Olly expected to see Grape on the other side of the Rift, but she and the other Darkle beings were long gone. Olive compacted back into himself and joined Olly's side.
"Thank you for going through so much trouble to help me."
"Of course, that's what friends do."
Magica ran ahead just a bit. "He's already been here. The library is gone."
That caught Olly's attention, and he looked. Indeed, the library was gone, only a burning pile in its place.
"Oh no...He must be at the Mushroom Kingdom by now. We need to hurry!"
Magic turned into the beast from before, when she battled them. "As many people that can fit, get on. The fliers can fly."
Mimi, Fawful, Magica, Peter, and Olive hopped onto her back. Olivia was reluctant to at first, but Olly reminded her how she runs out of energy faster than he does. It was a three day journey back to the Mushroom Kingdom, and Olly wished that nothing bad will happen while they were still working their way there. They tried to travel non-stop, but Magic started to get tired around noon of the second day. Thankfully, by then, they were able to use their magic again, and Dimentio transported them all back to the Mushroom Kingdom.
It was completely destroyed.
"N-no...We're too late." Olly fell to his knees. "We were too late...It's gone, all of it."
Olivia went to him. "Olly, don't think like that. I'm sure everyone is fine. After all, it's just a bunch of destroyed buildings we see, so we have no proof that everyone is gone."
"Olivia..." He held up Peach's crown, which had been laying on the ground in front of him. It was covered in dirt and dust.
"Oh...oh no..." Olivia took it from him. "Peach..." She faced the rest of them, holding the crown. "Darethend...He..."
Mimi grabbed it. "No, I don't think she's dead. We can't give up yet." She pointed upwards. "His castle is up there. We just need to find a way up there and we should be fine."
The castle fired off another beam, and something nearby burst into flames. Olly hurried away, the rest of them following.
"No, no, no! Origami Castle! Castle Town! N-no!" He rested his face in his hands, crying. "F-first Peach and now my home? What can I even do now...?"
"That technology is pretty advanced," Olive said. "Like my arm, it shoots off like a ray gun. Pew, pew!"
He made a gun shape with his hand and mimicked firing it off in an attempt to cheer up Olly. Olly only looked at him, still clearly upset.
"I bet I can take that castle down in one shot!"
His arm turned to a gun and he aimed it at the castle's base. He fully charged the shot.
"Wait, don't fire that off-" Princess Shroob tried, but it fired off before she could finish.
An invisible barrier around the castle appeared when Olive's shot come into contact with it. The shot was deflected back, and Peter protected them with the quick summoning of a shield.
Princess Shroob huffed. "Fawful had to deactivate a forcefield around the decoy castle, so why did you think this one wouldn't have one?"
"Hey, be nice," Olivia said. "Olive doesn't remember what happened when Zeth took control. He doesn't know about the decoy or Darethend or anything."
"I know Darethend. He tortured me. Used me. I don't know who exactly he did it to, since I don't remember living through that, but it did happen, I can remember that much."
Something beeped, and Princess Shroob pulled out what looked like a game system with an antenna on top. "Oh?"
"What's up?" El asked.
"A transmission came through. A lot of them. Apparently, the Shroobs have been trying to contact me for a while, but the transmissions couldn't go through the Rift."
The only thing they could hear was what sounded like random gibberish, with nodding from Princess Shroob. She closed the device and faced them again.
"The Shroobs are here to pick me up, so I suppose you could come as well. Just so you won't get burned to a crisp like Olly's castle did..."
"No need to rub it in," Olly said sadly.
"You could use the weapon upgrade anyhow."
"Pick you up?" Olivia asked. "Like, a car? Olly doesn't like cars."
"I never said that! I crashed a car, ONE TIME!" Olly yelled.
"No, not like a 'car,'" Princess Shroob said as a shadow came over them. "More like a Mothership. Let's not waste anymore time."
It beamed them up before Olly could argue about safety. Princess Shroob ignored his yelling and exited the room.
"Princess! We have a world to save! Listen to me!" He sighed. "I guess she wants us to follow her."
"Mothership?" Olivia asked. "So this is her mom?"
"I don't think that's what that means..."
"A Mothership is usually something aliens use," Peter corrected. "So that must mean Princess Shroob is an alien."
"Oh, she looks so normal. Usually they look weirder than that."
A screen popped up behind them, with Princess Shroob visible on it. "I can hear you! Just go to the main room! And stop insulting me and my Shroobs, would you?" The screen went away.
"Well, you heard her." El went to the door. "I guess we're going."
The screen came back. "And don't touch anything!" It left again.
"Okay, we should listen to her before she gets any madder at us," Olly said.