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)

20. Convoy

Downfall of the Mushroom Kingdom

Convoy

A/N: I think we're past the point in the existence of this site to note disclaimers.

March 16, 2015 - Afternoon

Peach's Castle, Mushroom City

Daisy was still on her bed, staring up to the ceiling and alone with her thoughts. If only there was a way she could occupy herself if it meant that the thought of Mario would leave her mind. Constant worrying and sadness kept draining her energy. Even though she was well-nourished, these heavy emotions made her so weak again. She tried to recall everything said to her today and yesterday, whether it was from Tranko, Toadsworth or Luigi. Eventually, one thing said to her hit her. You need him effective for as long as possible was something Toadsworth had said to her regarding Enrique. Maybe it wasn't worth having him wait down below in the prison cells until Peach were to arrive. With the mixture supposedly being effective for only a week, she had to let him go and get on with his objectives. Daisy leaned up from the bed, ready to get out of the room and get active again…

Her clothes were a mess but for now it didn't matter to her. A soulless Enrique bent to her will had no interest in her appearance. He still remained in his cell armed with his weapons and standing still. He looked her way only when she had unlocked the door and walked in.

"Are you ready for your objectives?" She asked him as he kept in formation.

"To answer to the Queen of the Mushroom Kingdom and Princess Daisy. To eliminate all threats provided to me and to make sure that no interaction or harm is done to anybody else. I am ready." He still remained resilient and as strong as earlier in the day. Daisy admired all of his newfound strengths and attributes obtained by the vial. Super reflexes, pure obedience, perfect accuracy. She was sure that there were more things to test out on him very soon.

"Good. Follow me again. Keep your distance." Daisy went on to escort Enrique out of the castle, taking him across the grass around the other side of the Toad Town Lake. Not far from anything built-up, she wanted to first test other possible strengths that he had. The two most important things she wanted to examine were his speed and his strength. When Daisy reached the denser woodland parts of the greater Toad Town area, she stopped and looked back at Enrique. "Run over there and back as fast as you can." She pointed into the distance through the woodlands, and for the first time ever, Enrique refused.

"You will see." He instead walked over the Daisy and held her by the arm. "Strength comes first. Save the speed for the journey." Without any effort and whilst he was carrying all of his weapons, he lifted Daisy up and held her in the air using only one of his hands. Daisy was initially startled, but seeing her up in the air in what felt like a comfortable position made her feel safe for some reason. Enrique's hand that she was resting felt very heavy and strong to her. The height she got from being held up so high was also very reassuring. He let her down and allowed her to look back at him, unsure what to say. There he was. Knife and pistol in his pockets, axe hanging from his belt, and the sniper attached to a strap that he wore around himself.

"Please." She wanted to also be assured about the speed test. "Go over there as fast as you can anyway. I want to see how fast you can really go." Enrique slowly turned around and faced the direction she originally pointed. He managed to run a hundred metres in that distance in less than three seconds. He immediately turned around which took less than half a second, then ran back again in around three seconds, stopping immediately before Daisy and giving her a gust of wind to the face unintentionally.

"Forgive me for the wind. Is the Princess okay?" He asked, trying to comfort her with his poor communication skills as a result of the mixture.

"I'm fine." She smiled. "Very impressed, really. I believe you're ready." Daisy went right up close to him and lowered his chin so he was facing directly down at her. The height difference had a small effect on her. "You have six days. Find and eliminate as many as you can, and report back to me when your time is up… or obviously if you would like to confirm anything early with me. Use everything you can find to learn where they may be. Use memories, use news, use anything." Enrique nodded back to her, obeying her orders. "I want you to run and when you are running, I want you to never stop running. I will return to the castle and give the Brigade an order to grant you free passage again. You will not have to worry about any Brigade informants. They will have your instructions relayed out to them so they will do their best not to interfere."

"I am ready."

"Good." Daisy walked on with him following her, traversing through the woodlands of the greater Toad Town area. "How high can you jump?" She asked, still amazed by all of the attributes the mixture gave him.

"High." He replied with a smirk. It seemed to Daisy that he was now developing a bit of a new personality. Fortunately there were no signs of disagreeing with any orders given. He was still loyal to her and Peach. If only she was there to see him do her bidding.

The two went on to pass Mario Circuit, Peach Gardens, and a few other built up areas in the southern parts of the greater Toad Town area. Eventually, they had reached the tall hedge fence that marked the bounds of the private area. Daisy stood and allowed Enrique to walk closer to it.

"When you are ready, you may jump over the hedge and begin your objectives. Good luck." She smiled and gave him a soft wave to signal his departure. Enrique turned around one last time to give her the nod of agreement. Afterwards, he turned and faced the hedge again, giving himself a small run up before performing a super jump over the hedge. Looking through the bushes, she saw him immediately start dashing away into the distance, heading south first. Daisy let out a sigh of relief, being thankful that she was able to start one operation that would surely bring success back to her leadership over the Kingdom. The mixture still massively impressed her. Super strength, speed, accuracy and reaction speed, along with unbroken loyalty to her and Peach. It still led her to question how such a mixture was able to produce such effects on someone.

