario quickly ran back to the others.

"No." Daisy halted him, shaking her head. This she would not tolerate. "Leave her alone. I trust that what she's doing is for the right reasons and her request to be left alone be kept intact. You're caring too much for her."

"I..." Mario wasn't sure what to do. "I've got to do something... You're right. Everyone can go now. Sorry, I wasted your time." He sat down on the table instead of a chair and looked through his phone, seeing all the sent messages to Peach that he hesitated to delete. She hadn't seen any of them, and that worried him more.

"Right, Luigi, come with me. We've got something else to do." She escorted him out, leaving him full of questions. Toadheim went out through another entrance, returning to the nearest lift to get back to his office. Toadsworth also left, leaving Mario in the room alone.

Late Afternoon

Mushroom Yards, Mushroom City

Daisy took Luigi to the car park outside a place where Peach and the Toads were supposedly banned from. These two weren't on the list thankfully, so Daisy felt like she could finally finish some of the work that Peach started yesterday. This was something she was a lot more interested and curious about. With Peach's absence, she felt like it was acceptable for her to cover for her and do this job herself with a bit of assistance from Luigi. The two followed the steps up to the main entrance, heading through the doorway that didn't have a door. The front waiting room was very empty of things on the walls, surprising her. The only other person in the room was the secretary behind the counter and she wasn't happy to see Daisy and Luigi.

"I hope you're not bringing danger here this time. We've already had an incident here only twenty-four hours ago." The secretary was a bit careful of the two, keeping a glass hatch in between the desk and the other side where the two stood.

"We left no traces." Daisy replied. "We're here to see the three captives on our own behalf. We'll be doing the assessing, not Peach or Mario. We know what the two are like."

"We should be grateful for these times." The secretary joked in a deep, pessimistic tone. "We've only got to deal with one of them around... Anyway, they're to the left, down the hall, and at section C. You can't miss it." The secretary pointed in the direction they needed to go, saying nothing more.

"Thanks." Daisy replied bluntly, taking Luigi with her.

"Oh, wait." The new secretary called them back just before they headed through the corridor. Daisy returned to the desk and watched the secretary slip a sheet of paper through the tiny gap in the glass at the top of the desk. Daisy had a look at it and saw images of three Koopas, each with their name written below. "You might need this, just for guidance." She said again to her. Daisy nodded back, thanked her and took the sheet of paper with her. She showed it to Luigi, letting him distinguish who was who as well. With another minute of walking and getting lost in the Yards building, the three eventually found the chamber they were looking for. What they saw on their right were three separate cells, each housing one of the three Koopas, all without their shells. None of them acknowledged them at first, but as soon as the first one turned, they all did.

Joris Blackley was first, and he was thrilled to see Daisy and Luigi.

"Oh, big score! Toadbert's dead, Toadbert's dead, Toadbert's deaaeeeaaaeed! I killed Toadbert. I killed Toadbert. I killed Toadbert! I wish I killed you all!" He grabbed the poles of his cell wall and danced around the place, taunting the two upon arrival.

"It was me, actually." The two overheard the other male Koopa in the middle cell respond back to Joris. This was Mywithe Unudhu, a name that stood out and one that Daisy recognised as well.

"Shut the fuck up, Mywithe. You're the reason why we're here and not in a boat back to Résethal." Joris snapped back at him, running over to the edge of his cell and attempting to grab Mywithe on the other side.

"I did everything, you dumb retard. The only thing you've accomplished in your shitty life was letting your mute brother die." Mywithe provoked Joris again. Daisy could already tell that he did this to Joris for his own amusement; as a way of easily getting him angry.

"You take that back you fucking bitch. You recruited him to your failure of a takeover of the Takharim." Joris kept his aggression up, shouting back at Mywithe. Daisy was already put off of listening to the two anymore since they would go on to keep arguing with each other. She decided to walk with Luigi to the cell on the end. This was the one that housed Verida, the only Koopa without a known last name. The only other thing known about her was that she came from a place in the north that was too far away for anywhere to have accurate records. It was unknown to any southern company what her details were. The two saw her sitting on the floor, resting against the wall and only a few inches from the metal bars of her front cell wall. She made a small look back at the pair of them, but said nothing.

"How long have they been like this?" Daisy asked Verida, hoping to get anything out of her.

"They've repeated themselves several times." She replied softly and quietly. "Absolute idiots, both of them." Daisy hesitated to feel remorseful for her since she still took part in the power outage and the death of many Toad management crew members.

"Do you know them well by any chance?" Luigi also asked her. Maybe the two could be somewhat cooperative with her.

