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)

10. Those Who Remain

Downfall of the Mushroom Kingdom

Those Who Remain

A/N: This chapter is going to take a somewhat different approach. Things will be looking brighter for this part at least. I hope you all find this somewhat wholesome after the last chapter's despair.

Take additional note that most of the places used in this chapter are similar to some that were used in the chapter named 'The Mental Health Issue' and are accurate depictions of places in real life. No, this is not a self-dox.

March 13, Daytime

Earth

Bexley, England

(In Peach's Perspective):

I can't believe that after spending no more than three days here that I would actually be properly at peace with my mind. No more nightmares, no more shapeshifters and spectral figures to track me down, no more danger. I'm well-nourished, sleeping well, and even have a lot of spare change after sneaking through the entirety of that school in the first night. I managed to get over fifty pounds just from the drawers of all of those school classrooms and offices, although I am running low on it now. That's why I've came back from a quick secret trip back home to bring something else I have always wondered about using here...

I remember those fond memories of the times I used to speak with Muji all the time about this in Aypyidaw. Back then, his library of all those books he made about the way this other world works was all the knowledge I could get from this place so that someday I would be able to go one day on my own accord and be free to do what I want there in attempts to make back home a lot better and safer. Sadly, in recent days, the only other times I have been here are for seeking treatment for things I couldn't cure back at home, like that disastrous scar that sparked all of the nightmares. Thank the English healthcare system for fixing that up for me. It's almost gone now.

One of Muji's most important books he wrote about for his library was about the finances and the way money works on Earth. Its use in these lands makes far more sense. The world is divided up into so many other countries and governments and they all use their own currencies where economies work better and differently in that way. I guess the fact that money's been around in the Mushroom Kingdom for not very long since the governing bodies tried to adopt this strategy hasn't proven to be very useful. Coins used to do it all but then they decided to adopt using paper and notes and gave each district their own currency thus creating four different, smaller economies. It just doesn't really make sense for me to have all of those coins and money as all it has really done is go back and forth between the Castle's bank and the people. I guess the races didn't really help with that either. We had so many millions of coins come in to the castle through ticket sales and broadcasting revenue, and our best way to use it is to just give it back to them. I don't even mean through spending on innovation. It's not like we have to spend any of the coins to get what we want when we literally own everything back at home.

"Muji, I've read a lot about your books about Earth. When are you going to take me there?" I remembered myself asking him that when I was just a teenager. See, Muji's books were very dated, but most of the knowledge should be able to apply to how the world is operating today. He didn't often update them either. Since they were handwritten, he would only go on to write new books in his younger years. With so much to manage including running the town of Aypyidaw and managing me as times got worse again, there was little to learn about it.

"You're not ready for the greater world." He would always say that or something similar back to me. I would often try to argue with him, especially when I was still a child, but I had gotten used to it. Sadly, all of his books are either destroyed or out of possible use. They're in the hands of the hostile Koopas now, but thank goodness they or the Toads have no chance in crossing the portals and the Great Pipe. Muji always said that it would lead to catastrophic disaster for both worlds.

"I will eventually, right?" My younger self would hope for an exact time where he would take me to see the other side one day. Though sometimes looking back, I wonder if my high-pitched voice squeaking out sentences was annoying to him or not.

"When the time is right, the day will come." He would always smile back to me. "Now run along back to your personal guards. I've got business with Attilo and the other big boys to deal with up here." Oh him and his other six, the appointed seven, chopping and changing over the years... Too bad none of the others had any interest in me. I'm all that matters, but only Muji was smart enough to realise that back in the day. How my debt to him is simply impossible to pay back; if only he did take me on his frequent journeys to 'assist' the British as he would call it. Maybe that would have been too much.

Unfortunately, one out-of-turn visit to Brooklyn and several incidents that made duty have the priority over freedom and I never saw myself ever needing to cross the Great Pipe.

What have I got against me going to places like this now? I mean, I've got other people that can manage the Kingdom while I am gone for a few days. Brooklyn fair point it's far too crowded and miserable, but here, a nice quiet suburb of a better city thanks to Tom's magnificent but all be it unorthodox invention, I could never ignore a visit to somewhere like this. It truly makes me feel human... except for the part where I've had to sleep in a nearby park and it is considerably colder at both day and night, but still, I'm happy to be disconnected from the Mushroom Kingdom for once.

Back to the matter at hand. This coin is quite heavy and it's something I've been meaning to check while I'm here. I remember someone once telling me about how gold can buy so much around here. If only I could find a way to figure out how I could spend this coin, or at least find a way I could exchange it into British Pounds. I believe that's what the currency around here is called. I'm currently at the other end of the park that was opposite the school that houses Tom's portal, and I believe that down the end of this long road is another big town in the area according to a map I found on a signpost in the park. Hopefully there'll be a bank or something equivalent there. That's probably the best place to check. I'll just get the bus as well. That's one thing this land has got a lot of compared to the Mushroom Kingdom and beyond. Yes, we have trains, but buses? Not so much of. All I know is that there are tram systems such as the ones in Toad Harbour and Sutfort, but these things here don't need tracks. They work like giant cars and they're amazing.

...

It took me fifteen minutes to get to the centre of town from the bus stop opposite that park's entrance, and I know that I'm in the centre of this town because I remember Duncan once talking about this place one time and how there was that big clock tower in the centre of it. Shame, the clock tower isn't that big. There's a nice fountain next to it as well, that's where the all the kids and teenagers hang out it seems. There's about thirty of them all sitting around and smoking cigarettes. I know those are cigarettes because I read about them in one of Muji's books. Go me for remembering!

Now, where can I make use of this coin? I'm too afraid to ask, but there doesn't look like there are any banks around here. How am I supposed to tell what shop is a bank? Every shop has a very weird name that doesn't really tell you what it is. I mean, what on Earth is a Marks and Spencer? I'll have to figure out something. The only thing that seems to be what its name suggests is the town's library. I'll head inside there and see what I can do. There's got to be some information I can find there about how I can trade in this gold coin. Either a book or something... oh my goodness! A computer! We've got those! Even the boys from Earth have told me that you can do anything on there because they've got an internet just like we do! Maybe that's also another thing Muji and the other appointed seven at the time had brought across. Either them or the twins at least. (*)

Peach came across a small section of the library where there were computer booths along a small hallway with books on the other side. There was very little here on things to do with finance but her recognition of a computer made her rush over to it quietly.

"Here's where I can search on the web." She whispered to herself once she sat herself down. With enough knowledge to get her used to the computer quickly, Peach entered the computer as a library guest and found the internet browser. On here she was met with the search engine, unsure what to do next. All she saw was the blank screen with a line for text to be typed on.

'gold price' was all she typed in first. Here, she was met with all of her search results, many things were news articles, but the main webpage she found first was Earth's main site, . Everything on this site confused her immensely. So many graphs and numbers were too much for her, and she wasn't able to tell what each of them meant. She scratched her head for a few seconds before taking another ponder across the page. "What's usd?" she said to herself while going onto a new tab on the web browser to simply type in 'usd'. She was met with a conversion rate of £1 to $1.47, another thing she was very confused about. However, after a few more seconds, she noticed that the two numbers were representing currencies, learning that usd meant the US Dollar and that gbp meant the Great British Pound. Both of these were currencies that Muji's books had described about when she read them. Now that she had a rough idea on what some of the values meant, she knew now to check the other website to see which numbers on it represented the monetary value of the gold. The gold graph didn't look very nice for her to see as it was mostly downward over the past year, but the price was very substantial. Around £26000 per kilogram, another thing she knew about. Her eyes widened, but there was only one thing she was yet to figure out: the mass of a gold coin. Peach took the coin she had out of her pockets and had a play around with it to guise its weight. It was easy on her hands but didn't feel weightless when carrying it around. She noticed that it did have quite a drag on her when carrying it around through the town today. As she couldn't guesstimate the weight from just feeling it, she sought other methods to figure out how much this would be worth.

