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)

9. Gloom

Downfall of the Mushroom Kingdom

Gloom

A/N: A follow on from what was said at the end of the previous chapter. What is the same in the format of these two stories is that they are both divided up into quarters with an interlude in between each quarter. The case for this story is that these quarters will actually have a difference in them, unlike in FITS where all four quarters flowed together through the course of the racing tournament and an interlude was just placed after every 20 or so chapters. (There won't be 80 in total this time, more likely 60.)

March 13, Midnight

The Outskirts of Hillin Village

(In the Narrator's Perspective):

The car is likely still in the middle of the forests, left abandoned after turning off a highway a few easy miles away from Hillin Village. Enrique saw the sign for its distance they were from it and knew when and where to dump the car. They took everything with them, including all the money they got from earlier. Rosalina knew that this wouldn't be a place where they could stay and maybe it was bad that they left the car early, but Enrique had a plan. She followed him without saying a word through the thick dense woodlands in between the roads after they parked their car just off a clearing not far from the light of the moon on the road. He knew the direction of town and went straight towards it, running through at a pace faster than she could keep up with. Eventually, she saw him in the distance leaving the trees and rushing over to behind the nearest building. He had the money on him, so where he goes, she would have to follow. Hunger and thirst were not options here, so hopefully he would be heading to a quiet convenience store where he could self-checkout his purchases.

Instead, she followed him all the way to a quieter road on the edge of town. All that stood out amongst the houses with all lights out was a phone booth. He was already inside by the time she noticed it on the street. It was the only light that was on in the street, not even the streetlights were on. Rosalina looked around at all the houses and quietly crept her way towards the door to the phone booth, hearing Enrique press buttons to dial a number.

"Who are you calling?" She whispered after squeezing herself through the doorway to be inside the booth with him. He shushed her to keep quiet while he waited for the line to eventually stop ringing. He kept his ear close, hearing nothing but silence. The call had been answered on the other end, but it seemed like there was no voice. Enrique hesitated to speak as well, but eventually went first.

"Hello?"

"Shit, Enrique is that you?" She also recognised the voice on the other end. It was Jack. Somehow he must have remembered his number from memory and tried calling it. Rosalina didn't know about the case of phones with everyone, but one thing Enrique knew was that Jack was never held prisoner in Mushroom City on the night of the last race.

"Oh my goodness. Thank God you've still got your phone... Where do I start, what can I say?" She saw Enrique overwhelmed with joy and relief, not seeing a true smile on his face for many days.

"I don't know man. I've got so much to say as well. Huh-"

"Who are you with, first of all? Where are you as well? You're not under capture by the Toads at all, are you?" There was a second of wait before Jack's next reply. Rosalina was able to listen in too, but she was indicated to not say a word.

"I'm with George and Luke. It seems like we all got split up. We're... about. Don't really know where we are right now, I can't really tell you much more. What about you? I heard a little about you and err... Rosalina on the news just earlier this evening. Hope you're not too much on the run."

"Ah no." He grinned awkwardly. "It's fine. We're much further south I think, we were in Cheep Cheep Beach today, now we're near I think it's Hillin Village?"

"Yup, Hillin Village. That's the one." He also overheard George and Luke muttering in the background on the phone. The place they were at seemed to be quite loud too.

"Yeah, we've had a bit of a rollercoaster, but in terms of where we were on the first night... We ended up right at your place, and it was me, Ronald, Will and Jap. Though unfortunately Ronald kicked us all out because somehow Duncan was there too. Sadly, Will and Jap went missing when we were in Yagpar, but hopefully we'll hear back from them one day. They've got each other."

"Enrique, that's err..." He could tell Jack wasn't very happy with the news, but it was expected. Nothing's really happy for anyone at the moment except for the chance that they bump into somebody they know. "It's not the best you can do, that's for sure. But... Wuhu is big and vast... mostly filled with people who don't care about the runaways of the Eastern Kingdom. I wish them well. Hopefully we will see each other again soon to find a way through this mess. I can at least count on you that you'll look after yourself though." Rosalina watched Enrique listening in on the phone to Jack. After Jack's near-minute-long lecture to him, his body turned fragile.

"I hope so too man."

"Yeah, with those two together, I can only pray that Tom and Toby are doing alright wherever they are. We'll find a way, we're used to it. It's not the first time your desire to be above all has given us an adventurous consequence."

"W-wh-what do you mean?" He stuttered. While Rosalina couldn't hear anything, her eyes were fixed on his, seeing his expression slowly get more sad.

"There's no doubt this was caused by you. Not showing up for the races and having me cover for you was one a violation of those strict rules. We're all wanted criminals now, but hey, we're used to it, right? Or are we? Maybe you stepped a bit too far over the line this time now. Tom and I promised to our friends that this place was a heaven for us to live in. Now look at us... I don't even know why I'm still talking to you."

"Jack, stop playing around. Try and get yourself back home, real home if you really need to. I will make sure that-."

"I don't need your words. We don't need you. You called me after all." She observed his breathing, he was almost panting with anxiety. "I wish you safe travels." Rosalina then heard the phone hang up, without Enrique saying goodbye too. His hands were shaking and shivering. His feet couldn't stop moving about in the small booth that the two were in. He refused all eye contact with her, staring plainly into the distance ahead. Rosalina squeezed out of the booth right as she watched Enrique drop the phone, seeing it hang from the holder.

"Is he in danger?" She asked him softly.

"He's fine." After a few seconds, Enrique replied, slowly moving out of the booth, not even bothering to put the phone back on the holder. "I didn't even get to speak to George and Luke." He walked away from the road and fell to his knees just off the dirt path on the side. Rosalina saw him with all of his belongings, leaning forward and looking at the ground in despair on the inside.

"Is everything alright?" She awkwardly stepped closer to him, getting off the road and away from the street lights.

"They don't need me." He kept looking into the distance, seeing nothing but thick forest trees and leaves. A dark, gloomy view ahead and unfortunately his intended way to go. "If they did... they'd at least tell me where they were... It's all my fault." They could both hear a faint noise of police sirens far to the north, but as time went on, it didn't get any louder. The two both reacted and were a little scared of it, but it didn't fear them enough to get moving.

Rosalina wasn't sure what to say. A part of her mind thought that nothing was the best thing to say as trying to confront Enrique would lead to petty arguing as she recalled the attempts before. He mattered to her, but there was a point where he would be nothing but annoying. She watched him remain looking at the ground as the sirens began to fade away back into the night time silence.

"What do you want to do then?" She eventually called out, trying to get his attention and his intentions in place.

(In Rosalina's Perspective):

He barely moved his legs, only his upper body turned around to look back at me. His face was peachy; there were definitely tears previously running down his cheeks. I couldn't tell what he wanted given that he's probably lost a few others to be worth looking for. Maybe it is in our best interests to flee this world and head back to Earth, though I could never give up on what I have worked so long for. Not only is the night sky far less interesting in that world than it is here, but I wouldn't be able to use my magic even if I was able to get my wand back. Maybe Duncan did have it in him in the end with that uncanny ritual. He could never suffer the crippling disadvantage I've got with my powers with how he's mastered his. My brother is the same, free to use all of his wisdom from the grasp of his hands. It's all there in his palm.

Ha, I bet the only way back to Earth is blocked off, or worse, destroyed. The Mushroom Kingdom would never destroy the great pipe, surely not. Peach wouldn't be that insane and corrupt. Besides, there's probably another way anyway. If only I knew what Enrique really wanted, then it would make my purpose somewhat able to fulfil. He's got to be completely broken down right now, still looking at me with no words coming from his mouth, body quaking in fear and fright, the heavy look of sadness on his face. This is Enrique like I have never seen before; a purposeless, ambitionless, defeated man from the other world. Where did all the enjoyment of exploring in him go, has Peach finally broken him? Has the Mushroom Kingdom finally caught him one way or another?