"Kind of. We were once enemies, but I guess idiots aren't as bad as nemeses." She looked back to the opposite wall, remaining slightly mentally away from the other two. Daisy leaned down and stood closer to her.

"I guess with-."

"Get any closer to me and I'll strangle you through these bars." She crossed her arms, pushing Daisy away.

"You're the one behind bars, Miss." Daisy backed away from her, but instantly got pulled by the leg by the Koopa in the centre cell. As she slid on the floor, she then got grabbed and pulled towards the cells by the neck, with Mywithe digging his sharp Koopa nails into her skin. Luigi grabbed on to Daisy and tried pulling the Koopa's claws away from her throat. He eventually pushed her away, but the side of Daisy's neck started to bleed a little. She kept repeatedly coughing, not being able to say anything.

"Kill him! I want the middle one dead for this!" Luigi ordered, lifting Daisy away. Mywithe growled back at the other two, acting impulsively and licking the small bit of blood that went onto his claw up.

"Haha! Look at you now!" Joris laughed. "They're gonna execute you now." He walked back and rested on the bed in his cell, feeling a lot more relieved about Mywithe.

"They're not going to do shit to me. Don't worry. Southerners are soft. As soon as I'm out of here, I'm going to kill you first." Mywithe threatened Joris now, it had come full circle. Verida didn't bother paying attention to anything that was going on and instead minded her own business.

"G...get help!" Daisy managed to speak after seeing more officers of the building rush into the room. Luigi handed Daisy over to them and noticed that one of them was carrying a pistol on him. Luigi snatched it, startling him.

"Hey!" The Toad operative called out, running back after Luigi. He was too angry, and couldn't afford to risk trying to get it back from him.

"A...aye...Lu-Luigi..." He clenched his fists and held the pistol with two hands, cocking it and pointing it at Mywithe.

"Do it, coward!" The hostile Koopa taunted back, rushing over to the cell bars and trying to break through them.

BANG!

Luigi fired a bullet straight through his chest. The Koopa's expression completely changed as he was shot a second time just below the first shot. He went from looking very menacing and aggressive to looking timid, scared, and frightened all at the same time.

"You... actually..." He started walking backwards slowly, trying to keep his balance upright.

"Mywithe?" Joris also felt a little anxious too, not even being able to see him on the other side. "Mywithe!" Luigi watched as the Koopa eventually fell to the floor, bleeding from both holes in his chest. Luigi's anger quickly ended for a short while until he saw Daisy still being taken away. His anger level went straight up again, realising that she might be fatally wounded by those vicious Koopa claws. He fired one more time at the Koopa's chest, hoping to end him. Mywithe was a very thick-skinned Koopa and pretty sturdy against simple pistol bullets. While he wanted to shoot more at him, he felt like Mywithe would eventually go out in a matter of minutes. Daisy was still on his mind and looking back at her, by her side was where he felt he should be.

"Take this as a warning." He threatened the two other Koopas. While Joris was looking scared, Verida looked completely plain, un-phased. Luigi then went back to the Toad who he took his weapon from and returned it to him. The Toad wasn't happy at all; he rushed over to the corner of the room and pressed an alarm, creating loud noise across all the nearby corridors.

"Bring her outside. Give her space to be patched up!" One of the other agents rallied the others for assistance. As Luigi headed down the corridors to the main entrance, he got brushed by several other medics working at the Mushroom Yards heading to Mywithe's cell. He saw even the secretary trying to assist Daisy. She was still awake, but her ability to speak was heavily affected by the rupture of her throat.

"Oh no!" Luigi rushed out to be by her side. Daisy immediately grabbed his hand with hers, holding it tightly.

"Stay with me, Luigi." Daisy croaked.

"Please refrain from speaking, Princess Daisy. An ambulance is on the way." One of the Mushroom Yards workers tried to calm her down, minimising the bleeding.

"Always." Luigi replied softly, staying by her side outside. "I'm always here for you." He took off his hat and placed it on the side grass.

"I cannot have you here any longer." One of the workers in the Yards pushed Luigi from Daisy, angering him yet again. "Honour of the people compels me to limit your freedoms in this building, just like your brother and the Queen." The Toad stood up to Luigi, staring right into his eyes as he repeatedly pushed him away.

"He's good for a while longer!" Luigi overheard more noise from inside the building before he could say anything else. The sheer thought of the Koopa still alive quaked his legs. His body shivered while his head couldn't stop switching between looking back at the door and trying to check up on Daisy while he was being forcefully dragged off of the premises by more Toads. He completely froze, speechless. All he could do was either watch Daisy get escorted away from him and off the premises towards the nearest ambulance that would soon arrive, or be held back at the sight of the Koopa inside being taken away soon to be sent to a different hospital. It was unrelenting; seeing the princess being dragged away without care. Luigi's anger turned into sadness, his rage being replaced into the form of tears. Just like his brother, he now felt defeated and without the presence of his loved one. Nobody should ever be able to treat any of them in this way.