'1 kilogram of gold' she searched next, and selected images. Here she saw various pictures of gold as ingots, with a few showing their size with respect to the human hand. The coin she had on her spanned just over her entire palm size whilst having a thickness slightly greater than the ingot she perceived on the screen. She thought to herself that if this is one kilogram she's seeing on the screen then the coin in her grasp must be between two and three kilograms. The last thing she went onto on the internet browser was a calculator website. With all of the essential numbers she had, she could now figure out how much a coin would cost. Peach first typed in the price of a kilogram of gold and then multiplied that by the upper bound weight of what this coin could be...

Her eyes widened once again. She almost gasped but kept herself quiet. The numerical price of a coin in her hand was almost six figures in Great British Pounds. If this was all she could get with one coin, then she couldn't believe what she thought she could get for even a tiny fraction of all the coins she had back in the castle. She multiplied it by a thousand but closed the tabs as she saw the money. She backed away from the computer a little, getting a few heads in the library turn her way. Awkwardly she faced back to the computer screen and took the gold coin from the desk and placed it back into her pocket. With a few more minutes spent at the library computers she was able to find a place where she could possibly exchange the gold, but upon realising, maybe it wasn't best for her to do this job. Perhaps when she returns to the Mushroom Kingdom she could ask Muji to do it for her. Maybe that way she would be able to freely make use of the money she could get in the other world to spend on other world things. Maybe there were things she could learn from here that she could apply in Muhu Delfethal to better her personal health and wellbeing as well as any possible thing that could benefit the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom.

"I've got to get back to Muji. He's got to help me out with this." She said to herself as she declared that she was finished with the computer. She closed the tabs and logged out, taking all her belongings back to the entrance...

...However, just before exiting, there was one thing to the side that caught her eye. Peach paused and peered over to a stack of white folded papers in a sort of box pile. They were newspapers, but the front headline of this recent instalment grabbed her attention. It was an article writing about a mystery concerning the disappearance of thousands upon thousands of UK Armed Forces' owned weapons, mainly rifles and bullets. Peach discretely looked around to see if anyone was looking at her and quickly stole the paper, taking it outside with her... not knowing that the papers were free to take in the first place.

"More on this article at page five..." Peach said to herself as she walked over to the nearest empty bench in town. Quietly and alone, she flicked through a few pages to see a similar title in big text and a corresponding image, followed by a massive essay in smaller text on the side of the page. While the journalist who wrote this article is completely unknown to Peach given that said journalist is from Earth and has no connection with the Mushroom Kingdom, all the weapons described in the article resembled similar weapons to what she realised to have seen a rise of recently, especially in the hands of people who aren't part of the Toad Patrol's forces. She continued reading and learned that the disappearance of the weapons happened to be consistent and on a longer time frame, spanning months going as far back as late last year. More data suggests that the UK's (which she knew was England and its surrounding territories according to her knowledge) data on all of the manufacturing of weapons and seeing a small percentage of them go missing, not included in any imports. The article stated that several sources showed different amounts of weapons missing but it leads to an approximate number averaged by the sources to be in the tens of thousands.

"Hmm..." Peach folded the top corner of the newspaper page, marking it for later. She looked over a few more pages and noticed what else could be found in this newspaper. There were all sorts of things, ranging from general articles, political and economic articles and data, as well as fashion prints. Seeing what the models of this land dressed up as really caught Peach's interest. She kept flicking through the pages and saw various outfits, all for different occasions. All the possibilities fuelled her with ideas, but now was not the time. She needed to at least update the situation with Muji to see if she could get a few of these things, as well as possibly tell him about the article in the newspaper about the disappearing weapons...

...Or was it the right time? After all, Peach would expect Muji to deny her chance of converting the coin to gold, given how busy he is and how busy she should be if she told him that all she was doing was going around and flaunting money on Earth. Maybe it was better for her to do it herself... if only she knew how to though, as she didn't know how difficult it really was for someone with no documents or details as a citizen of this country she was in.

The day went on, and in the town centre, Peach saw an influx of children showing up to the main precinct where most of the shops were and where the bench she was sitting on was. Most of the kids seemed to be wearing uniform, with some wearing clothes similar to the ones worn by the two students she came across at the school the portal was constructed at. All of the school kids walked through the precinct and hanged around the area in groups. Peach remained on her bench, half-eyeing on the newspaper. She wanted to check if she saw any familiar faces at the same time. There were groups of boys, groups of girls, and mixed groups, talking loudly and noticeably amongst the rest of the people in town. All of the teenagers from the school seemed to resemble a public nuisance, walking around with loud voices and getting into other peoples' way. Peach stayed put and watched them all swarm through the precinct space.

One girl amongst the group of school-teens was a very tall blonde; recognisable from the other day as the girl with the other boy. Peach tried to give a subtle wave to get her attention, but she managed to catch all of her friends' eyes too.

"One second girls... hey!" The girl smiled brightly at Peach as she approached, but quickly changed that upon not having her face seen by her friends. "What the fuck are you doing here? I thought I'd never see you again." She whispered aggressively, startling Peach.

"Take it easy." Peach replied anxiously. "I'm just spending the day in town and spotted you here. I was hoping-."

"Spotted me here?" The girl interrupted. "You clearly followed me here-."

"No I didn't." Peach redirected. "I've been using the library for the past hour and had lunch here a few hours ago. I was-."

"Why did you go to the library?"

"Will you stop interrupting me?" Peach knew that what the girl was doing talking over her was severely punishable back in the Mushroom Kingdom, but being on Earth, there is no such power here and she would have to resort to talking back to her the same way she did. "I went there to research what I could do with this." She discretely revealed part of the gold coin from one of her pockets to show the girl. "I need to find somewhere I can legitimately exchange this for actual money. What did you say your name was again?"

"Is that real gold?" The girl asked. Peach nodded back. "Ellis, Ellis Harper."

"Peach Toadstool." The two shook hands despite already seeing each other once before. "Could you help me out with this?" She put it back into her pocket while Ellis looked around awkwardly at her other friends who were in a distant circle chatting amongst themselves and laughing away.

"No, I... I can't. Peach." Ellis brushed her long hair to the side and anxiously fiddled with it. "I'm fifteen years old. People my age aren't old enough to be doing stuff like that. You need to be at least twenty-one or something. I dunno." Peach sighed, but then came to sudden realisation.

"Wait, I can still do that. If you show me where I can exchange it then surely I can just do the rest from there, right?" Ellis looked around awkwardly, hesitating on what to do next.

"How old are you?" She asked rather abruptly.

"...Older than twenty-one." Peach grinned with a bit of embarrassment.

"I err... I've got to get back to my friends now." She noticed Ellis repeatedly look from her to her friends, unsure on what they will do. "Sorry..."

"Do you know where I can find you friend, Rynmar?" She asked her. "Maybe he can help me on this?"

"You can check the school. Maybe he's still there, otherwise... there's not much I can think of."

"Do you have his phone number?" Peach embarrassed her once again. "Could you call him for me? Let me borrow your phone." She watched Ellis look away awkwardly, hearing her friends call her name.

"...Occupy yourself for another thirty minutes and meet me back here. Sorry, I need to do something with my friends. I hope you don't mind." Ellis spoke very quickly and quietly before giving a half-asked wave and a loud 'see you around' before going back to her friends. Peach sighed with stress and a bit of aggression, relying on this girl's word to get more help with her coin situation. A good hour's walk away from the school and by the time she'd get there if she made a walk back, the school would most likely be closed and Rynmar would definitely not be there. Peach decided to remain on the bench and have a look around, letting the surprisingly cool spring breeze brush past her cheeks as the minutes ticked by. She watched Ellis rejoin her group of friends as they moved towards the fountain further up in the precinct area. This was where all of the schoolchildren seemed to hang around, and where a lot of cigarettes were smoked. Peach despised those with a passion and was glad that those things were never exported to the Mushroom Kingdom and elsewhere on the other side...

...