"I want to go to Blue Lake." His eyes were looking at the slabs on the ground instead of at me, but his wish can be granted nonetheless. We will go there, wherever it may be and no matter how long it may take. The Kingdoms are probably after me too with how things panned out last night, so we must keep a low-profile. Not only are the Toads on to us now, but the Wuhu citizens may be doing the same for what happened earlier in the day. Once he finally looked back at me, I gave him the soft nod. A few seconds later he tried to get himself up from the ground. Sadly, as we started to move further out of the village, I noticed that the sky got darker. The moon's reflecting light was no longer shining on us below. The forests were almost pitch-black and there was nothing I could do about it. These are peaceful parts, but there is always uncertainty about what lies within the darkness of the unknown.

"Are you sure you want to go that way?" I didn't want to lose him, but he already looked so dedicated into wondering off into the thick dense woodland that was just metres away from the nearest road. We had barely moved at all, for I could still see the phone box by turning around and looking into the distance. Yes, there was openness to the road without all the trees in the way, but the only light was again from the street lights. The sky above was visible, but it was thick of clouds. Going from my best judgement on how we've traced our journey from Cheep Cheep Beach, it was looking more like Enrique was going south than west towards Blue Lake. Maybe this was his intention. I couldn't ask him about this though; it's best not to disturb his contained negativity of emotions. From the way he hasn't said anything back to me, it would be best for me to simply follow him. I'm not tired, I'm not naturally tired, but he might be and holding a lot of weight could be worse for him.

"This is the way." He finally said back, going off of no known or visible judgement. He hadn't looked up once, not like it would help him anyway. Now he was going through the trees, brushing past leaves and stepping over twigs and bushes. There was no set out path through these woods, but he managed to keep a straight line in his journey. While he had his head focused on straight ahead, I at least noticed that there was some dim light coming from the right. Beyond the trees were more street lights from other parts of the village. It was likely more of the outskirts of the town, and that we were in fact going around the edge of it. Hopefully Enrique was aware of this; otherwise, we'd just be heading for the coast.

...

That's exactly where we got to. We traced the edge of Hillin Village and eventually saw some clear space. The thick forest came to an end once we arrived to the sandy shores of the southern coast. A long but smooth stretch of sand spanning about ten metres separated the trees from the tide... and the tide was high tonight. It was also very windy, with cool winds at us from the sea. To our right in the distance was the small port of Hillin Village and at the horizon to the left was a super stretch of sandy landscape consisting of multiple palm tree stacks in the masses. Clear blue waters, but full of rough waves. Admittedly, the sound of waves crashing into the sandy shore was soothing for my ears, but I couldn't tell if Enrique was feeling the same. While he was examining the size of the port area, thinking of ways to cross it, I noticed something along the eastern view. A small boat floating near the shore pushed up and sliding back down due to the crashing waves. Enrique paid no attention to the eastern side of the shore and was still looking at getting closer to the port platforms. It was very quiet in the port tonight, so perhaps it was easy to get across or at least find a faster way through. Blue Lake was hundreds of miles away and thinking about it now, crashing that car in the woods between Cheep Cheep and here was a stupid move on his account. Look at him and his dedication here, trying to climb up the rocks to get up to the port. Eventually I would have to follow him, but I definitely feel like I'm hearing something else.

"The boat's gone." I faintly heard a voice in the other direction. Just before the ground became sandy, I stood beside a tree trying to watch Enrique at the same time as hearing the voices from the other side of the beach.

"The tide's gone up. It's over there." There are two of them, and poor them; their boat's no longer ashore. Enrique's getting over the top of the port's edge, and wilfully ignoring me. He's not even looking back. I've got to quickly catch up with him and ignore those voices. He's all the way up now, and I need to assist him. There's got to be a quicker way up because I'm not getting my shoes dirty with sand. Not today.

Enrique's not gone far across the port. In fact, by the time I saw him again, he had barely moved from getting up from the dock platforms. There were so many boats tied up here in such a small space. I had a feeling I knew what he was looking at them all for. Oh goodness, was that boat out at sea the same one that those other two humans took out with them back in Yagpar?

"Enrique... Your friends are here in this town." I decided to warn him, hoping that it would bring a bright mood to his mind to cheer him up. "Stay here. I'll go get them. I think I saw them." I rushed back to the edge of the dock and tried looking for them across the shore. The boat was still at sea, getting further and further away from the shore. As for the two voices I heard, I couldn't see them.

"They're not here." Enrique said back to me despite not moving from his position. "I don't recognise the boat anywhere here."

"No. It's over here." I'm still watching it get further away from the shore. A big wave is approaching it, and sadly Enrique's not moving towards here.

"I've checked everywhere. Stop trying to cheer me up." His voice was frail. "They're not here." He said again as I watched the big wave flip the boat over. I can't rely on him now. I need to find his friends wherever they've gone. Fuck it. I'm going on the sand. Enrique finally turned round and watched me jump off of the dock platform and down to the sandy beach. I took my shoes of first, placing them on the edge of the platform so I could run across.

"Will? Will?" I screamed, along the edge of the forest for that was the only name I could remember of the two that were with us yesterday. I'm not a hundred percent sure that it was those two who had the capsized boat, but it was definitely worth a try to see if it was them. Sadly, I'm hearing no noise or movement but the waves against the shore. My feet were now sandy and wet from the strong waves crashing into me, but I can easily wash those. I wouldn't like to say that I've let Enrique down, but I'm pretty certain that we'd have got more out of this if he actually decided to cooperate with me.

...

Now that I've finally got back to the docks after washing my feet by dipping them into the sea, I've lost him. He wouldn't have abandoned me like that, surely? That was the case... until I realised that he was in fact on one of the largest boats in the dock. He was shattered. I don't know whose boat this belongs to or if Enrique has the keys to start it up, but he was resting on one of the seats inside the covered area, slouching and closing his eyes.

"Are you feeling alright?" I couldn't help myself seeing him like this. There more to him than this sign of weakness, and I need to do everything that I can to help him. He was looking a little pale now too, there has to be something I can do about this, because I doubt Enrique's going to be able to last a good length of sleep in this boat. It's shaking about due to the waves, yet he thinks he can stay on it and sleep on it.

"Not really." He got up immediately and ran towards the edge of the boat, jumping off of it and remaining on the floor of the dock. I followed him out and watched him crawl to the edge of the dock, seeing more waves splash against the floor.

"If you're not feeling well, it's best that you stay away from rocking boats-." Oh my goodness... That was a disgusting sight to see. Yuck, there's still a bit on his mouth. He's clearly unwell and I have to get him somewhere. I cannot have him vomit against the dock like that.

"Stop." He coughed as I approached him.

"You're clearly unwell and sick. I need to take you to somewhere where the Wuhu doctors can help you!" I called over to him, trying to get him up but his body would just retaliate back and push me away.

"No." He said. "I'm staying here." He lay back down on the dock, not minding the waves. I started to get annoyed at the high tide because although my feet were still wet, I don't want the rest of my clothes getting drenched in sea water. It was still a dangerous and devilish sight to see Enrique cough up more vomit lying on the side on the dock platform. The boats parked up were rocking about and the waves splashed water all over him. He didn't seem to care and he didn't want me to either.

"You're only going to get worse staying out here. You'll throw up more and you won't like it in the morning as you'll be hungry, aching... the like. Your shortbread won't be enough for this journey. You need water as well."

"Then get me some." He snapped back at me. As rude as he was, I couldn't really argue with him. He didn't want to go any further, and he's beyond tired. The sad part about how he's lying down on this port was that he had no fear of the waters pushing from the waves below. However, I don't really like how things are looking from above.

"All the shops are closed. It's literally lights out in a town like this. You saw how evidently desolate it was when we were on that road with the phone box."

"I'm sure there's a way for you to get me water." Enrique was still lying on the floor with his eyes closed. It's going to be funny once he sees what's coming. I felt the first light droplet on my head, hoping more would come. Seconds passed, and I began to feel many more drops of water fall on me from above.

"You want water then?" I said back. "Here you go." As more time passed, the drops of water turned into consistent rain. The dark clouds above that once blocked the moon's reflective light had blocked the entire night sky and finally created downpour. I stood in it and didn't care about my own clothes anymore. The satisfaction of seeing Enrique's selfish self react to being rained on was quite a lot for someone like me. Who would have thought that I'd have so much amusement from seeing someone else's misfortune? If he wants to go to Blue Lake then he can do so himself. I've got more important things to do around here. (*)

...