"Dishonourable people, have they forgotten who we are?" Luigi thought in his mind. "That's it. There's only one way we can sort this out!" He unleashed his strength to try and get the grip of the Toads off of him. "Enough!" He shouted at them. "I'm leaving this place now..."

Early Evening

Peach's Castle, Mushroom City

Luigi arrived back at Peach's Headquarters on the top floor, exactly where he thought Mario would be at this time of day. He stopped just at the door, examining Mario from across the room: the lack of lights on, the open windows, the pages blowing in the wind but held together with clamps placed by him. Only one lamp gave him light on the desk before the map table. Everything in hands reach was written by Mario. What worried Luigi more was the look on Mario's face. A complete resemblance of someone overworked and tired despite not seeing him for only a few hours. Luigi knew that something had to be done for the lack of respect they and the others were getting from everybody in the capital, but this... this looked like too much. He could already tell just by taking a few more steps forward that it was new laws and regulations that Mario was creating, wanting to send them off to be approved, but... who would approve them? Would they even need an approval while Peach was gone?

"Brother... What is this...?" Luigi started walking a little more forward towards his brother, stopping only after a few seconds upon noticing something else worrying him. "Ah! You have-a been sneaking those rolls from Brooklyn again I see?"

"Quit it with the patronising brother. Can't you tell we already have enough on our minds? Can't a plumber relieve some stress every now and then?" Luigi went straight up to Mario and almost swiped the roll hanging from Mario's mouth. Instead, he reached for the lighter on the table and grabbed the packet that Mario was originally using.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt that much." Luigi sighed. "What are you doing here anyway? It looks like you've only read and not written anything out at all."

"I'm troubled brother. I have written... loads... but what do I need to do with this, approve it? It doesn't make sense how Peach did it for all these years." Mario slouched and held out one of the papers that he had been writing on, proofreading all ideas for new rules and regulations in the land. Luigi picked up another from just across the front of the desk and had a look, assuming that they were all written by him. It looked like he had been at it for hours despite only a couple passing by since they last saw each other.

"Maybe Peach is secretly feeling the same way. You both sound like you're disgusted by how the general public have been treating us since the tournament had finished. We let Bowser free and it's only made us look weaker. Forget any signs of us being merciful and fair. They don't seem to care." Luigi put the paper down, not bothered to read at all. He went over to the window and looked back down on the city, smoking more of his recently lit roll.

"Nobody cares about us anymore." Mario growled on his chair. "Everything I did for them was... for nought."

"I don't want to play the devil's advocate here Mario, but... was it for them though?"

(In Luigi's Perspective):

Of course it was for them. It was for everyone. There's definitely a lot that wouldn't be the same if not for our influence against Bowser and the other enemies out there. Now that he's not seen as much as an enemy today, the people do have less of a dependence on us. However, now that we live in these times, all I can think of when it comes to fitting in to such a wide, unpredictable general public is adhering to what it's like on Earth. Even then, many things there are still unpredictable and definitely something I don't want to get my eyes or hands on. I mean... look at him over there. He says he doesn't know what to do but he's back at it again attacking the papers with words to make sentences. One second he's writing, the next second he's at the typewriter trying to formalise everything. I don't know if or when Peach will be back, but she's not going to be impressed to see all of this wasted paper.

"Why does it-a matter if it was for them or not?" Mario complained. His eyes were glued to the sheets on the table in front of him. "The respect is what matters. We have some from the workers... that new Toad Brigade Captain, but it's not enough. We lose the approval of the people and everything will go belly-up." He's not all there in the head. He isn't mentally focused to the point where he doesn't know what he's saying. Mario is anxious, confused and I can tell. He's not really basing his points on anything and it worries me. What if he's become just like Peach? The two are certainly handling their issues differently.

"An incident in the capital and an argument or two with Toad doesn't mean the people are against us, Mario. I know how you feel but the situation is not as bad as you think it is. I mean... the Brigade and Patrol are still operating normally." I reassured him. The best thing I can do is keep his confidence and his mental state up.