Within the space of about ten minutes, Peach witnessed several kids getting into fights with each other, more kids shouting, and the general public asking them all to go. After losing sight of Ellis, Peach got up and slowly walked over to get a closer look at what all the schoolchildren were getting up to. Most of the kids around the area were short, white, and in various school uniforms, with the boys sharing similar appearances to Duncan and the girls looking like shorter versions of Ellis. Some of Ellis' friends were also here, but Ellis wasn't anywhere to be seen in the crowds.

"Who are you?" One random school kid went up to Peach and questioned her. "Are you a nonce?" The kid asked again.

"What's a nonce?" She asked the kid back, who started to laugh.

"It means you touch kids." The kid shouted back aggressively. "Pedo! Pedo!"

"Nope!" Peach got grabbed by a similar sounding voice and got dragged into the nearest shop. She turned around and noticed that it was Ellis.

"When I said occupy yourself for thirty minutes, this was not what I meant." Ellis sighed, waiting inside the store.

"That child was rather unpleasant. I hope they're not all like that." Peach decided to wipe away the thought of that child and move on with everything.

"That kid over there... that's what we call a Chav." Ellis grinned. "Anyways, you may as well wait in here, my appointment is about to call me in." Peach looked around the store and was fascinated by it. Hundreds of pairs of glasses were hung up on the walls, all with price tags attached to them.

"I think I know what these things are. Toadsworth wears those on his eyes too." Peach walked up to one of them and had a closer look. "I don't really know what's so special about them."

"They're glasses." Ellis said back. "They help people's poor vision adjust back to perfection."

"Poor vision?" Peach seemed a bit confused. "How does that happen?"

"You've never known about glasses?" Ellis' face turned plain and expressionless. "You're really not from around here, are you?" Peach gave an awkward smile back.

"...Miss Ellis Harper?" Somebody working at the store called out the girl's name. "Would you like to come with me?"

"Yes, thank you." Ellis smiled and started walking away from Peach. "Don't do anything stupid, and don't leave too!" She whispered back to Peach as she headed off further into the store and into a room in the distance, now out of sight. Peach turned around and had a peek outside to see the school fights still taking place by the precinct square's fountain. All the kids watched and let the fights happen despite having uniform on and representing their schools in public. Every stranger to the scenes didn't bother to intervene; they simply went by with their own business to deal with.

"Is everything okay, may I help you?" One of the workers at the store startled Peach, making her gasp quietly. "Sorry if I made you jump." The person smiled.

"It's fine. I'm just waiting for my friend who's having an appointment." Peach awkwardly smiled back, stepping around slowly and glancing at all the pairs of glasses hung up and placed on the walls.

"We do have a waiting area if you would like to go there." The worker insisted on bringing her in, but she hesitated and refused.

"Honestly, I'm fine. I appreciate the offer though." She shook her head and gave the worker the kindest look she could pull off subtly. The worker nodded and moved back to the desk further into the store, taking his attention away from her. While Ellis was still occupied around the back, Peach waited for some more time until she was done, strictly refusing to go outside. She knew she had to stay firmly here until she was done.

...

More time passed, and Ellis had come out of the room at the back. Peach watched her stand in front of the desk for another minute to hand a few things over, but soon came towards her when she was done.

"My eyes are still fine... before you ask anything more. Let's go." Ellis smiled at Peach briefly before taking her outside again. The two were back on the precinct square area and the school children that were previously occupying the area had dispersed in all directions following the fights.

"Will you help me convert the gold then?" Peach asked as the two stepped outside, with Ellis wondering where to go next. She said nothing and only beckoned Peach to follow her towards the nearest empty side-alley of the precinct. "Where are you taking me?"

"Listen." Ellis stopped and turned around. "I know you're not around here or you're completely crazy but that's the only reason why I'm giving you any attention. A random adult just sneaking into my school is really creepy, thank goodness you're not a man otherwise you'd probably be behind bars... With regards to your gold, let me see it first, just so I know that you're not bullshitting me and that it's actual gold." She crossed her arms and looked a little down on her, reaffirming to Peach that she's the one in charge despite only being fifteen. Peach took the large coin from her pocket and presented it forward, keeping a firm grasp on it due to being slightly paranoid about what this stranger could do with it so close to her.

"You better not take it for yourself." Peach grinned, making Ellis smile whilst trying to still remain serious.

"Shut up." She said with a joyful mood. "...Yeah... this is real. Fuck, who could I possibly ask about this?"

"Your parents?" Peach suggested.

"Hah." She giggled again. "My parents are split, and either of them would think I'm doing something illegal and perhaps call the police on you."

"Split?" Peach was once again confused.

"My parents don't live with each other; not really interested in each other anymore."

"Right." The two gave another thought about the coin for the next few seconds. "Any idea?"

Ellis remained silent for at least another minute, gesturing randomly and walking in circles for most of it before resting against the nearby wall at the end. "I'm wasting my day thinking about this. I'm sorry... whoever you are, but I cannot help you any further. Go ask Rynmar or something." She shook her head after finally coming to the decision that she wasn't going to bother herself with Peach anymore. Peach became more agitated than upset about it and started blocking Ellis' walking as she tried to leave.

"Just let me call Rynmar. You have his number, right? He'd do anything to help me." She got right in front of Ellis and disrupted her, annoying her as well.

"Pretty adult woman, of course he'd help you." Ellis laughed. "And no, I don't. I don't really talk to him; only recently because of his behaviour. Now excuse me, I must be on my way back to my Mum." She sidestepped around Peach but she didn't give up in getting in her way. "I swear if you keep annoying me then I will call the police as you're still a stranger to me." That was the words Peach didn't want to hear. Any way that could catch her would mean her entire strive for success while here would be for nothing and the Mushroom Kingdom would be lost. Peach stopped and stood still as Ellis walked further down the road towards what looked like a bus stop. She watched Ellis get out her purse which presumably had either coins or notes for a bus fare or a card used for it.

"I can help you find your friends... Duncan and Tobias..." Ellis stopped before she reached the bus stop. "...As well as their old teacher. Mr. Tûnis, right? Tom. That's what everyone back at home calls him." She watched Ellis turn back around with a grave look of concern. "At least, some call him traitor but that's beside the point." She wasn't moving back towards her. In fact, she looked towards the nearby bus that was soon arriving to the stop.

"I can't help you tonight, but maybe tomorrow." She said softly, but just about loud enough for Peach to overhear her. It was Peach who was now walking over.

"Tomorrow at eight. Eight in the evening. The fence outside the school." Peach suggested quickly as the bus doors opened.

"You're asking for a lot, but I'll do it. Just this once, Iffy." Ellis backed away one last time to get on her bus. Peach gave a subtle wave as she got inside and watched the bus leave within the minute. One more day. This should be easy for her to wait out; only one more day before she could bring not one but two people from Earth to potentially work for her. All of this talk about the gold coin reminded her about somebody who could help her turn it in to money with ease, given the circumstances. Sadly, it's down to whether he would let her or not.

March 12, Evening

Aypyidaw, Southwest Résethal

The sun had just set, and the sky was getting darker. The journey out of the tunnels was a scary one, but oddly safe enough in which there were no encounters with other Koopas. Tom and Toby ventured out to discover the fields that lay on the edge of the northern side of the mountain range to be empty, and the vale where Aypyidaw resided looked completely quiet. So quiet in fact that the two began to question whether the city was inhabited at all now. The two now got service signal back on their new phones, so they were able to text Muji an update that they had gotten to the other side safely. Tom was sending the text while Toby walked on ahead a little more, getting closer to the empty train tracks that used to house trains connecting to Aypyidaw and beyond.

"I bet these are abandoned too." He said back to Tom, looking ahead towards the town. "Muji was right. This place has fallen." The two could both see smoke still lingering from some parts of the town. No sound was coming from the inside either.

"Muji should know about our whereabouts now. This should be fine. Let's get a closer look at this place and have another meal. Maybe we should get an early night so we could start venturing out at sunrise or maybe even earlier. The earlier the better." Tom suggested back.