The rain was getting worse, and as Rosalina was leaving the dock she noticed with a small bit of guilt that Enrique was still not getting up from the floor. He was being rained on now as well as being splashed by the high-tide waves. She saw some light for the first time in the sky but it came in the form of lightning. Several seconds later the thunderous noise was heard by both of them. Rosalina couldn't take it any longer. As annoying as Enrique was to her, she couldn't help but take him off of the dock. His body was almost helpless when she reached him. Without her magic that could channel through her body via her wand, lifting him up proved to be very difficult. The quickest place she could take him was back onto the same boat as before, but it would mean that he'd be rocking about in there. This large boat had a lot of interior space so luckily she was able to get him back on his first seat and eventually onto the floor in the middle of the room. Rosalina closed all the windows and the sliding hatches that she got through to quieten down the noise coming from the outside. The rocking wasn't that bad in here, but seemed enough to bother Enrique. Hopefully now he would be able to drift off to sleep inside here.

This was doing her a lot of stress though. She was becoming restless having to keep herself inside here while Enrique's sickening odour lingered around the place. The rain upset her even more. A rainstorm like this on the western edge of the main Island only meant that the days of summer are soon coming to an end. Her freedom was lacking. Even if she wanted to leave him alone in here, she couldn't think of where else to go. The rain had already become torrential, splashing more on the ground than the waves did in the entirety of the evening spent here. If her intention was to follow him all the way to Blue Lake and further westward to be at peace, then all she could think of to stay at is somewhere that just offers safe shelter and a place to sleep on for the night, ready to take Enrique further west at next sunrise. She felt like this was a problem as she felt like she was wanted by everyone. The mini fiasco on Cheep Cheep Beach was so unnecessary and avoidable and once again another act of Enrique's selfishness. This made her think of her other possible intention which was to abandon him here and head eastward in attempt to retrieve her wand back from Peach's Castle so she could get her freedoms back. With a bit of thought, this was what she more wanted to do now. She felt that it was finally time to let Enrique deal with his own problems without being saved by the grace and help of other people. It didn't click at first but she now realised how lucky he was to get away with everything. Admittedly, she had a similar experience with her incident with the Asquias, which she was still hoping to get justice for, but the fact that Enrique still treated her like a slave over the past few days has just showed his true selfish colours. She couldn't take it anymore and enough was enough.

...

About twenty minutes into trying to sleep, Enrique felt a massive wave hit the boat, rocking him so much and causing him to roll about on the boat. He realised now that he couldn't sleep here at all and had to do something about it. His body was fragile, and it was difficult for him to stay upright on the boat. As he got up, he noticed after more time than expected, that Rosalina was no longer here. It was like he had briefly forgotten about her company that was now gone.

"Rosalina?" He spoke with a croak to his voice, looking around everywhere with his hazy vision to see if she was still somewhere on the boat. He was feeling both dizzy and restless, struggling to balance on the rocking boat and stand up right. His body was shivering and shaking about and his arms were feeling weak. He slipped over to the side whilst rushing to the hatch door into the boat, bruising his knee. He tried to slide the door open but it didn't want to budge. The handle to open the door looked damaged and he couldn't grip it properly. Every attempt he made trying to grab hold of the door or try to slide it would lead to him slipping and falling back onto the floor again. After a third attempt and another fall, he threw up a second time all over the nearby seat on the boat. The boat rocked once more and banged his head, bruising the side of that as well. The weather outside was getting worse as the sounds of a thunderstorm could still be heard despite all windows being closed. He was shouting and screaming under sickening stress, full of unhealthy agonising pain. Struggling to get himself out, the dizziness worsened. Eventually, he sought different methods of trying to get out of the boat, such as trying to break the windows. When the next big wave came to rock the boat he would lunge his fist into one of the windows, hoping to break it entirely. It was the only other way he could think of getting out after seemingly jamming the door handles. The first punch made a small crack in the window, but it severely hurt his hand. He didn't want to give up though, as the torturous boat was not where he wanted to stay tonight. This time, he didn't ride any wave. He simply started punching the glass window repeatedly with his other hand. Not as strong, but causing greater cracks in the window. Eventually, one last swing at the window caused most of it to shatter, cutting into his fist.

"Fuck!" He shouted and coughed up some vomit immediately after. He saw some blood appear from the cuts and tiny fragments of glass stuck onto his skin. One by one he started removing the pieces, giving him lots of pain along with the enduring dizziness. These only made him scream in agony more, openly throwing his rage all around the boat. Exaggerating his frustration vocally, he tried squeezing through the broken window, pushing himself through and causing him to land onto the outer part of the boat. He felt the heavy rain plummeting on him immediately. Now all he had to do was get back onto the platform, but he was still very dizzy and the boat was riding more waves. The floor of the boat was slippery and Enrique still couldn't balance himself properly. He lowered himself to the floor, screaming as he saw the landscape topple upside down in his vision. He tried getting up to retain his balance but the agony would never end. It would only get worse from here, as he had another slip on the boat and now he was completely off it. The sea water made him feel even sicker, getting some up his nostrils. The top of the dock was so high up and the boats were all crashing together from the waves that it felt impossible for him to climb back up given how difficult it was for him to move about. The only part of the body that he could feel anymore was his legs as the sea water was surprisingly very cold.

Still not giving up, he saw like a jellyfish back to shore, frightened by the lightning out at sea and the crashing waves hitting the rocks on the shore. The cuts on his fingers felt salted, stinging him with even more pain on his journey back. Now that he was finally back onto the sand, he let out another raging scream looking up to the sky with his eyes closed, still getting heavily rained on. His coughing became consistent, and with each successive cough came out some dirty, sickly saliva. Nobody was seen on the nearby streets. The horrible weather put everyone out of going out on the roads at night and kept them all indoors. The first area of cover Enrique could find, he rushed to, falling onto the floor once he arrived. After all that suffering, he was finally glad to be under proper shelter. Sadly, the floor was hard and his clothes were soaking wet, but there was no other choice than the covered area on a road of shops and it was just about enough for him. He took off his soggy top and squeezed as much water out of it as he could, watching the drops form a flow that went towards the nearest drain, meeting the rest of the rainwater flowing on the edge of the road. He tried to rinse some of the sick stains on his top so he would be able to use it as a pillow. As for his chest, he would have to sleep shirtless and let it dry from the cool wind flowing through the town. His trousers were also soaking, but it wasn't worth taking them off with how open his sleeping area was. The ground was cold and there was nowhere else to go. All of the shops on the road were locked up and closed. This was all he's got, so as far from the rain as he possibly could be, he slept...

Morning

Sadly, nothing changed during the rest of the night. The rain was still heavy and loud everywhere he could see, but it was somewhat brighter. The clouds were grey and dark but the sun was behind them. He could now see the rest of what the street looked like. Some places were opening up, but many remained closed. The nearest shop to him was closed but there was a Koopa at the end of the road trying to open up his for the day. It must be early in the morning if there was still nobody out on the street. Enrique noticed that his feet had shrivelled up in the night from being damp for most of it, but at least his shirt was somewhat drier. He didn't know if the Koopa at the end of the pavement had noticed him or not, but now that he had opened up the entrance to his shop on the street, Enrique knew to rush over towards him, taking his shirt with him.

"Hey, hey!" He called out for the Koopa's attention as he reached the front of his shop. All the lights in the shop were closed but he could see that the Koopa had turned around to notice him.

"We don't open for another two hours-."

"I need water! Please!" Enrique kept coughing after speaking to the Koopa, walking into his shop and taking putting his shoes aside on the floor. "You've got to help me. I'm ill, sick, dizzy, thirsty, hungry, everything." Enrique collapsed to the floor again after the run's strain on him caught up with him. He was still sick and dizzy, but the Koopa recognised him which was bad enough.

"I'm calling the police. I know who you are." The Koopa rushed over to his shop counter and picked up the phone at the desk. Enrique lifted his head up and watched the Koopa dial.