"Do you not remember what happened on the streets of Toad Town, brother?" Mario finally looked up at me. "Something well out of our control and on a different level of superiority showed up from nowhere and... smote many of the Brigade; a bloody scene... all because of Rosalina and her dangerous criminal appearing for nothing. The Brigade are not operating as normal, they're operating in fear for their lives!" He was right about that. For sure. I couldn't really argue with him on that either. It's not even about the Earth boys or Tom's friends. They're just a distraction from the real threat. We can't have Zane go anywhere near the Mushroom Kingdom if it means he'll bring life-risking danger with him. It's not about how Bowser won the tournament or how we let some terrorists slip under our radar, it's the fear of magic slaughtering our people as collateral. We lost so many lives that day, and it was enough to make the people lose trust in us. There's no way that any of us can persuade the people that something like that could never happen again as Zane is out of our reach.

"The families of those soldiers we lost that day will never forgive us for letting that happen to them." Mario spoke again, and again, I had nothing to say. I decided to turn away from him and leave him be without my face appearing in his peripheral vision, to look out the open windows and see another angle of the city below. The sun had set and the sky was getting darker. This only meant that the city lights were getting brighter and night life was to commence down below. From here, things looked the same, as if nothing ever happened just a few days ago. I just know that the people down there are not as happy as they used to be. What can I even do about it? Maybe it is best to let them move out to the quieter towns. Distribute the population more evenly, though it might be well-distributed enough already. Just depopulate the capital, reduce the risk of more crime if everything supernatural happens here. I may have to go to the respective department to inquire about certain statistics on that matter, but I'm pretty sure where there are abundances of people, crime is more likely to be present there.

Bzzzzzt!

This better be important. Peach isn't around to take this one.

"Well? Are you going to take it?" Mario looked at me and complained, immediately focusing back on his papers at the table. I walked over to the wall on and picked up the phone placed on the side and awaited the answer from the other end. I dangled the wire and followed it back to the window, staying as far away from Mario as possible.

"Peach's Castle – Urgent Inquiries, Luigi speaking."

"Luigi, it's Muji. Peach was unreachable so we had to call the castle directly." This can't be good. Everything that they're doing right now is all about danger. Hopefully it can't be that bad.

"Yes, it had been announced that Peach would be away for a few days in recovery. What's the issue anyway, everything okay at the borders?"

"We've sealed up Donk City, but in the process of sealing up the tunnel to the South Mountain Village, we came across a Koopa from the other side. We've taken him for questioning but we just wanted to inform the Mushroom Kingdom that things could go unpredictable. He showed up on his own, and doesn't give off much of a Hostile impression."

"That's good news I guess." I replied rather awkwardly. "I'll forward it to Peach when she returns, but unfortunately I don't know that much about whether a Koopa is a hostile or not. I'm sorry I can't be that much use to you."

"We're working with the Brigade as well as we can to make sure the borders are safe. I understand this might not be much to you, but any information we get, we will forward it to you."

"Thank you Muji-." He hanged up very quickly, a complete surprise to me. I noticed Mario looked up from his desk and appeared curious. He'll hate to be distracted by such useless information.

"What was it?" He asked.

"Muji told me they found some deserter I think. Something else about them giving us back all the information they gather, but that was it." I told him everything in a way that would annoy him the least, but still he groaned, slouched and looked up to the ceiling in distress.

"Hey brother, do you mind leaving me to be on my own in here? Maybe you could check on how Daisy's doing. I haven't seen her since earlier today." He doesn't know what exactly happened, but I best not mention it to him at all. Mario was clearly too engrossed in his new rules that he wants to set out one day. Best that he should wait until Peach is back. I haven't even read them. Odds are, they're a load of spaghetti nonsense, but hopefully there are one or two good ones on that big printed list that would help change the way people behave with us.

...

I didn't go far. I wasn't confident in the chances of me seeing Daisy again. I've got no idea where she currently is, so the best place for me to be right now is in Peach's quarters, catering for her absence. It already scares me a little. For some reason, I have this fear of leaving this building now. Have I become so attached to Daisy? Mario? Even Peach? Who do I have to go to now that things are tough? The four of us... we used to rule the world and now it feels like we can't even run this town. Maybe Mario was right about Toad, and that an argument or two with him was enough to break the friendship bond that we used to have with him... and Toad... he was the Toad, the one that represented the people. It's almost accurate, how we can fall out with him and it means we fall out with everyone else. It would seem so desperate for me to go and ask some random person on the streets what they think about us. If they say things that are bad about us, then that's bad, and if they say things that are good about us, it would make them feel weird for having to be asked such a thing in the first place. "Oh mamma, this is heavy on my mind as well. Where's Daisy?"

...

"Right here, Luigi." Could this be? As I turned around, I feel like the light of hope has just been rekindled. She had returned, and so unusually quietly, and secretly by surprise.

"Daisy... You're back... and looking better!" I felt charmed, enlightened and safe to see her again. She must be as angry as I was given that the Toads had separated us in the Yards. It was vile what they did to us, but I shouldn't dwell on it. We're together now again.