Unlike on the southern coast of the Wuhu Kingdom, it wasn't pouring down with rain and there weren't that many clouds. While the storm is yet to happen at this point in time, the weather was coming from the southwest and isn't expected to reach this far north. What the two boys journeying here saw was a clear evening sky, and a nice temperature that still felt like the summer months.

"Which way's the best way in?" Toby asked, looking back at Tom as he was still a bit behind. "There could be evil Koopas anywhere." The two lowered their bodies behind the train track fences, walking along the small gap between the two ridges on either side that composed of the train tracks. Everywhere was quiet, and going along here towards the town kept them well out of sight of anything that could be looking their way.

"Let me lead." Tom made Toby stop for a bit, going on ahead down the tracks. "I know my way around this place rather well given the amount of times I've been called up here." The two pressed on, following the rails all the way to the town's train station. It was situated relatively far from the Red Martyr's headquarters and the platforms were underground. Most of the lights in the train station were destroyed but some remained intact and on. The area had some of its power still on due to being directly connected through the power grid based in the Powerhouse Peninsula, left untouched for more than two months now. Thankfully from this, the two were able to see where they were going as they got off the train tracks and onto the nearest platform. Even the screens were turned on, but there were no incoming trains on the screen as the trains were not to stop here even if trains did run through here. Everywhere was still freakishly quiet, but if anything, it made the job easier for the two as they went by the assumption that all the Koopas had left the town by now. It had been almost two full days since the assault on Aypyidaw, so everything of importance was already taken and perhaps there wouldn't be any reason for any of the Koopas to stay. The train station area was still heavily run-down because of the invasion. Any glass window that used to be here was smashed up, all doors to officers were left open, papers and rubble were scattered all across the floor and the ticket booths were destroyed.

"This place feels very... liminal." Toby wondered as he walked through the main area of the train station.

"This reminds me a lot of Vurduresa. The old times when I was here back in 2010. I don't like it one bit." Tom slowed down his walking, feeling paranoid now that he was in the centre of an open space.

"There's an abandoned cafe over here." Toby noticed. He rushed over to it, squeezing past the flipped-over tables and checking round the counter. "Maybe there are some ready-mades in the shelves or something. We could eat those tonight instead of our foods." His tone was very bright and optimistic as he dived around the back. Tom couldn't help but follow as he'd lose sight of him otherwise. That's exactly not what to do in a situation like this. "The water's still running here." Toby called out, frustrating Tom.

"Shush, don't be too loud. You never know if there's a Koopa hiding somewhere." Tom finally caught up with Toby as he saw him pouring some tap water into a cup he found.

"They won't know we're here though." Toby tried to defend himself despite knowing on the inside that what he did was a mistake and an accident.

"Still, even if they are here, they'd know we're here now that they've heard us." Tom sighed, apologising briefly for his aggressive persuasion. "Best we keep our voices down anyway, just in case." Toby nodded back and finished his cup of water. It tasted somewhat good enough still despite being from an abandoned town.

"Here, have some." He grabbed another cup from the area behind the front counter and poured into it under the running tap. While Tom was being refreshed with a fine glass of water, Toby inspected the other parts of this area. It was the kitchens and offices of the building where most things were prepared. Despite everything being ready-made and placed up on the stands at the side of the cafe, there seemed to be other things that were here too. "Tom, you might want to have a look at this." He spoke loudly enough to get his attention to go further around the back. Here, the two arrived to one of the offices in the station complex, barely considered part of the cafe anymore, but what they saw in the office desk freaked both of them out. It was a Koopa's body, undergoing decomposition, rotting and stinking out the entire room. One defining attribute to this body was that it had bled for days, with a knife still remaining pierced into the Koopa's upper body tissue.
"Could literally be anybody." Tom said, sniffing the room and leaving immediately.

"Rest in peace." Toby awkwardly let out with a bit of remorse before closing the office door.

"That Koopa wasn't even wearing the red cloaks of the Red Martyrs. It just shows how vile some of these hostile Koopas could be. Some worse than others obviously."

"All are bad enough." Toby returned to the sink. "So, it's best we stay away from that room then."

"It won't be the only time we see a body like that. Aypyidaw's gonna be filled with them." Tom went over to the main area of the cafe to look for any more meals he could take to eat this evening. There were plenty of things left untouched since the invasion, and the heating and cooling spots were still working oddly. He was delighted to have himself a relatively nice meal this evening with Toby.

"So are we going to stay in the station tonight or should we investigate the rest of the town tonight?" Toby asked as the two started on their meals by a table.

"Not sure yet. I'll update Muji on what we're up to. Maybe I'll give him a call to see if there's anything specific he wants us to be doing. Hopefully he'll be less vague about it like how vague Eoréc and Neodjan were when we had to do that hostile surveillance scheme during the race period. That was hectic and only led to mess."

"All I remember about that was the Seven Farms fiasco, there wasn't really much else about it, was there?"

"Not really." Tom replied. "It kind of ended when it backfired on us when Enrique went to Blockfort and went missing. He can be really selfish and annoying sometimes but I sure hope he's alright. Guy flees away like a hawk, only to return like a dog or a spoiled child." Toby grinned but kept eating. Tom got out his phone and started reviewing the texts that Muji had just recently sent to him.

"Any update on what we should be looking for?" Toby asked Tom.

"He said that clues for the weapon distribution won't be found in Aypyidaw. We'd have to check further north. He hasn't said anything about whether this town is populated anymore or not though." Tom was getting through his meal while looking through the texts on the phone. He sent back one message saying that they were currently residing in the train station, and that there was spare food and drink for them there.

"I say we should inspect the city tonight and then journey further north tomorrow." Toby suggested, getting a nod back from Tom.

"We can leave most of our stuff back here too. We can leave the spare ammunition and our backpacks inside a cupboard somewhere here then we can take the things in the morning." Tom also thought about what they could do to spend the rest of the night in town.

"Yeah, let's do that." Toby agreed. "It's almost nine in the evening. I say we check the headquarters for the next hour then head to bed somewhere in here." The two finished their meals and got up from the chairs beside the nearest table to the front counter. Their backpacks were taken off and the two only armed themselves with their rifles, a pistol each, and ammunition in their pockets. No food or drink was taken as they had just nourished themselves. It was now time for the two to head further upstairs towards the front entrance of the train station. Their surroundings got darker as they left the lights of downstairs and were met with only the distant light of the moon in the night sky. The walls of the Red Martyr headquarters were noticeable as they stood out from the rest of the town, rising higher than most of the other buildings near the town square. What separated the two from the headquarters were the main town square and all of the residential buildings in the middle part of the town, all of which were either run-down or destroyed entirely. Debris was scattered everywhere and most houses did not have lights on or electricity going to them. It was just abandoned ruins, like a true warzone; the remains of a city after successful rioting and invading. After a few more minutes, the courtyard of the headquarters was within reach, and it looked nothing like how Tom had ever seen it before. One of the outer walls was broken down and the floor was tattered and dirty, filled with debris, blood stains, and various piles of ash, bone, and broken shells. Toby felt squeamish, but proceeded to press on further into the courtyard. Tom was also a little anxious, but what came was no surprise to him. This, he expected after hearing that Aypyidaw had fell to the hands of hostile Koopas.

"Look over there." He pointed for Toby towards one specific pile of bones. On top of this was a banner, raised firmly at the top and remaining tall.

"That's just cruel." Toby walked closer towards it, having a look at what the banner's painting looked like. It was black and white, and there were three painted images on it, showing from top to bottom, a skull, a spiked bracelet, and a cross.

"Enrique told me a long time ago that the hostile Koopas were divided up into tribes. I bet that's like the banner of one of them." He had a look at it too, feeling oddly intimidated by its presence in the courtyard. "There are a few more of those banners along the other piles of bones. Look at them all." He noticed many more bone piles of dead Red Martyrs that once lived here. Whether they're also bones of the fallen hostiles who also took part in this invasion or innocent civilians that lost their lives in town was completely unknown to them. All they knew was that one specific group of Koopas decided to hold their pride in this battleground, with the intention that whoever they are were here on the night of March 10 and perhaps the ones responsible for the slaughter.