"Wait, yes, yes! Please do!" He felt a sigh of relief. "But please, get me some water, or I'll throw up on your carpet!"

"Hello... Yes... Criminal Justice... one here... emergency... Green Fable. Thank you." The Koopa put the phone down with a firm slam. "Please don't do that. I'll get you water, and don't make my carpet wet either!" Enrique kicked the door behind him to be closed and watched the Koopa head through a private doorway. Ten seconds later he came back with a cup of water and offered it to Enrique.

"Thank you so much." Enrique downed the water, remaining on the floor.

"The police will be here in just a few minutes, but you seemed glad that I called them? I know who you are. I know that you're a wanted man. Why did you come here?" The Koopa watched Enrique remain on the floor, noticing that he was too unbothered to get himself up.

"Did I not just tell you?" Enrique coughed. "Ill, sick, dizzy, do I need to repeat myself? I need a doctor for fuck sake."

"Just wait here." The Koopa remained with him until they eventually heard the sound of sirens parking up outside. The Wuhu police force operating in Hillin Village showed up to the shop and had themselves armed and pointing weapons at Enrique.

"Put your hands up where I can see them!" The first Wuhu police officer shouted as he approached Enrique from the back. "Enrique Calaghal, I am hereby arresting you on account for your previous crimes as well as theft, mugging, and hijacking someone's vehicle. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you." The Koopas and Toads united together in the Wuhu police force operating in the village pressed towards him and cuffed his arms while they were raised up in the air, now behind his back. Enrique smiled but couldn't stop himself from coughing.

"I would very much like an attorney, though I can't afford that right now." He said back with a high-quirky pitch, rolling over and provoking the other officers to raise and point their weapons at him. He noticed that these Wuhu police officers were heavily armed, but with different looking weapons to the ones that were used by the hostiles or Jack's business in distributing.

"You are also entitled to a medical practitioner to provide the necessary needs to nurse you up to suitable health from what we are witnessing." The main officer offered a hand to help Enrique up on the premise that with no action in the next few seconds would lead to him being forced up and taken away by the other guards.

"This man looks terrible. He's always getting himself into danger wherever he walks. A true menace to society, not just the Mushroom Kingdom." Another officer said while picking him up from his left arm and taking him out of the shop and into the rain for a few seconds, ready to be thrown into the police van parked on the street. Just before being taken into the van, all of his pockets were searched. His money, his newly-found weapons from Jack and Ronald's compound, and his shortbread packet was taken away from him. The officers took the items with them and headed to the front of the van, while some others still outside put him inside the van from the back entrance. There were multiple police cars parked on the street, but only the van was ready to drive off. Enrique remained inside the back of the van on his own for quite a while, falling asleep on the side. The only thing that was on his mind was the fact that the van still hadn't turned its engine on to drive off. While a few officers stayed at the shop to ask a few questions to the Koopa working there, the rest were all standing in front of the van. He tried to listen in more to hear what was going on. There were no distinguishable words, but the voices sounded annoyed and frustrated. There was nothing he could do about it as the hatch that separated the back area to the front driving seats was sealed tight and unable to open from his side of it. Eventually, the back doors of the van had opened up again. This time, there were a few officers standing outside, none of them being the first that arrested him, but one of them was a familiar face: Iker Koopasi.

"Hey... I know you!" Enrique slipped and rolled onto the floor inside the van, barely operating his body properly.

"Yes, okay. I get it. It's him, you win." Iker sighed and kept his attention back with the other police officers. "He's already got a lot to answer to back in Yagpar and he's part of our case there already. We can handle it from here so I'm going to have to ask you to hand him back over to us."

"Do you really think we're going to hand him over to you knowing that you let him slip away from your grasp the first time you had him? You basically let him escape, give me a break." Another police officer working with the Hillin Village department laughed back.

"Wait..." Enrique squinted, watching the back doors of the van slam closed again. He tried crawling over to the door, but there was no grip to open the door from the inside, not like he would be able to open it anyway.

"I'm not stealing him off of you if that's what it sounds like." He overheard Iker plead to the other officers outside. "...But he doesn't look like he's able to operate in court normally. We settle things differently around here and we're dealing with his crimes only caused here. We don't give a shit about what he did in the Mushroom Kingdom. If anything, what he did in the Mushroom Kingdom is barely considered a crime if Peach's life is considered normal."

"Silence your mouth, you disappointment of a chief." The other officer in the argument snapped back at Iker. "We're not idiots, we're going to sort him out with his health and have an attorney stand for him as the Miranda warning states. I'm beginning to wonder if you stated it correctly when arresting him the first time."

"A human from Earth does not deserve to have an attorney, or even a normal lawyer." He began to find difficulty in distinguishing Iker's voice from the other Koopa's and wasn't able to tell who was saying what and who was more likely to take him after the conversation ends.

"Oh, but he deserves to be set free, does he? We can treat him as a defendant with the new ways of the land but he needs to actually stand trial and be kept under watch."

"You're not even going to keep him under watch. Look at the Mushroom Kingdom. They're all after him now that they know about his last known location being around here. You're just going to hand him over to them so they can give you a fat some of money for it, you pathetic greedy group of fakers!"

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave and take your poor manners with you or we will consult this with your superiors, or should I say for you specifically... superior."

"Alright, alright, alright! Fine." There was no new activity involving the back door of the van. It looked like the Koopas of Hillin Village were still going to take him back to the police station here. For Enrique, he felt that it was over for Iker. A surprise visit by him and probably a saving grace too, but it was not the outcome for him today. He wondered if he would ever see him again, given that it was now twice in the span of three days that the two saw each other.

The van still didn't drive off just yet, but the engine was turned on. He could faintly hear voices coming from the front of the van now. The voices were somewhat clearer too, making him believe that the voices were coming from the driving seats instead of outside. He was still overtired and the most comfortable part for him to sleep on in the van was the seats on the side. Enrique tried standing up as the van was still idle and tried to get over to the other side where he could finally lie down and attempt to sleep again. He could still hear the voices, but his eyes were closed and he tried not to move his body at all.

"Did you know that everyone else wanted to jump on this case as soon as it was announced to us? It was stupid for them to let the entire southern belt know about this. I can't believe that not only did Iker's lot from Yagpar want to snatch this, but the Hyglon office had a few arrive to the scene as well." He heard one Koopa with a rather distinguishable pitch. It was slightly lower than the average, and he was the only one with a deep voice in the front of the van.

"It's almost too fishy. How could Yagpar or Hyglon know about this when it was only about thirty minutes ago when we received the call? We'll have to get detective Gertrude to ask the shop owner some questions on that. I don't like how they got here so quickly when it should have taken them at least an hour longer. We didn't spend a whole hour in that shop, surely not, right?" The other Koopa replied in a much higher pitch, sounding more worried than the other.

"We were in there for no longer than two minutes."

"Maybe it's because these guys are not even Hyglon at all! Most of them are Toads, that's just not possible around here. None of them wanted to disclose any names."

"Probably Mushroom Kingdom spies. Iker's real though, he and his team were super desperate for this, but it's still confusing how they got here so quickly."

"Oh wait... the crashed car. They've probably been here all night since the car's not that far from here and it's the same car he stole."

"I'm so stupid sometimes. I completely forgot about that. That makes sense now."

Enrique was dosing off in the back very quickly now. He wasn't coughing as much and his body was barely moving. All he was doing was hearing the others talking. After a few more minutes, the sound of movement was felt as the van started to drive off from the parking space, heading up the street then taking the first left and then the next right.

"Iker's group are following us, I can see his car in the rear-view mirror. He doesn't want to let this case go, does he? If he cared so much, he'd be out looking for the girl that this one back here was with. She wasn't with him this morning, how do you think she went?"

"She left me." Enrique called out while keeping his eyes closed and lying down on the seats in the back. "Last seen at the docks of this town; I hope she took a boat and sailed into the storm so I don't have to see that bitch again."

"So she left the town basically, no sign on where she would have gone next. Do you have any idea where she could have possibly headed for next?" The Koopa's voice on the other side wasn't loud enough to be speaking back at him. The two driving were talking amongst themselves again.