"Looking better... perhaps." Daisy didn't seem to move very well. For some reason she was limping over to the bed, lying onto it and taking some rest.

"How's the neck?" I asked. I couldn't see it very well, but it looked like it had healed rather quickly. It must have been some of that new professional stuff the doctors had for someone such as Daisy.

"Don't touch it." She smiled back to me, resting on the bed. I started walking towards it to get closer to her, but she still looked uneasy. "They gave me some pretty crazy stuff. I just need to rest here until Peach is back. I cannot do anything right now without her, plus I've been wiped from the treatment. Any idea when she might be back?" I don't know how to answer that. Not on the premise that I have no clue when her arrival is, but the neck still looks too suspicious to me. Daisy's neck looks perfectly fine, but someone clawed it. It doesn't make any sense.

"I think she should be here very soon actually. I received an update from her only about an hour ago. She's returned and is on her way back to the castle." Daisy smiled, yet not as much as she usually would when hearing news like this. This gave me an idea. "I need to fetch something from my guest rooms for her when she returns. Come with me and we can prepare it for her."

"Is it a welcome back present?" Her behaviour is different, just as I thought from someone who looks this different.

"Kind of. It's a surprise."

"Why don't you surprise me like this?" Daisy tried to be real with me, but I didn't buy it at all.

"You'll get yours soon enough." I followed what is supposed to be Daisy downstairs to my room, taking the lead before we reached the door. Daisy waited outside for me to go and get the surprise. The best case is for me to have her in the room while I do this. "Daisy, help me with this, please."

"Sure thing!" I saw her enter the room. The lights were off and she remained behind the door. I noticed that she was trying to subtly close the door as I walked across the room. The behaviour matched exactly what someone who wasn't Daisy would do.

"Alright. Come over here and help me with this." I moved over to one of my cupboards, specifically the one where I keep a lot of my former equipment. I had one copy of this on me the last time I had a ghost incident in the city. The mansion is not like how it used to be, and having kits like this would be more convenient in better places. Since the mansion has been routed out of ghosts and nightmares, the castle is the next place for danger. I cannot thank Professor Elvin Gadd enough for this one.

"Sure..." Daisy replied softly. I knew it wasn't her. All I need is to wait quietly until she is close enough for me to use this. (*)

...

Luigi stared into his cupboard with his arms at the ready. The straps of the Poltergust-5000 were in his grasp. Within a few seconds he would be able to put it all around him, turn it on, and attempt to suck on what was next to him.

"Grab this with me." He beckoned Daisy so close until she was right next to him. The only thing separating the two was the right door of the cupboard. Daisy peered around and immediately noticed him equipping the vacuum.

"Fool!" Daisy panicked, her voice dropping very quickly to a deep, distorted tone. Luigi activated the Poltergust-5000, shining it onto her. What he saw in front of him was just as he thought; a spectral figure shapeshifter. He turned the power up to suck in the figure, watching it change appearance. It took the form of Daisy temporarily as flickers, swapping from her to the appearance of an older man. Eventually, the spectral figure started to turn black, leaving itself just as shadows. "She is not here!" The spectral figure shouted a second time before using its unholy strength to repel the sucking power of Luigi's vacuum equipment. The shadows flew up in the room and hovered quickly around the place before vanishing out through the bedroom window. Luigi rushed over to the window and looked up into the sky, seeing the darkness eventually blend in with the night sky. While he felt unstoppable and strong for the few seconds dealing with this figure, his expression quickly weakened into a feeling of fright, worry and sadness. The figure had disguised itself as his lover, and now he felt like he couldn't trust anybody. This shapeshifter could disguise as anybody, and it will try anything to find Peach in her castle. Whether it's the assumption that she would be in the castle or the hungering lust for her that keeps the spectral figure present in recent days, Luigi knew that people were in danger. He couldn't afford another Jutu incident either. What he knows now is that a spectral figure is looking for Peach, and will stop at nothing to get to her. Luigi was inclined to believe more that the castle is the best place for it to check than that it had a sense of where she was. While Luigi doesn't know where she is exactly, he felt a little bit of relief knowing that this figure hasn't found her yet. Whenever she does come back, Luigi knew that he would have to tell her to leave the capital, as the figure would always return to the castle eventually. It's happened three times in three days, and many casualties could occur if this persists.

He could now hear banging on the door, followed by it opening again. Mario was on the other side, angered at him. Upon noticing the equipment Luigi had on him and the curtains still blowing with the wind after the figure had left out of the window, Mario's expression quickly disappeared from his face and he was left plain.