"The banners are all the same. What if they're just hostile Koopas in general?" Toby suggested. "Do you think they've all united under one group with this banner as their flag?"

"I have no idea. We can only imagine that they have, which makes it all the more dangerous to be here right now." Tom leaned against the nearby wall that was half-destroyed and full of rubble and debris at the bottom. "Someone's bound to be here with us." He travelled along the edge of the courtyard, sneaking around towards the entrance to the main buildings. Here, they spanned several floors and connected to the back walls of the headquarters area with most of the windows destroyed and smoke still coming from various rooms. It was unknown from looking from the outside if there were fires still going, but it didn't stop Tom from pressing on and checking inside. Toby also followed, but was far less discreet in his movements.

Inside the headquarters was a quite similar state. Many of the hallways were run-down and bloodied, but the walls remained intact. It was the rooms that were more so damaged and tattered than the corridors; destroyed pieces of furniture, tables flipped over, desks damaged, and papers lying everywhere. Tom and Toby knew to be careful where they walked as glass fragments were littered across some of the halls. On their way to the central building, the two took a side entrance to the council chamber, now empty and abandoned and not looking like a council chamber at all now. Many of the chairs were flipped over and the table was damaged, stained with blood also.

"Everywhere has been ransacked." Tom finally spoke after the few minutes of silence that was their venture indoors so far. "I can't imagine anyone else to still be here."

"This whole place is to ourselves then... What remains of it, at least?" Toby exhaled with a smile on his face. "If only I was able to see what this place was really like when it wasn't under siege all the time. Has there ever been a time when this place wasn't dangerous?"

"Not like you'd have cared back then anyway." Tom laughed. "You've had more than two years to explore, even when times were better than this."

"It's just so liminal, like I said before." Toby wandered. "Maybe I enjoy the idea of being here because it's empty." Tom seemed to agree with him. Maybe everything would be better if nobody was there.

"Anyways, let's have a look at what we can find here. Maybe there are some rooms that these Koopas didn't check out and destroy while they were here." Tom left the room quickly and beckoned Toby over to follow. The two ascended up to the first floor to check for any unusual-looking corridors, perhaps any that were left unchecked. The entire place looked deserted, but it wasn't until the second floor did they start to see some signs of inactivity from Koopas. The hallways were damaged but many of the doors were closed. Tom and Toby walked down the leftward hallway and inspected some of the rooms, only to see that most of them had already been raided and only papers and blood splats were all that was left on the floor.

"Are you sure we're checking in the right places?" Toby wondered to Tom.

"There's bound to be something here of use to us." Tom said back to him as they walked towards the next door, which was locked. "This might be interesting. Is there a way we could break this down?"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Tom and Toby both froze, looking into each other's eyes knowing damn well that neither of them just spoke then. Tom gestured that there might be someone on the other side. "I recognise that voice." The voice was heard again. "Is that you, Tom?" Both of them held their weapons up by their chest, pointing upwards, slowly surrounding the door.

"It is me... Who is this?" Tom raised his voice to the other side of the locked door.

"Are you alone?" From what the voice sounded like, this was no hostile Koopa. Some part of the back of Tom's mind was saying to him that this voice was in fact familiar to him.

"There's just me and one other." Tom said back, hearing the sound of the door unlocking soon after. The creak of the door opening was heard by all as the two saw what was on the other side. It was like two age-long friends had finally seen each other again. "Neo..." Tom gasped. "How long have you been here?" The Koopa rushed forth and gave him a hug despite still having his gun raised up.

"I've been here the whole time." The Koopa in question was Neodjan, looking like he had spent the past forty-eight hours encased within this small office room. There was a broken window inside, just like every other window seen from the outside, and a few cupboards and chairs lying about on the floor. "One could say I am the leader of Aypyidaw." Neodjan smiled, but Tom knew from the rest of his face that he wasn't happy. This Koopa was mortified. Only he knows what danger, fright and turmoil he has seen over the past two days and lived to tell it to anyone. A cloud of dread has filled this Koopa's mind, and Tom can see it from the outside. He gave Neodjan another big hug, because to him it was what he needed. Neodjan began to look very emotional from the outside, tearing up and almost crying while burying his face into Tom's jacket.

"It's okay." Tom held him firmly. "You've been released from your oath. You don't have to be here anymore."

"I...I- I just can't believe it." He eventually moved away from Tom's grasp, showing his now red face to both him and Toby. "Of all people to show up to here, you? Apologies, I don't know you very well." Neodjan looked back to Toby briefly. "But, were you not occupied in the south with that race? How did it go?"

"It doesn't matter how it went. We ended up here because Toby and I wanted to figure out something else. But... Muji's going to be so happy to hear that you're alive and... Are you hurt at all? Any injuries?" Tom got out his phone again, ready to text Muji the important news.

"I'm fine... Muji, Muji? Him? Where was he when the Koopas..." He stopped speaking slowly, coming to a sudden realisation. "In fact, it was better he and the others weren't here. Odds are they'd be in those body piles outside. What do you know of the others?" He asked Tom and Toby back. "Come. Let's find some proper seats to sit on. We must talk downstairs." Neodjan escorted the two humans out of the room and down the corridor to the staircase. He intended to lead them all the way back to the council chamber or whatever it was left of it. It seemed to be the only place with lights on when the two were venturing through the buildings anyway. There were also enough chairs for the three to sit on as well given that there were originally so many in there to begin with.

...

The three returned to the main council chamber, nothing but a shattered remnant of its past glory. While there was no sense of order in this room anymore, the damage made it look secretive, unchecked, unattended to. Nobody stepped foot in here since the night of the invasion.

"So..." Tom began. "You want to know about the state of the world and how everything is now? Well... to be honest, I don't know everything, for Toby and I were also lost in the midst of things for the past two days. You see, a lot of really bad stuff happened, so much so, that all of my friends are basically exiled from the Mushroom Kingdom. It wasn't just here that suffered a great tragic loss that night, but right after the final race, something else struck the world by fright. Chaos arose from the streets below while we were racing as the power of the track shut out. I'm not sure why, but one magical demonic thing led to another and now we're here."

"So you were banished? Wait..." Neodjan was startled after eventually sitting down on one of the seats in the room. "D-did you say demonic?" He looked plainly straight ahead, worried, without the others knowing why. "I've never heard somebody refer to something as demonic in... years..."

"Is that supposed to mean something?" Toby gave the Koopa a concerned look, hoping he knew anything about demons given his recent account of possibly seeing one in Toad Town before they vanished from there.

"There are a lot of crazy magical things in this world. It's often out of the eyes of the public. What they believe when they think magic is nice sparkling shapes and magic wands and Toadsworth and Rosalina and the like... There can be far worse than that lingering within the depths of the underground. Now that this place is no longer what it's supposed to be, I may as well spill some news. The oath doesn't hold me to this anymore." Neodjan shrugged.

"You can forget about oaths for now. Let's say that because of this, it has been lifted." Tom tried to comfort him. "If there's anything you want to get off of your chest, now's the time." Both he and Toby were looking at the Koopa, trying to pull off convincing yet comforting faces, trying to assure Neodjan that he was safe from his worries and his oath to the Red Martyrs. To him, he wasn't quite sure if the Red Martyrs were still a thing anymore given that he wasn't the only one left alive.

"How well do you know Muji?" He asked the pair of humans on opposite sides of the table.

"Not really." Toby said first.

"I know him pretty well actually, for a few years. He's done a lot of great deeds to this land, especially given his background." What Tom said made Neodjan smile, restoring any faith he had lost in Muji.