"I don't know. I'm going to say either eastwards to the Mushroom Kingdom or back to her cosmos spaceship or whatever it is." In fact, the two were trying not to be heard by him anymore as their voices were actually quieter than before Enrique answered back to one of them. They both stopped talking and kept their eyes on the road. The van started to go faster as they were driving in a northern direction through the long but thin village. They passed the town square, the train station, and multiple roads consisting of shops, sports centres, and even a football stadium. All else that Enrique could hear was the torrential rain creating noise on the roof of the car and the occasional splash sound made from the van driving straight through large puddles on the paved roads. At least the sirens weren't sounding, that would have annoyed him even more.

...

What felt like a period of deep sleep, Enrique fell asleep and woke up only a few minutes later. The van had stopped moving and the sound of the back door opening was the main thing that woke him up. The van was parked inside a garage, so there was no heavy rain waiting for him once he got outside. He wasn't feeling great still, and his coughing wasn't completely gone, but it was a relief to know that he wouldn't be drenched on once again after going back outside. All he wanted to do right now was find a comfy place to sleep and ignore what everyone else had to do with him. There was no time to care about Rosalina, the police, the Mushroom Kingdom, not even Tom and his friends mattered right now.

"Come on, let's take you in." The deep voiced Koopa, looking less intimidating than he once thought, offered to let Enrique take himself out of the van without any extra help. Seeing that he wasn't strong enough to walk normally for a long amount of time, both Koopas decided to wait for him to muster the energy to walk the few metres to do so.

"It's okay. We'll help you walk in to the station. We just don't want to get sick from you as well as it looks like you're not faring very well back there." The other Koopa said some surprisingly comforting yet also discomforting words to him. He was both flattered and insulted, but for good reason, he could smell his own odour and it was revolting. He smelled like swamp gas and there aren't any swamps in the southern Wuhu belt. That's how bad he felt about himself.

"We are meant to take him in anyway, he's still cuffed." That was one thing that actually made it more difficult for him to get out of the van. His arms weren't that useful being held together behind his back. After some time and an outstanding amount of patience shared by the Koopas that were waiting for him, Enrique finally got himself out of the van. As he put his feet on the ground, he immediately lost balance again though.

"Please, let me just sleep." He pleaded to one of the Koopas just before coughing to the ground. He was surprised to see this many extra Koopas and Toads willing to help him get into the security prison.

"Don't worry, easy there." The deep voiced Koopa helped him stay upright. "We'll take you straight to a cell and fill all your files and details in once you're feeling a bit better. Also, we actually have good bedding unlike in the Mushroom Kingdom. Towns here are surprisingly very kind to their criminals."

"I wouldn't even call myself a criminal." He said back to the Koopa.

"Vigilante then, you're free to call yourself whatever. We address all as criminals even if they don't see themselves as it. It's not up to them to be called whatnot." Enrique looked back at him and grinned, breathing heavily out his nose.

"Thank you... Saïnis. Interesting name, did I pronounce it right?" The Koopa smiled back.

"You nailed it, very impressive." The other Koopas assisted him in taking Enrique inside through the garage entrance to the main building. That main Koopa with the deep voice walked over to the front desk in the next open room and briefly spoke to the worker behind it, exchanging a few details. Judging from his leadership and dedication, he felt like he would be seeing this Koopa again soon, just like his encounters with Iker in terms of frequency, just in different ways and for different purposes.

"Back room, private." Enrique overheard the worker behind the desk say back to Saïnis. He then relayed this information back to the other police officers that were holding Enrique in place, escorting him out of the room. They next went to one of the long chambers on the side, full of cells on multiple floors and on each side of the long chamber. There were a few criminals inside the cells but most of the rooms were surprisingly vacant. Enrique wasn't taken to any of these though; instead, they went through another corridor to the next chamber, turning a corner and going down a few more metres of rooms. They got to an empty room on the end with bright, colourful paintwork on the walls. Here was where he would reside for now; in a temporary room with an unusually big amount to offer. A bed with a thick, big mattress and duvet, a desk with a set of pencils and paper, a clean toilet and complementary polished sink, and a thick mat placed on the other corner of the room, all at his disposal in a room with multiple windows and lights all with their own independent switches and also without any jail bars, only a door separating him and his cell.

"Try not to do anything stupid, there are cameras in this room." One of the other police officers warned him as he first walked straight to the bed.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to fuck anything up." He started taking off his clothes, leaving them on the floor beside the bed. Some of the officers left the room, but one stayed and watched him end up in only his pants.

"We'll take your old clothes and provide you with some new ones for the time being. We're not going to label you as a prisoner just yet, but you'll want us to clean your old dirty clothes." The Koopa walked over and picked up his t-shirt and his shorts that he originally bought from Cheep Cheep Beach. His regular outfit and his trunks were still with Rosalina, assuming she still kept them when she left him last night.

"Thank you." Enrique turned his head around and smiled at the Koopa, watching him take the clothes and then leave, closing the cell door behind him and locking it from the outside. Seeing them all gone, he turned back to face the bed, falling onto it and burying himself in the duvet. Finally it was time to get some proper rest while still feeling like shit.

These past few hours have been quite possibly one of the worst experiences he has ever had in recent times, on par with being left abandoned inside a house in Nivurbia thanks to the Asquias, going without water for more than a day and living off the remains of... even the thought of it frightened him. He didn't want to recall such a traumatic experience but his brain decided to do it anyway. Nothing could have been worse than those few days come to think of it. He tried blinking repeatedly to not portray the memories in his mind, but his brain would subconsciously keep having them appear in front of him.

Every single bit of it he dreaded; all that he could remember of it. From the beginning to the end. From waking up inside the dirty, red-light room in Nivurbia to being taken to hospital a few days later. The worst bit of it his brain forced him to recall was the encounter with Captain Toad. Both of them were starving in that room, stripped from their belongings and struggling to survive. Visions of Captain Toad flickered between seeing the Toad in full anger, rage and aggression to the pile of bones being the last things he saw from him.

"You're a selfless Toad, right?" He remembered asking the Captain. All he watched was the Toad of very little words in the room give him a head tilt to one side for a response. "You'd do anything for the greater good; to protect others?" He recalled saying again.

"There's no way for either of us now." The Captain replied. "It has been longer than I can remember, and both of us are without anything to eat. My family... my friends... my service to the Mushroom Kingdom, this is not the way I wanted it to go. Hunger from imprisonment."

"We're both going to go that way if nothing happens. We have to do something." Enrique had his eyes on the Captain as he was fixated at the locked door to the room. Both of them felt completely bloated, weak, powerless and always in a struggle.

"We've already tried the door. There's nothing I can think of. I hate to act in this way as I am who I am, but I am no longer able to save anyone. This is it." The Toad started to sob. He was without his mushroom cap and stripped of all of his belongings, just like Enrique. The two had nothing in their pockets. The worst of the dream was yet to come and he couldn't stop his brain from playing the memory out in his mind. The visions became quick and rushed, but all he saw was himself from the month before running at the captain and having a catfight inside the room. The captain tried defending himself; he could not feel any sort of offence he could lay down on the human. He was too engrossed in amassing his own honour that he lost all sort of aggression. Enrique on the other hand was massively enraged, holding his arms down and trying to get the Toad onto his back. With the captain pinned down, Enrique strangled him, keeping him restrained for more than long enough for the Toad to stop moving. He was very ruthless in his actions, keeping the neck tight just to ensure that the Toad had stopped breathing. He even remembered how he did it with the intent to kill, not risking any chance that he didn't. After all, he had to, if they were both saved and the captain witnessed an attempt of being strangled to death, Peach would be the first person to be informed of this, and like that Enrique would be worse off than he is today, three weeks ago.

His memory turned even worse, so bad that it made him vomit and clear his mind. The thought of being reminded of what he did to Captain Toad's body afterwards to stay alive was just that gross to remember.

He made a small puddle of vomit on the floor just to the side of the bed, carefully avoiding the mats in the middle from the projection of the sick. He groaned and walked over to the sink, washing the puke from his mouth area after queezing from a recalled memory. He was still feeling awful, but at least he wasn't feeling bad from the thought being in his mind now.