"It returned, Mario." Luigi said to him, still frightened. "The castle isn't safe. We've got to abandon it."

"What do you mean-."

"Mario... The figure disguised itself as Daisy. I thought she was back but she was not."

"Where's the real Daisy?"

"I don't know, brother. All I know is that she's got a neck injury because one of the Koopa prisoners clawed her. The Toads working at Mushroom Yards took her away but didn't allow me to go with her. They don't like us, I'm telling you."

"That's-a exactly what I've-a been telling you, Pizano!" Mario grabbed Luigi and brought him out of the room, closing the doors quickly. Outside, Luigi saw a few Toad castle workers watching in fear of what they thought was inside.

"What are we going to do about everyone?" He looked around and watched them, assuming he would have to give out an order to them.

"Don't worry. There's nothing to worry about." Mario tried to calm the Toads down.

"What do you mean there's nothing to worry about?" One of the Toads replied, interrupting Mario in his thought of getting Luigi back upstairs. "We've had several incidents over the past few days, and none of know what's going on. The Queen is missing, and we've got deaths at a new high. What is going on, Mario?" The Toad got the support of the rest of them, causing them all to start arguing and complaining at him in the hallway. They surrounded him, giving him anxiety and confusion as he wasn't sure what he was allowed and not allowed to do.

"You're all excused!" He eventually lashed out, shouting at them all and creating a long, awkward period of silence... "This is a new danger imposed on the castle that is beyond our reach. We do not have superiority over this fear and I cannot risk your lives any longer." He panicked and shuffled through the Toads over to the nearest wall, resting against it and soon sliding down it to the floor. "Go home, to your actual home, with your families. Your duty is dismissed until further notice. Just... don't stay in the castle until at earliest when Peach is back. We cannot afford this." Luigi nodded and agreed with Mario.

"Let's get moving. Pack your belongings and depart through the main entrance. We'll get updates forwarded to your house lines, but no public announcement will be made just yet." He supported his brother and finished off giving out orders. "I'm going back upstairs to give out the announcement. Make sure everyone follows the order! We can't afford anybody to stay inside while this danger is present." Luigi now felt satisfaction in giving himself a task to do for the people of the castle: to get rid of every worker inside, including those of highest official ranks. He knew now that the best way to reduce the number of possible casualties from the spectral figure's movements in the castle is by giving the castle to the spectral figure. Let it dwell there while nobody is around. That way it will not bother anyone and perhaps take no disguises. The only thing that bothered Luigi now was how the spectral figure managed to take possession of Daisy.

Mario remained in the corridor watching everyone else leave. Within a matter of minutes after the announcement, the entire castle became deserted. Only he and Luigi remained, and the two already lost each other. Lights were switched off, hallways turned dark and the only light that could help guide him through the chambers were from the light of the moon outside and above. Any central hallway became completely dark. Only side corridors and rooms with windows had some light in them, for the sun had set quite some time ago now. He crept slowly back to his room, remember exactly where it was without the need of light and went straight to the window. He opened the glass panels up and stared outside, gasping at the only light that he could see right now. Peach was missing for him, and Daisy was missing for his brother. Right now was a time for worry and fear for both of them. A completely empty castle potentially filled with the unknown. Without the royalties it was just another mansion to him. The feeling was the same for his brother, in fact more prevalent for he was more used to the frights and spooks of a dark empty house. Mario grabbed a torch from his brother's room and shone it in front of his walking direction. It was not worth staying here any longer, so he made an attempt to the nearest elevator.

Unfortunately, the castle workers took Luigi's orders too seriously and shut out all the power operating in the building. Mario would go to spend a whole minute pressing the button for the lift to realise that it wasn't doing anything for him.

"Oh mamma." Mario sighed. "It's okay. Nobody is here..."

Late Evening...

Even Toad Town was looking desolate. The lights weren't even operating here. Mario had now left the castle, and was able to see more of his surroundings now that the Moon was above him and the lights beyond the hedge fence in Mushroom City were still lit up and bright. Everywhere in the other direction was still in complete darkness, but now that he wasn't inside the castle, he felt a lot safer...

...So had Toad Town also been abandoned? He walked along the street and couldn't see any light on in any building. The Toads could have all left in the span of two days and he wouldn't even be surprised.

"Hey, Mario." He jumped upon hearing his name from the darkness behind him. It was Luigi emerging from the other side of the road.

"That's really you, right, Luigi?" Mario questioned out of paranoia despite still seeing the Poltergust-5000 equipped on him.

"Alive in the flesh; it always is me."As he approached his brother, Luigi gave him a pat on the shoulder in appreciation. "We've gotta get out of here. Fast."