"I... I've been around here in these parts of the land for as long as he or Archbarn have. I was actually born and raised in Vurduresa you see, a very run-down area in these lands, so if anything, I've been here longer. When I came here, it was indeed an escape. Some saw it as hell, but I preferred it over my upbringing culture. It was only until I was made a member of the Appointed Seven did I start to learn everything that mattered about this place, and that what we did was more than just 'defend the south from the hostile Koopas in the north', because if either of you two might recall or know about, we've been through periods in these years where we've had no threats from the north whatsoever. When I mean the north I of course refer to the hostile Koopas. In fact, they aren't that bad most of the time. Obviously recently was an exception. But if you think about it... twenty-ten, it wasn't so much them at fault, it was Boom and Pom. Twenty-fourteen, it was Bowser, the skirmishes and attacks in my hometown and the Westfells, some see it as a military operation... to them, it's a home invasion. These Koopas in a normal world should be fine enough living off what they own. This is why I feel like some of the things they do are just outright cruel and unfair. They have what they wanted, but there's something else out there." Tom and Toby leaned in more, eager to listen more to Neodjan's vision.

"Has this got anything to do with Dargo?" Toby asked during a pause. "Sorry if this question sounds ridiculous. It's the most I really know about dangerous hostile Koopas."

"There's a lot that's gone hidden from this place ever since the days where this place mattered the most. I'm talking the nineties; the late nineties where we faced threats after the war that weren't just hostile Koopas and Bowser's father's armies. That's why I felt a bit of fear when you mentioned the word demonic. There is great evil that lurks within the deepest depths of the underground. You'll have chasms full of rocky blocks and question blocks and shells and pipes, but underneath the deepest pipe is where they linger no longer. Awaken the dormant magical evil below, and darkness unfolds above and wrecks havoc on those of importance. You saw what happened to Peach, I was informed of that dark mark on her back. I was informed about your other friend's infection. This demonic activity that you spoke of later in the night of the final race... I bet I know exactly what you're talking about..."

Neodjan began to recall a past memory, getting Tom and Toby to listen in more.

"You get these spectral figure sightings that go under the Mushroom Kingdom's radar. In fact, they're under the radar of the entire land. I for one however, have witnessed it in a very obvious and strange way. It must have been a few years ago now. I was tasked on a solo scouting mission to Vurduresa, and this was peak danger times. Hostile Koopas occupied the streets and outsiders of the north would most likely be attacked. Everyone who lived in the town at the time all would go to hang out at the pubs, so I, dressed as a normal northerner, went to one to investigate any possible leads to find leaders amongst the hostiles. The pub I went to... I believe it was called..."

"Was it the Old Bluetoad by any chance?" Tom interrupted Neodjan's thinking.

"Y-yes, you've been there before?" Luckily, it was the correct name. "Oh, was it when the princesses were up there as well?"

"Yeah." Tom smiled back.

"Anyway, let me get back to the case."

(In Neodjan's Perspective):

I guess I had arrived there maybe a few weeks before you and Enrique showed up to the north to decipher the plans that were later revealed to be Boom and Pom's doing. The thing is, while the pub showed no sign of having them as the supposed leaders... obviously they weren't leaders but the ones behind the princess kidnappings... I noticed not just one, but two humans drinking at the pub that night. I recognised the first one, most northerners do. This one was called Marrec, you've probably heard of him before. Warlock-esque. Dark robes. Magical sorcery. Not a person to fuck around with... but the second person, you'd think if there were two humans and Marrec was one of them than the other human would be Rosalina's brother, right? Wrong. This human was much older looking, he had evident facial hair compared to Zane, and this guy was so encased in dark sorcery, that traces of darkness lingered around him like a purple glowing aura, but it was very faint. None of the Koopas in the pub took major notice of the two, but for some reason, I saw it and saw it as danger. I think there was one other person who took notice of him actually... the bartender, but I believe he just resigned from his job because he saw danger too and presumably wasn't hostile at all.

Anyway, I sat by my own table and had my drink ordered and even got myself a meal. I acted like I was going to stay there for long. They even had a TV up showing a football match... I think it was ERCF League or something, you know, the northern football or whatever, so that kept me semi-engrossed in being here. I still quietly observed their table a lot. They had a corner one to themselves and all I could remember was the two secretly whispering to each other while they were watching the football. I remained as focused on the TV screen as much as I could, but the things Marrec was saying with the other human, it was unnatural. Marrec was always asking him about the past, always about the underground, the darkness, the plots and schemes and how they could toil with us like pawns. He also mentioned Dargo a lot, and guess what? Dargo is off-limits for all of us. Throughout the twenty or so years that the Red Martyr council has existed, Dargo has never been a place we could investigate. It's just become too dangerous post-war. It's not only Koopas that live there, not only hostile Koopas, but people like that human Marrec was talking with come from there, and their magical abilities are far too dangerous to be reckoned with. They don't deserve it, and I have no idea how they got it too. I even questioned that night whether he's actually a human at all and just what a spectral figure disguises itself as. Still, that wasn't all I remembered that night. I quietly followed the two out as they left just before the match ended... because what you don't know is that Marrec and the other human weren't best friends. In fact, it was like Marrec wanted in on a secret society of the other human ever belonged to one. He was jealous, he wanted to be part of their fun, but the human tried being nice at first, then he got pushy, until he threatened Marrec and the two fought each other in an alley with magic, causing more havoc and explosions and scaring the people. I think lives may have been lost, but Marrec was left humiliated and embarrassed. The two vanished from the scene minutes later, both in their own magical ways, but in the distance, I saw the human turn into a dark spectre, flying up into the air and heading west. The last words that I heard the human say before he morphed... mjeshtri im thërret..." (*)

"Miyesh trim theret?" Toby looked back at Neodjan with a confused look.

"It means 'my master calls'." Neodjan replied, resting on his chair. "That's my account of the first experience with spectral figures... but my first time hearing it being mentioned... That's too bad for me tell. You're better off hearing that from Muji... if he's willing to tell you about them."

"Interesting..." Tom pondered about Neodjan's account. "Do you think any of these things you've heard about might have a connection with the weapon issue these hostile Koopas have? Before Toby and I got here, Muji was speculating that someone or something is behind how all the hostile Koopas have got guns recently. None of the stuff is made by the Mushroom Kingdom, and we don't know about production here either."

"Again, you'll have to ask Muji about it all." Neodjan sighed. "You're welcome to take anything you want from here now, since nobody's going to stop you... How comes you two ended up here then, on your own accord?"

"Kind of. We've got our belongings back where we stashed them as we were originally going to just scout this town this evening before we continue our search tomorrow."

"Where's your stuff?" Neodjan asked Tom again.

"Behind a shop in the station area; well out of anyone's interest." Tom got up from his seat, stretching and letting out a loud yawn. "We'll bring the stuff back here and find a better place to sleep here. There are still some leftovers, right? There's a lot of food still in the shop as well." Tom noticed Neodjan not looking very interested or attentive. While he was engaging in their conversation right now, he always posed a face of stress and self-disappointment.

"Do whatever you want." He said, remaining on his chair without making any movement besides from his mouth. "I'm staying right in this very building tonight, just as I always have." He didn't look around at all. It was just the same miserable facial expression seen by both Tom and Toby as they got up from their seats feeling very awkward.

"We'll be back soon." The pair of them assured Neodjan as they left the council chamber, departing the Red Martyrs headquarters within less than a minute. As he knew that the two were gone from the nearby area, Neodjan finally got up from his chair, making sure he wasn't glued to it after the depressive slouching he was doing for most of the discussion time. Even though he was now standing up, he remained still as he stared into the distance, looking at the other end of the council chamber. A memory flashed in front of his eyes.

While his genuine experience with what he believed to be spectral figures, he remembered overhearing it be mentioned between the Appointed Seven when he was first here. It was another time where his enthusiastic investigative interest became a problem to him, as while he was one to eavesdrop often, overhearing the wrong things led him to believe a lot of bad things and be paranoid about it for nights on end.

It was about fifteen years ago, he was hiding inside the council chamber where only the current Appointed Seven were allowed in at the time. Luckily, he hid himself in a position such that his foot was stretched out to keep one of the side entrances ajar without being seen behind the box wall next to it. Many of the seven were in the main room just on the other side of the wall, and none of them knew that Neodjan was there. He had been here for quite some time and was well aware of his oath that he swore, but his curiosity wouldn't stop him from treading where he wasn't allowed if it meant to learn what people of his rank weren't allowed to know.