Another memory appeared in his mind however. It was a memory of the last time he saw Peach alone with him inside the Mushroom City Grand Hospital. It was not long after he had fell to the floor after trying to get hold of Luigi. Back then, he wasn't quite sure what happened to his body but it was oddly very fragile. He was never aided to by the nurses in that ward, but it was Peach that came to his rescue by his surprise. She helped him get up and put him back onto his bed, letting him rest again.

"So, have you made your choice yet? I take it Luigi did a horrible job at helping you choose if your reply is nothing but bitter words to spit into my face." That was the first sentence he remembered Peach saying to him while he was on the bed, which was unusual because at first, Peach was very assistive of him, showing some care and love into helping him back onto the bed. These were the small kind of things that made Enrique question what her stance on his influence was. There was the assurance that he wasn't in pain, the body language and facial expressions that felt almost like role-play on the side of her aggression, and the awkwardly good sex they had that one time in Aypyidaw. This was the last time he saw these good signs in one-to-one engagement though, the only other major time he saw her since this morning was during the last race on Rainbow Road. He was remembering what he said back to her, and in his mind he was feeling the regret of his words.

"No... No, you fucking idiot, no!" He said to himself out loud in the prison cell.

"Luigi can go fuck himself. He's just another pawn like Mario who never really did anything honourable. You call taking visits to Bowser's Castle doing good for the people? You and Bowser had a love-hate political relationship which you fuelled your perfect world for years using Mario as a bridge between the two sides. Bowser didn't like it so you finally caught him. You set up all of this because you never really wanted to kill Bowser, did you? You made everyone else see him as an enemy, even your boyfriend, and now that you've set him free, you're hating yourself because now you have to deal with actual problems which Mario and Luigi are too much of a pussy to sort out because they've never handled a real problem." Whether this insulted Peach or not, told the truth or not or even changed any actions made that day or not, what he regretted the most was the amount of shithousery he had just put into a response back to her. The regret was that he didn't check his privilege for so long and talked down on the Queen of the Mushroom Kingdom, at the time feeling badass, but now... sorrow, embarrassment, and a setup for being wanted. It was just typical that his worst health brought out all the worst recent memories of this land in him.

"You know... There was a time where he wasn't my boyfriend, want to know why?" She approached his bed, knowing damn well that his body was weak and for all the wrong reasons. "I've known Mario for as long as I can remember but when we brought you into this world... I felt like there was someone better. Someone who would not only treat me right like Mario does, but someone with enthusiasm, ambition, freedom! I tried to be nice with you over these past years and even try to win you over in these past few months, but you're unchangeable. You are selfish, you are inconsiderate, you're a narcissist, you're... a psychopath, and that makes you dangerous. I mean look at you! You've insulted every friend I know since the start of the New Year... and this selfish act you've caused... this law you've violated! I'm considering making your options worse... or even giving you no option at all, perhaps banishment is the best thing for you!" He felt like she had finally made a pause long enough to but in.

"If you're going to punish me for what I did then why are you letting Rosalina get away freely with the same damn thing?" He shouted back from his bed.

"Rosalina... almost died! I've heard it all, clearly that gives an exception!"

"You're biased because she's your friend. What if I told you that the friendship you have with her isn't mutual. She hates you!" Everything that was said in Enrique's past memory haunted the present Enrique on his cell bed. He was rolling around trying to ignore it but the brain kept resisting his physical efforts and resumed the argument in his mind.

"You don't know the meaning of friends." Peach taunted back to him, knowing that he couldn't get up in retaliation.

"I have friends, genuine friends. Mario nowadays would never save you from a hostile or Asquia capture like mine did. My friends actually risked their lives to save me."

"Would you do the same for them?" Peach snapped back, shutting Enrique up for a few seconds. "All this hurt you've caused upon yourself. It's so selfish of you, isn't it? Well..." She began to look crazed and almost insane, walking a few steps away from the bed, creaking around with her head turned slightly. "How about we make them share a little bit of your burden, that way you wouldn't be so selfish." She gave him back a crooked half-smile. "Know this, Enrique Calaghal." She fully turned her body back to him one last time. "That sex in Aypyidaw? It was actually good. You could have gone so far to be mine if you were better than this disappointment I'm looking at right now. You are so crooked, vile, devilish and dangerous, that you managed to make even the Queen of the Mushroom Kingdom go from falling for you to WANTING YOU TO DIE! I'm fair though, so I will let you recover in here until either the races end or you are healthy. After that, I don't want to ever see you again... and if I do after the final race or if you even do something so stupid or anything out of turn, then I shall pray to the Toad Brigade that they find you alone, weak, and helpless before you we finish with you."

Enrique screamed in sadness in his cell, letting out tears after genuinely crying. The crying was abrupt, annoying him even more from the continuous coughing that arose again from raising the pitch in his vocal chords from the shouting and sobbing. His rage, anger, sadness and sickness grew beyond tolerable limits after all of this, such to a point that he couldn't take it anymore. While lying on his bed, Enrique ruthlessly sat upright and slammed his head into the opposite wall so hard that it knocked him out dry. His upper body fell backwards and went back onto the other half of the bed. He was finally somewhat asleep... all of this occurred while being watched under surveillance.

...

Enrique woke up and found himself in a quiet questioning booth after being unconscious for an unknown amount of time. As he woke up, his body shook about and his hands were restrained. He then noticed that he was once again held with handcuffs on a chair in front of the table. Nobody else was in the room, but the design of the room was so familiar that he could instantly recognise whereabouts there would be one-way glass. He knew that he was being watched. Now that he was awake, he felt that it would be expected for someone to open the door and make an appearance for him. On the table was also something rather surprising for him and something else below that table that was also very convenient. He was given a pasta dish that, though unfortunately cold, still smelled good and accompanied with water. Directly beneath the table was a bucket needed if he was to ever throw up again. He was still feeling very tired, and his head was rather sore from the wall-bang, but his thoughts seemed to be a lot clearer. Nothing was really on his mind except for the delicious look of amusement seeing the pasta dish ready to be eaten. While still handcuffed, he was still able to pick up the fork with ease and grab a few pieces to consume. It was a soothing harmony for him to be finally eating good food again. Being so hungry was a torturous feeling that he wanted to stay away from forever now. These prison workers were so kind to give him this well-made meal, now he had to do everything in their favour back to them to ensure he would be treated like this more often.

Two minutes eating and the door to the room opened. Two armed police Koopas walked in escorting another who looked to be wearing clothing to resemble a detective. One of the police officers walked over to Enrique while he was eating and unlocked his handcuffs, freeing his arms to be able to eat the meal more easily. Enrique had a look at this detective Koopa for a second just to examine his appearance. He was wearing all-brown, clothing of different look to either the police in blue or the other prison workers that were usually wearing green. Something seemed off to him as he walked very differently to how everyone else does here.

"I hope you're enjoying that." The detective Koopa smiled as he put down some folders on the opposite side of the desk before sitting on the only other chair in the room. "It was my idea to give you pasta." While Enrique had some food in his mouth, he had a closer look at the Koopa's clothing, searching for any name tag. Was this another Koopa that he would end up seeing multiple times just like Iker, or a one-time questioner that would see him to someone else? It wasn't Saïnis, and he wasn't either of the two police officers that were in the room before. Maybe all of them were just random Koopas helping him on his journey with an unknown end or destination.

"Do you know if Saïnis has anything more to say about my case?" Enrique asked the Koopa sitting opposite while he was readying his folders. The Koopa had a pen in hand ready to write a few things down as well.

"I don't know who Saïnis is I'm afraid." Enrique frowned as the Koopa replied. "I don't really know anybody around here, my job is very different to theirs you see." He felt a little relieved, but also a little confused. He wasn't exactly sure what this Koopa was here for then.

"I'm sorry, what?" Enrique couldn't help but interrupt to clear any possible confusion, but the Koopa kept talking anyway.