"Where do you say we should go?" Mario asked, letting his brother take command. "You probably know more about this than I do, given your recent experience with it."

"It... Ha." Luigi grinned. "I'm not even sure if it's just one now. We should get out of the city. We'll know from reports if there's any activity in the capital in regards to this. I doubt it though."

"What about Daisy?" Mario reminded him. "She's still in the capital somewhere, right?" Luigi sighed and dropped to the floor quickly, not having a care for how dirty his clothes were getting.

"Ah, shit..." He remained on the floor for a little while longer, leaving Mario still worried and clueless.

"Come on brother, we've-a got to do something!"

"We've got to check the Yards. That's the first clue we've got to getting her back." Luigi finally thought of an idea, getting back up from the floor after regaining some confidence. "We've got to check some other places too. Hospitals..."

"I can call Yoshi and tell him to check for Daisy too. He'll help us, surely." Mario added. "We've still got a few loyal friends out there."

"Don't rely too much on it brother." Luigi grabbed Mario, getting his direct attention. "Yoshi would rather not be a part of this at all.

"We'll have to just use the Brigade then." Mario thought.

"No!" Luigi immediately disagreed and used the arm he held him with to slap him in the face. "Gather your focus. We can't do that. Want to know why? Does it not look suspicious if the three people Peach left to take charge are making it public that they're fleeing the capital?"

"Don't question my ability to make decisions!" Mario snapped, pushing his brother's arm away. "At least you've got some insight as to where your girlfriend is. I have no idea where mine might be!" Even though it seemed to Luigi that he was only trying to help his brother at first, seeing him react to his supposed help in such a bad way only angered him too. They were both without their significant others and worried for their safety in the dark street.

"You have nobody to blame but yourself for that. Does she really care that much about you if she didn't tell you where she went to?" Luigi retaliated, angering Mario as well.

"She didn't even tell Daisy. Holy macaroni you can be so stupid and annoying sometimes, brother." Mario shouted back.

"I'm the stupid one?" Luigi snapped. "You know what. I don't need your help for this." He kept his distance from Mario this time and walked over to the lever to open the gate out of Toad Town. "I'll find her myself." He gave his finishing remarks, leaving Mario alone at the entrance to the private land.

The whole area was now his own. From what he gathered from the lack of inhabitants on the nearby street before the castle, he was the only person remaining in the entire area. Sadly, an area such as this being very useless to him isn't worth staying at, especially at night. The whole place should be abandoned regardless of whether it was night or day.

(In Mario's Perspective):

It's completely empty now, but Luigi's just left me. What's this all about? Does he not know what's going on with Peach? Whatever, I'm too stressed out to leave it in my head. I have to get out of here now, but... there's nowhere really to go. That is at least because I don't have anyone to go anywhere with.

This night is oddly dark and quite cold for me. These clothes aren't the best for the recent weather I suppose. I'm going to need a coat.

All my notes... All my writings that I spent the day working on, are they for nought? They're still up there only collecting dust. Who knows how long we're going to leave the castle abandoned like this, it's stupid to think that we can just let something occupy it while Peach is absent. Damn it Peach, please come back soon. Without you or my brother... I've truly got nobody. Even though it feels like I've had so many friends... The Toads... The Dinosaurs... the... the Humans... yet now, what have I got? Nobody really cared...

No. I'm not going to seek help from him... It just doesn't feel right. After all that I've done with him... all I've done against him. I could never go back there and ask him for help. He wouldn't even accept me in anyway. He's got his own family to handle now.

While the doors are still open, I should really get out of here. There's no more reason for me to even dwell in this dark place. I've got to lock up to make sure nobody else gets themselves stuck in here. Can't have the Brigade and Police squander about someone who somehow trapped themselves inside here. As I got to the exit, I managed to seal the doors from the outside, keeping them firmly shut.

As Mario turned around, he collided with somebody on the street, pushing him aside but falling to the floor as well.

"Hey, watch-a where you're going!" I slipped on the side, but the Koopa that walked past had slipped to the floor. "Here, let me help you up."

"Sorry about that..." The Koopa replied softly and rather eerily. His voice seemed very croaky, ironically enough. "I didn't notice the great Mario walking out here at night, what gives?" The Koopa was also carrying a lot of belongings on him which fell off of his arms. I went over to pick some of them up after helping him up, unsure what to do with them. He looked like he was in need of help in getting these to wherever he was going.

"Well, with Peach in absence due to her recovery, we're doing a favour to the castle workers and relieving them from their commutes. They'll be working from home for the time being, at least while Peach is gone." I didn't want to give too much away. The Koopa might be the wrong person to give such critical information to.