"As you're one of us now, there are some things that you need to be told that nobody else is to be told of. Whatever happens, we cannot let everyone know the truth about Phoelix." What Neodjan heard just now was Archbarn's voice, and it only makes sense that he said this now given what he was told ten years later. He also realised that this process was almost identical to the time he became the newest member of the Appointed Seven, for he went on to replace the very same person being spoken to in this memory he didn't initially understand. The only difference was that the context in his time as a member wasn't specific to Phoelix.

"While we are all mortals, we can't have ourselves toil with the nature of the evil we had witnessed today." Eoréc was also speaking to the someone behind the wall, seemingly briefing him on everything the new member of the seven needed to know.

"You cannot tell anyone about spectral figures. Do you swear on the oath that you will not tell anyone?" This was now Muji talking to the new member. He wanted to hear the Koopa's word. "You do not mention, you do not interfere, you do not interact, and you certainly do not attempt to fight one. Unfortunately, these things we cannot stop, and it is our duty to protect the north by keeping them ignored underground."

"I will do everything out of my power to protect the people..." The new Koopa replied nervously. "...I will become fearless, strong, honourable, and I will not wake the demons below."

"Those evil creatures have done enough. Remember what happened to the royal families?" He remembered when Ledro was actually a morally strong-minded person, for back then, he was considered in his prime when it came to managing the Red Martyrs.

...

The memory phased into something else. Another memory, only days after. This time he overheard two members of the Appointed Seven: Muji and Ledro, talking to each other quietly about the young princess Peach. At this point in time, she was going into her pubescent years, and he overheard Ledro talking to Muji about what he needed to do for her.

"She's going to start questioning everything one day. I sure hope you've raised her well." He overheard Ledro speak first.

"Relax my friend." He saw Muji smile in the distance. "It's been years since she was last here. The Toads of the Mushroom Kingdom are the true raisers. They have done a magnificent job and I cannot be more grateful. Now, could you do me a favour? Could you perhaps check on our true prisoner of war? You know... the one who's supposedly behind the Koopak senior's bluffing? Good man." Neodjan remembered watching Ledro leave the hallway, making Muji stay there on his own. He rushed over to Muji and grabbed his attention.

"Hey, shouldn't you be at training practice? If you've got something important to say, you better say it quickly." Muji was talking to him differently, as at this point in time, Neodjan was fairly new to the Red Martyrs. On top of that, his reputation started off lower than most other recruits given that he was born and raised in Vurduresa, one of the most dangerous places in the north in the eyes of the Red Martyrs.

"I need answers." Neodjan demanded, getting right up to Muji's face. "What's all this talk about spectral figures, demons, evil from the underground?" He watched Muji's expression of a surprised look of disappointment due to Neodjan lurking around indoors to a sudden look of shock. Within the space of about three seconds, Muji then appeared very angered at Neodjan, trying to hide any look of giving in.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He replied with a rather soft tone at first, before changing to one with more aggression, more intimidation, and more sense of being the one in charge around here, but to his surprise, it didn't stop Neodjan's grasp for answers. "You shouldn't be indoors right now. You're meant to be out in the courtyard attending navigation training with Eoréc, Koopa." He moved aside, seeing that Neodjan wasn't going to move at all, and Neodjan remembered this part very well in his mind. He sidestepped to keep being in Muji's way without uttering a single word until he spoke again. "Don't make me put you in a timeout with the rest of the Hostiles we have in the cells."

"Then why don't you just tell me what I'm asking for?" Neodjan demanded back. "Man." They both frowned at each other. "What really happened to Phoelix? What really happened to everyone in the northwest, the royals, the Galaxyës, the Asquias, what of these things you tell Attilo about that none of us must know?" Muji grabbed Neodjan and took him into the nearest empty office room. He shoved Neodjan over towards the desk and closed the door behind him once the two were both inside.

"You stepped out of where you're supposed to remain..." Muji moved forward, approaching Neodjan with more anger, but it suddenly dropped when his expression turned neutral and calm to Neodjan's surprise. "...I respect one who's inquisitive, investigative... curious. Unfortunately, the ties we have with these things you wish to know of... it's best you don't know; best that you never thought about it at all." Neodjan felt less confident now that he actually received a somewhat sufficient answer from Muji. Seeing him look timid and anxious now made him feel the same.

"Phoelix did not die to the hands of a hostile Koopa in the northwest. I bet he met the same fate as that of most of the Galaxyë humans. Yet, you all call it something scary and it puts you all off from scouting there. I may not have been here for long, but I notice that everywhere you investigate and everywhere you have knowledge on, it's all to the north and to the east. Why do we never go west of here?" By the time Neodjan was finished speaking, his voice almost began to feel distorted, full of stuttering. Muji walked right up to him and had one last look at the door to make sure it was closed fully.

"There's an important proverb that we can take from this brief discussion that I learned back from where I come from..." He spoke quietly, but direct. "...Curiosity killed the cat. Don't be a cat, Koopa. It's best you get this out of your head immediately." As Muji was finished, Neodjan's vision morphed back to reality.

He went over ten years not asking Muji about it at all given how safe he felt while not knowing about any of it, and went through most of this time believing in the idea that none of it was real. That was... until his encounter with Marrec and the other human back in Vurduresa, who he now believes to not actually be a human but indeed a spectral figure taking the disguise of a human. Even since late 2010 when this happened, he reported nothing back to Muji as the matter at hand was in fact trying to find the princesses as well as Boom and Pom. We all know how that played out... right?

Given that this place was technically now his since he declared himself the ruler of Aypyidaw, Neodjan realised that everywhere was free to access, including the places in the basement and Muji's libraries. Even though he wasn't involved, he did remember Peach, Madison the Sprixie Princess and Pauline making frequent visits to the library to educate themselves about knowledge Muji brought from Earth to here. The Mushroom Kingdom owes Muji and a few others a debt too great to be measurable. Government, operations, economics, technology, even import start-ups were thanks to him and a few other Red Martyrs and friends from Earth. There was one thing Neodjan was able to take out of all of this given freely, where there is public knowledge, there is also private knowledge. Many of the things he was told to keep a secret weren't even well-explained to him or even demonstrated in any way. He always believed that while being a member of the Appointed Seven carried a lot of meaning and a new status in terms of what he can know and not pass on to the lower ranks, there would always be things that only the original seven kept to themselves, so much so that there is probably a lot to be told about in regards to the truth about the Royals in the Mushroom Wars and these spectral figures that now get talked about on occasion. Archbarn, Eoréc, or Muji would still likely know about all of this. Neodjan could only hope now that there was somewhere where this knowledge may have been documented, and it wasn't in the mini-library in one of the basement rooms.

Neodjan was now in the basement, taking a few minutes to get there. With all of this curiosity live and bright in his mind, it didn't take him long to realise many subtle things that he didn't pay attention to in all these past years. The format of the basement was almost identical to the room structure of the ground floor. The only difference was that there was an entire room area completely walled off underground. It was one block that lied next to Muji's mini-library, surprisingly still intact and directly underneath one of the offices on the ground floor. In fact, the entire basement was almost completely unaffected by the invasion. Maybe ten Koopas at most must have come down here, as the only sign of activity was some shattered glass on various parts of the hallway down here. Unfortunately, as Neodjan approached Muji's small library, he stood awkwardly and silently as he learned that almost all of the books in the library were gone. He walked into the centre of the room and looked at all of the bookshelves built into the walls, all looking like empty holes now collecting dust. He then turned towards the wall of bookshelves that was in line with the part of the basement walled off. Just as he expected, a thin cut line was seen going along two parts of the shelves. Neodjan got up close to the shelves and examined all surfaces, feeling the tops and bottoms of the shelves, until he found a small lock which he quickly slid to one side. It was surprisingly well-hidden... to somebody not curious about anything behind the wall that is. The middle of the bookshelves clicked and opened up slightly, opening up like a pair of thin doors. On the other side of these doors was complete darkness inside a small room with the dimensions almost equal to the area that was walled off in the basement. His curiosity benefited him this time, for there was indeed something behind these walls, and it was exactly what he expected. Getting a feel of what was inside he knew that there were books stored here. Not just old, ancient tomes, but ones that had been edited recently. The room looked well-maintained and was not one giant dust collector. He found a switch on the wall through feeling the inside and flicked it, getting light in the room. Even here was still powered by electricity that connects directly to both the Spire on the Powerhouse Peninsula, and also the Kingdoms to the south. The biggest benefit of Aypyidaw was its shared union of electricity hosting.