"So, one account of vehicular theft, one account of monetary theft, an account of physical assault, and public distress through use of a firearm..." He started looking around the room while the Koopa was still talking, half-overhearing what he was saying. "...and on top of that, the ongoing violation of the law of the great Grand Prix, which is not our responsibility to uphold you for. How do you plead?" Enrique regained his focus and looked back at the Koopa.

"Plead? Well you said that I was charged on an account of physical assault. When did I harm anyone?" He sat up straight and leaned forward at the Koopa questioning his possible crimes.

"All of these accounts previously stated occurred within a very small space of time. With the evidence granted to us by the public witnesses at the time, it's almost guaranteed that they all flow together, Mr. Calaghal."

"Bullshit." Enrique slid back on the chair, looking at where he assumed the one-way glass was. "I'll get to the crimes I might be held for, but the ones I weren't held for need answering to. When did I ever assault anyone yesterday?"

"You physically assaulted and injured Yokosora Shinoza on the streets of Cheep Cheep Beach, just before committing your fourth, second, and first accounts listed respectively." The detective Koopa stated, only angering Enrique more.

"That wasn't me. That was Rosalina! She was-."

"Rosalina?" The concerned and confused look on the Koopa's face startled him, indirectly interrupting him.

"Yes, Rosalina. It was her that pushed the Koopa onto the steps outside that restaurant. That I remember well actually." The Koopa looked back at him plainly, waiting for Enrique to finish this time. Enrique on the other hand felt a little confused too now, seeing a surprising reaction from the Koopa.

"That's interesting, because from our collected report written here... there is no mention of anybody else involved in your crimes, let alone Rosalina of all people... that doesn't look good for your case, now are you going to confess for your crimes or what, Mr. Calaghal?" Enrique paused after hearing the Koopa finished. Now he was truly confused. Sadly, this confusion not only was true but was worrisome. He began to question himself before questioning others, but like his usual nature, he shook his head, denying any possible self-disbelief and thought about the other possible issues.

"Who wrote this so-called collected report? Let me have a look at it." He reached over the table and tried to grab the folder where the papers were regarding his criminal accounts. The Koopa quickly snatched it from the table and held it away from Enrique's reach, glaring back at him.

"Don't make me call security. You're only making it worse." The Koopa threatened him.

"Your report is false, bogus, lies, treacherous to generalised governing to say the least." Enrique leaned over the table, insisting to the Koopa that he had his own look at the report.

"We cannot allow biased influencing of what is and isn't a crime."

"I'm not influencing the criminal accounts. I'm denying the existence and legitimacy of one of them. Rosalina was there with me and is the one guilty for this account."

"The document handed to me does not state Rosalina or anyone else being involved."

"Handed to you, who handed it to you? Who made this account? It's full of shit!" Enrique's visible aggression just through arguing was too much for the Koopa detective to handle. He got up and gave Enrique one more glare before signalling for the door to be opened again. Two guards immediately came through the door to safely escort him out.

"Your detainee needs more sleep." He said with a slight patronising tone. "He's clearly not well enough to be talking sense." Those were the last words Enrique heard from him as he was escorted outside. The guards followed, and closed the door behind them, leaving him alone inside with the possibility of still being watched from any side that might have one way glass.

Still inside the room, Enrique could hear muttering and shouting going on from the other side of one of the walls. It was the one to his left just alongside the door where the sound was coming from. He then noticed that in one of the top corners of the room lied a security camera, also watching and recording him this whole time. He stared straight into the camera and said nothing. The only thing that would break his silence would be the occasional cough he still had. He had no idea what was going on beyond the walls of his confinement, but the constant noise of arguing made him know that it wasn't a very good sign for his future inside here.

...

Eventually, the door opened up again, just as Enrique was starting to dose off on his chair. This time however, it was Saïnis, and Enrique was surprised to see him looking overly stressed out. Both he and Saïnis wanted complete peace and quiet but even Saïnis couldn't guarantee that with how things are going on the other side.

"We've come across a few... complications." The Koopa quickly sat down in front of Enrique, moving his finished bowl of pasta aside and out of the way of reaching hands and leaning bodies. "While you will still be put on trial for your actions of Cheep Cheep Beach, the spread of your... existence here has reached across all the southern lands so quickly leading us to have so many others on our doorstep trying to take you on for their own new cases they've just made. Unfortunately, this also includes private firms from the Delfino regions, and... dare I say it, the Toad Brigade." He spoke with a rather depressing tone, like he was announcing the death of a loved one to Enrique; a serious case of bad news.

"No. You're not giving them over to me." Enrique pleaded a way out of this, but the expression on Saïnis' face showed no sign of a change of events.

"As we are Wuhu-based we do have every right to withhold you as a prisoner here for the time being, which to both your and my surprise is your best case scenario, the Brigade have offered a reward, and have threatened us with the use of force to come in here and take you for capture themselves. From what we've heard, you're wanted dead or alive, for possible execution, and they're not joking around this time. There're a lot of them outside the building." Saïnis struggled to speak with confidence over the noise of what was going on outside the room. He began to hate the situation as well, purely as a Wuhu citizen that wanted to get his job done. Enrique began to look anxious and worried again, just after having a bit of time alone in the room trying to recover from a possible illness he caught from hunger and the torrential rain of last night.

"What are you going to do?" Enrique asked the Koopa.

"To minimise our own possible damage here, we've got no choice but to transfer you over to the Toad Brigade. On behalf of the police department of Hillin Village, we are sorry that your accounts are amounting for worse than what it should be. I will give you five minutes or until whenever this door behind me is going to burst down because at some point-."

BANG! BANG!

Saïnis was interrupted and he and Enrique jumped in reaction to hearing pistol gunshots being fired from behind the walls.

"...the Brigade soldiers and Patrol troops are going to come and take you forcefully." Saïnis finished.

Enrique shivered on his seat, resting his arms and leaning back and forth on the back legs of it. "Argh. You know you're fucked when the Toad Brigade are already firing their guns. No deus ex machina moment of magical sorcerers to save me from this one it seems." He was becoming more visibly anxious and scared in front of Saïnis, surprising him. "Can you at least monitor the situation outside?" He asked.

"I've already seen it and already told you. The same thing is also happening inside just with a few less people. All the detectives and inspectors and spies have shifted through the lands during the day to arrive here this afternoon."

"It's the afternoon?" Enrique interrupted, not fully realising the time.

"It's the evening." Saïnis replied.

"Is it still raining?"

"Yes, but not as heavy." He felt obliged to continue what he was talking about originally. If you don't go out this room eventually, the Toad Brigade or someone else are going to knock down this door, take you out of here as their prisoner or worse, open fire on you, because I feel like some of the Toad Brigade are that infuriated about what happened that night, that they'll willingly shoot on sight and ruin their career if it meant that they would go down as a hero to Princess Peach because they brought her your body."

BANG!

The gunshots continued, and started to be either louder or closer to the room. They became stressing Enrique so much that he felt unwell again. His coughs became more severe and his mental state started entering a breakdown phase. Saïnis became confused and also worried, fearing for his colleagues. Neither of them were able to check what was going on outside without opening the door; any possible danger right on the other side was completely unknown to them.

"I've got no choice now. You stay over there. Don't worry though. If you're not dead within the first thirty seconds, then I'll try and find a way to prolong your case. You're not currently the Mushroom Kingdom's prisoner, you're ours." Saïnis pointed to the opposite corner for Enrique to sit at and mustered his courage to unlock the questioning room door. The door slammed right open and armoured Toad Patrol soldiers emerged into the room one by one all with rifles and pistols pointing them towards Enrique. Saïnis was pushed aside but eventually found his way out of the room. However, Enrique did not believe the Koopa's last words one bit. This sight he saw before him really frightened him. An array of at least ten armoured Toad Patrol soldiers all holding rifles pointed at him, ready to fire. He was shouted at viciously by several of them to freeze and remain frozen on the spot. He was sweating, shaking, finding it hard to breathe with all of these weapons facing him; an actual chance of them firing was here as well. He knew that he was looking for a miracle but where could he go? The confined square space was completely covered in armoured Toads and the door was behind them all.