"I hope she'll be back soon." The Koopa replied, still with a husk. "Not saying that it's better when she's in charge, just that disappearing isn't very good for us. I'm a little worried for her."

"Well... Abandoning the castle is more for safety purposes. It's... haunted, right now." I may as well tell him. It's probably better to give them the truth than to make them believe in an illusion of safety. Maybe they're all becoming self-aware. Now that they do not trust us as much, we've got to tell them the truth so that they can believe us again.

"That sounds more reasonable." The Koopa replied again. "Everyone's worried about Toad Town. I dare not step foot on the other side of these walls knowing what happened to all of those guards."

"You found out?"

"Everyone found out. We're scared, Mario."

"Well, all the Toads living in Toad Town have left, emigrated from the premises for the better. As far as we know, the inner city and its suburbs are fine. Just the castle seems to be cursed right now. This evil nature dwells in Peach's footsteps, but Peach has outsmarted them. I know this."

"Can you reach her?"

"No."

"She is really smart then." How dare he?

"Excuse me?"

"If she's not told you, then she's not told anyone. Nothing could possibly find her unless it was by accident." This Koopa was wise. Maybe everyone's secretly like this, but under the blind eye of the Queen and her position as their ruler, they appear easy to manipulate because they hide everything else about them. I really don't know anybody... Maybe we're the blind ones.

"What's your name? You from around here?" I can start by getting to know one person by one every day. Maybe that way I can get a better understanding of how the general public actually think. That way, when Peach returns, we'll be able to help the people in a way that suits them. If it is her intention to make the Kingdom great again, then I will help her on that.

"Why should I tell you that?" Come on... (*)

The Koopa grinned, noticing Mario's sudden change in mood.

"Why should I give you back your bags?" Mario joked. The Koopa now felt rather upset about it. Instead of disrespecting Mario more, he changed his mind.

"It's... Mirano." He said. "...and no. I used to be in Bowser's ranks years ago. I struggle to find a good Kingdom to reside in, since I'm losing faith in this one as well. Maybe I should head west, and live off of my own family's intellect."

"Where do your family live? Are you even local, or were you just spending the week here for something such as the grand tournament?"

"My family are all over the place." Mirano replied, finally raising his voice only slightly for the first time. "Koopas don't often live in bunches. We didn't have that luxury under Bowser's rule. It's what we're used to. As for me, I didn't come for the tournament, but I do live around here. In fact, I don't intend to stay for much longer. Simply living in the bounds of the capital is costing my coins a fortune. Now... are you going to help me carry my bags back to my house or what?" Mario never said he was going to help him with any of this, but he knew he would anyway.

"I said this? Where are you then? You can't be too far if you say you lived here." Mario asked back, grabbing onto some of the bags he had on the floor momentarily.

"I'm about as far away from Toad Town as I am possible while still being considered living in Mushroom City, so in other words, we're walking all evening."

"What?" Mario began to regret this feeling he had for assisting the Koopa to get to know him more. "Or what? I'm not going that far. You're literally in the opposite direction I need to go."

"Alright. Maybe you'll take it just fine if I tell everyone I know how you beat me down on the street while I was doing some evening shopping." Mirano grinned, taking some of the bags and starting to walk down the pavement in the direction he intended to go for a bit, stopping immediately when Mario was about to reply.

"You're a terrible manipulator. Don't try to double cross me." Mario snapped back. "I know two crooks that do it better than you do, and they're the dumbest idiots in all the land." He watched Mirano put down the bags and then get something out of his pocket. Mario began to walk a little closer but stopped after noticing some lights flash from the nearby car parked on the street. Mirano approached the car and opened the now-unlocked boot at the back.

"I'm just playing with you." Mirano grinned. "You can at least help me get all these bags into my boot, surely?" He watched Mario approach him with the rest of the bags and place them neatly inside his car.

"I like the way that you joke." Mario smiled, sealing the boot up and giving the Koopa back a nod of appreciation. "Maybe some of us could use a little bit of humour in these times."

"Yeah, speaking of humour, the prices of everything around here are a joke. Why don't you do something about it while you're in charge?" Mirano gave Mario back a neutral expression, saying nothing more as he opened up his car door and went inside. Mario felt speechless, standing idly while watching the vehicle drive off. He didn't know what to make with that Koopa now or whether he would ever see him again. He probably would, now come to think of it. Maybe he was some sort of people's advocate or a leader of some sort of anti-government protest. That's at least what Mario thought. For now, as Luigi would be off looking for Daisy and clearly not in need of his help, Mario decided to head back to his own home, quite away from Toad Town.

EOC: It is a little slow, but we're still going.

See you next chapter.