Books were everywhere, most of which were placed down in piles instead of aligned on a shelf. Neodjan kept the door ajar as he moved over to the first book he laid eyes on. He took it off of the pile and placed it onto the table next to him inside the room. The cover of the book had no name or any writing on it, but inside had pages full of text that looked years old. Everything in this book was about stuff Neodjan knew nothing about, presumably to do with things from Earth. He flicked through a few pages and saw nothing but text. He wondered if they were all like this as he took the next book off the pile. This one was full of text but he saw symbols instead of letters. This was completely unreadable or undecipherable to him, but unlike the other book, this one had sketches. While this book looked to be very dated, he noticed the sketches resembled things he could easily recognise. Some of the pictures he saw in this book resembled a plumber in red, barrels, metal platforms, and... Donkey Kong... a Donkey Kong? Neodjan placed this one aside, separate from the rest of the pile. After spending a few more minutes sifting through the first pile, he declared that all of them were unreadable as they featured the same sort of symbols from before. There were only a few readable words in the New Koopish language featured on various parts of the pages and these words included 'Mario-Kun', 'Donkey Kong' and 'Nintendo'.

There was one more book that caught the edge of Neodjan's vision as he was looking around the room. This one book was there on its own on the other side of the room, and it looked dustless, like it had been used just days ago. This book also had a dark cover to it but with an oily black cross painted onto the front of it. No writing on the front, but plenty inside, including illustrations. It was written in New Koopish, which was a relief for him, but Old Koopish would be fine enough as well; he was glad that it was not the symbols he saw in the other books. The only thing that was ominous about this book was that it was ancient... very ancient. In its history, it had been edited and added onto by several other authors including a certain Muji Kuti shown last on the list, and a few pages in showed the book's title: The Untouched Horrors of the Underground.

As it turns out, the book predates the Mushroom Wars as well as most modern history of these lands, at least to what Neodjan knew from memory. The book was also written chronologically, documenting many of the stated horrors and showed illustrations of them. There was a modern section in the contents page which had edits written by both Phoelix, whom he used to know, and Muji respectively. While Muji's documentation of horrors included names such as Blumiere, Culex, Hostile Koopas, and Zane and Marrec oddly enough, Phoelix's section didn't have categorised names, instead it had continuations of other known-but-unknown creatures. As Neodjan flicked through the pages, he saw multiple illustrations of the same nameless shapeshifters. It was Phoelix's section that contained the most up-to-date information on shadows, spectral figures, and shapeshifters. Neodjan decided to stop flicking through the pages and instead to thoroughly read the passages written by the late Red Martyr. Everything he was curious about seemed to be answered in this book the more he read through the later pages. Phoelix was also a very good illustrator; his shading and sketching presented accurate representations of what the spectral figures looked like when moving. They were so alike how Neodjan remembered when he saw one fly away into the dark night-time sky. Sadly, this only made him believe the possibility that it was one of these that led to Phoelix's passing more.

On one page, Neodjan found his final answer. There was a paragraph in the chapter that clearly stated a correlation between shapeshifter activity and hostile Koopas in the vicinity of the city of Dargo. Phoelix also stated that this 'city' in inverted commas was off-limits, and then below he stated possible reasons for this correlation.

Neodjan jumped in shock after hearing the sound of the doors into the room randomly close on him. He walked over the door and noticed a creak in one of his footsteps as he got to the door again. He opened it back up, checking outside to see if anyone was nearby.

"Tom?" He called out. "Are you there?" No sound. The entirety of the building complex felt empty. Maybe the two weren't back yet. "Hello?" He shouted out one last time, getting no response. Neodjan peered back around inside the room while leaving the doors wide open, looking into the middle of the room where he noticed the carpet floor look slightly irregular. He walked back into the middle and heard the slight creak again. It was only in the very centre of the room did he feel creaking when he walked over the surface. The floorboards underneath the carpet were either damaged or there was something underneath here as well. Neodjan was feeling very sceptical, unsure of what to do. All he could think of to do right now was to take the book he was previously reading through out of the room and get back at it outside. Staying in the vicinity of that secret room made him feel uncomfortable. The surroundings felt so eerie to him that staying away from it didn't stop the thought of fright and danger from damaging his solemn state of mind. Every few words he read back in that book and he would check the doors in case there was anything spooky coming from inside there somehow.

...Maybe reading it was what caused the uneasy feeling at the back of his head. Was this book cursed so that it was meant to stay locked in this secret room? What if it is the oily black cross painted on the front of it? Maybe it could be some sort of magical mark imprinted on it to curse the reader. Neodjan speculated so many things that could have caused his sudden sense of uncomfortable feeling. The doors randomly closing frightened him the most while he was down here. He knew that the doors couldn't close due to wind because he's in a basement and that there wouldn't be any wind down here. Somebody else had to be inside here, and it's not Tom or Toby. They'd have alerted a response to him if they were here.

Neodjan rushed up the stairs of the basement and back onto the main floor. His first destination was the council chamber to see if the two had arrived yet. If they weren't there, then it would be to the courtyard. He'd hope to wait outside for their arrival. Just knowing that the two were here gave him so much relief given what he had just experienced. Even though it was just doors randomly closing on him, the paranoia from it frightened him more than everything else he had experienced in the past two days here. As he got to the council chamber, he saw that the two were nowhere to be seen. Everywhere in the room looked exactly how it did the way they all left it. Now for him it would be to spend all the time up until their arrival waiting outside for them to arrive.

It was now March 13, and the sky was pitch black, partly cloudy, but unusually warm for this time of night. It was going into the early hours of the following morning, and Neodjan was starting to feel a little bit tired. He had only his own light on him to keep himself seen for when the two arrive. The courtyard still smelled of burning, for the bone piles were very ashy. He decided to light a few torches on the walls for when the two humans returned, making it easier for them to navigate back to the headquarters building. Neodjan made sure to avoid the rubble of the broken wall when lighting up the torches with flames. He also left the banner that was planted on some of the piles when the Hostile Koopas invaded here, just to keep himself unseen during the day. He still thought that they would return someday, whether it be one of them or a thousand of them, this place was not to be his forever. As it was so dark, and that he couldn't even see the moon in the night sky, he kept one final torch nearby as he sat patiently on the rubble pile beside the destroyed wall while he waited for the two humans to return. They had been gone for more than half an hour now; Neodjan expected the two to be back by now...

...After waiting anxiously for another ten minutes, he finally saw two flashlights shining towards the courtyard's entrance, heading inside.

"I was beginning to worry if something happened to you." Neodjan stood up and greeted the two, holding his fire torch up as he walked down the rubble pile.

"We had to spend a bit of time trying to take everything in one trip. We were probably better off making two." Tom said back as he kept his giant backpack together. "We've got so much in here. We should probably unload it inside." He and Toby started heading towards the main building of the headquarters.

"I'll be with you in just a moment. I'll douse these lit lights." Neodjan started walking away from them but was quickly interrupted by Tom.

"Leave them up for now." He smiled. "I'll sort them out later." He beckoned the Koopa over to go inside... and so they all did...

EOC: Schedule's proven to be rather difficult to maintain. With that being said, don't expect the next chapter until at least December. Sorry for the wait.

See you then.