"I have to rescind my previous order." He began hearing a voice that stood out from the Toads and also came from behind them. A few in the middle cleared the space for a certain Toad in more formal uniform to emerge and stand in the front. He didn't know who this Toad was but it looked like he had some sort of authority over them. "This one matters too much to the Queen. We'll need him alive." What a sigh of relief. It just feels a little too staged for him. Enrique didn't feel that much calmer after knowing that he was to stay alive here, instead, he began to feel more doubts about himself and his purpose. How many times was he going to be saved, and how many times was he going to have his emotions played around by threatening violence, suffering, and hunger?

...

Randomly, the lights in the room switched off. Even the light from outside the room had disappeared. All the power in the lower floors of the police centre had gone out. Maybe Saïnis was right all along and that this was what he meant by having his chance of survival being existent and his capture being delayed somewhat.

"Rush!" Now was the time to make a stealthy escape. While the Toad in charge gave an order to the Patrol soldiers in the room, Enrique began to creep forward on the floor to one side, attempting to sneak past one of the Toads or at least get a hold of one of their rifles. Unfortunately, the command given by the Toad seemed to be so literal that Enrique didn't believe it, and was immediately pushed back and knocked over towards the same original corner as a result. He became surrounded in the same position but this time without any space to move around. The Toads collapsed onto him in the darkness and pushed his body around in the tiny compact space.

"Drag!" The Toad then shouted. Enrique now felt even worse effects onto his body physically. He was pulled, lifted, shoved, pushed, and dragged as the Toad had stated. All this shoving about made him feel very dizzy, causing a build-up of vomit to rush up his throat area. Being constantly pushed around delayed the speed in which the sick came up through his body causing Enrique to continuously choke and cough until it began to spew out all over the Patrol soldiers that were closest to him, blinding their already blinded vision due to the lack of power in the lights in the room. He began to be lifted up and held on top of all of the guards, losing control of his arms and legs. All the knocking also tired his body, making him feel weak and severely unwell again as he was escorted out of the room. Some of the Toad Patrol soldiers were disgusted by the vomit getting on to their armour and their visors, stressing them out and causing them to move away from Enrique, but enough of them were able to carry him out of the room. He began to see light again while being forcefully taken out, only from outside though and it was not even good light. Just whatever the sun managed to get through all of the dark clouds and light rain. What he did see a lot more of were people now. Saïnis was at least right about some things. There were Koopas and Toads from various parts of the southern lands hoping to have caught the prize that was Enrique himself, but sadly, like usual, the Toad Brigade got their hands on him not because they were first, but through force greater than what any other group could manage or produce. On the way outside, he saw so many more people. Half-awake and half-of-life, he was able to glance on the hundreds that stood out in the rain to see him while being carried from the top of all of the remaining Toad Patrol soldiers. They threw him in to a black reinforced van from the back, almost completely empty and flat and likely to set course for Mushroom City. If the journey there was going to be by van for all of it, then at least he would be able to get a whole twelve hours of sleep and rest to himself before his next episode of stress and danger arrives.

Enrique was feeling a mix of emotions right now. Being so deteriorated he wasn't able to think straight. He wasn't on his best mental ability so that if another present danger were to arrive, he wouldn't be able to operate in the best way possible to avoid it. Thinking back on the night before while dozing off in the van, he knew that maybe if he was feeling better then he would be able to escape Hillin Village and proceed the journey westward. Lots of other possibilities appeared in his mind in hindsight, such as keeping the car from yesterday and non-stop driving for hours and hours in the night to get far enough away from the spies and the police, or even abandoning Rosalina entirely earlier in the day after getting spending money from the Koopas back in Cheep Cheep Beach. He began to realise how unpredictable meeting new people can be. They're ever happy to see someone famous such as himself and would be happy to support him no matter what his business was or what his past was like... or they're stuck up to a higher authority wanting to get their hands onto him. Regardless, the Toads eventually showed up and in a fashion too tedious and tough for him to handle while under the weather.

...

The aftermath of the Hillin Village Police Station incident was seen very differently to others however. A dark day came to a ruinous end at the grounds after the Toad Brigade invaded and took Enrique by force. The gunfire noises were accurate to what the two inside that questioning room imagined it to be, but fortunately no lives were lost. The cost was in the sheer damage that the Patrol soldiers made when they marched through. These were highly-armoured, specially-trained, marine-type Toads used for certain specific missions unlike the Brigade that were used for general incidents and purposes. Saïnis and the other Koopas and Toads working at the police station were met with destroyed rooms, damaged walls and bullets on the floor after turning the power back on. The Koopa was disheartened to see Enrique failing to escape from the grasp of the Patrol when he arrived back to the questioning room. All of the Toad Patrol vehicles and soldiers had left the scene, leaving behind only their destruction. Those that remained were every other group of detectives that drove down to the scene and then the station today. Many were injured and a few were badly wounded from the gunfire, but sadly, there was nothing any of them could do to get revenge on the Toad Patrol. The likes of Cheep Cheep Beach, Yagpar, Zeltarc West, Hyglon, Dionymoor, even a branch that came down from the capital were here only to be disappointed by not only their bad contestability of the case, but the Toad Patrol sweeping through all of them combined with no mercy.

"Chief's not going to like this when he gets back from the capital." One of the other lower ranked workers at the police station awkwardly said back to Saïnis after he assessed the damage in the main halls of the station. He saw many of the other firms leaving, with a few still being in need of aid.

"It's not going to matter what Chief's opinion is. The chief answers to Éclair and we all know that once Peach or Daisy secretly tells her an excuse for this, she's going to disregard it and make us all move on with our lives and our jobs." Saïnis replied back to his colleague. He walked a little more forward and back towards the questioning room. There was a smashed dinner plate on the floor and papers lying about everywhere surrounding a damaged notepad. He went over and collected all of the pieces of paper, noticing the recollection of Enrique's crimes, heavily edited. He didn't know who the questioner was or where he came from, but he was nowhere to be seen in the grounds of the police station. The most dangerous part was that he wasn't one of their own, and looking back on it now, he invited himself in without the agreement of the Hillin Village police.

"Rosalina was there." He heard a voice coming from the doorway.

Saïnis got up from picking up everything from the floor and looked around to see the same irritable Koopa from this morning. "You again?" He grunted, knowing that it was the laughing stock of Yagpar's department.

"That Koopa that came today, he's not from around here." The Yagpar detective helped Saïnis take his papers out of the room and onto a desk nearby which overlooked a transparent glass window into the questioning room. "I knew something was up. I heard it from outside, there's literal photo footage of Rosalina being the one to push that Koopa girl onto the floor."

"I was going to say..." Saïnis noticed everywhere on the papers that mentioned anything to do with Rosalina or the violent act she made was either scribbled out or edited to state that Enrique was the one to abuse the Koopa. "Why would anyone do this? It's not like Rosalina works for the Mushroom Kingdom, right? Or does she?" Both Iker and Saïnis shrugged.

"Anyway, we've got a bigger problem. It concerns the other girls of these lands, not just princess Éclair." Iker swiped the folder down the desk, putting it out of Saïnis' sight.

"What do you mean? Are you once again in need of every local town's support because your department managed to screw something up yet again?" Saïnis crossed his arms, looking unimpressed with Iker.

"Not really. It's by not screwing up that actually led to a screw-up. You see... about Princess Rose..."

"Yes, I'm well aware of Rose. It was announced to all departments that she was to be taken into custody by Éclair's personal guard, which YOU were to deliver her to, right?"

"Yes! That's exactly what I did..." Iker gulped. "But... by the next day... the g-girl... the w-witch arrived, demanding Rose."

"Nope." Saïnis held Iker by the shoulder and rushed with him out of the room, carefully escorting him all the way out of the building. "I'm sorry but you are not putting that burden on me or anyone in this department. We have got enough damage to deal with at hand right now. You'll have to ask for aid from somebody else." He shoved Iker onto the ground at the car park where the rain wasn't as prevalent anymore. "Good day to you, Mr. Koopasi!"

EOC: This was very messy. Quite a very big hole was dug here but attempts were made to patch it all up. Updating will try to be back on schedule soon enough.

See you then.