…

Enrique's first destination on his search for his given enemies was Isle Port, taking him just under half an hour to get there from Toad Town. He travelled through the south woods at superhuman speed to get there and once he saw the coast on the horizon and the last trees of the woodlands, he slowed down massively and went back to walking speed. The roads to Isle Port were nearby and there were hardly any vehicles going along them. It was easy to cross the highway road and follow the paths leading up to the bridge. The place looked a lot different compared to when he was there last. The streets were actually active of people and more of the shops were open. As it turned out, the lack of Duncan or Tobias' influence on the small island meant that the citizens there were no longer feeling threatened for their safety while keeping them safe. Now that they were gone, the Koopas and Toads living on the few roads that made up the town and port were able to operate normally. Enrique's instinctive move was to go straight through the town however, to get straight to the centre where their old house used to be. Unfortunately, he was never told about Peach's actions on the house, for it still lied in ruin. What remained was just a large black patch of ash and molten material from the dangerous chemicals that Peach threw on it. It had been almost a week since the incident happened and the area was now cooler and safe to walk through. He tried to search the grounds to see if there was anything he could use to help find Duncan and Tobias' whereabouts, but nothing survived the blaze. All that there was besides the blackness from the blaze were pieces of ashy furniture that were all destroyed now. One thing Enrique assumed to still be here was a copy of Bowser's letter to Peach about the double dash tournament, but if there was one here it would have definitely been destroyed. Five more minutes of searching through the rubble and wreckage led to nothing found. Before his journey to the next possible area to search for the humans, he decided not to leave the island just yet. There was one other place he wanted to search on the island before departing: the supermarket.

Business was usual here. There were a few shoppers and Wynonna and her assistants operated the tills like normal.

"Was it these ones that you wanted?" As Enrique stepped into the building, he overheard two Toad citizens searching for things to buy.

"No I want those creamy cut chips, not the herby ones." The other Toad walked away from him and turned facing Enrique around the aisle. "Oh, my goodness!" He got the attention of a few other shoppers and caused them all to get scared. Enrique ignored them all and slowly walked down the main aisle right up to the tills where Wynonna was working. She noticed him approaching her and anxiously pressed a button down by her side to alert the security. Two guards emerged from other parts of the shop to follow Enrique as he reached the tills, but seeing his weapons they both felt intimidated by him. Thankfully he wasn't here to do any business with the security guards or to engage with him, he simply stood still once he reached the front tills.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Wynonna gulped. "There is nothing for you here." Enrique said nothing back and remained on the spot. After a few seconds, while the security guards were slowly approaching him but still scared, he searched his pockets and pulled out two of the photos he had stored in there and unfolded them, presenting to Wynonna the scanned faces of Duncan and Tobias.

He still remained silent as she looked at the photos. Her expression changed once she recognised who she was looking at. "Where are they?" He eventually asked her.

"Look. I know you're Luke or Enrique or whatever, but your presence with all those guns on you is scaring away my customers. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Answer the question." He took another step forward, frightening Wynonna even more.

"I…" She stuttered. "I don't know. I told you they were gone before and they've never returned since." He was discretely holding his pistol and pointing it towards her, giving her more discomfort. He wanted to get every bit of information out of her, but from the way she was reacting, it felt like she had already said everything she knows about it. "Please… I genuinely don't know." He stopped pointing the pistol towards her after reading so much worry on her face. He pocketed it and leaned back from the till. She watched him slowly turned around to face the security guards who were trying to appear threatening but were still too scared to interfere with his intentions. Enrique didn't pay any attention to them as he started walking back down the aisle all the way to the entrance to the shop, heading out without interacting with anyone. Wynonna took deep breaths and tried to get rid of the tears and sweat that were forming from her eyes and skin. Through the left-side windows she could still see him walking outside and grabbing the attention of others in the small settlement before going beyond her sight. Enrique was finished with Isle Port, unfortunately getting no useful information to add on to what he already knew. Next step: westwards.

Blue Lake, Southwest Wuhu

While it was still afternoon, the torrential thunderstorms and dark clouds made it look like it was night time. There were no signs of this weather stopping any time soon either with it having continued on since the day before. Ioreth, recovering from her dangerous trance was still situated in the eastern side branch of the Blue Lake police stations. Kranju and Nuto had returned to the city and were now operating here due to the relocation of the current force. Both were on the way to see Ioreth. In her cell, she was chained up and lying on her bed, looking very pale. The chains were connected to the wall nearest to her bed and they would only go as far as a few metres away from the cell door. While she was awake again, she was barely engaged with the others when they saw her recover. The two police operatives were here for a different reason though.

"Miss Ioreth, you've got two visitors." Nuto called for her attention when they arrived to her cell. Her head tilted slightly and her eyes looked towards the door as the Koopas invited two tall humans into the cell room. One was dark with black hair and the other was a white red-head, both significantly taller than the Koopas next to them. Ioreth raised her eyebrows, having no recollection of ever seeing these two before.

"Thank you." Will and Jaapayo were the two humans that joined Ioreth in her cell, seeing Nuto and Kranju away from inside. From being stuck on a rowing boat for nearly a day only four days ago, the two were able to secretly sneak themselves all the way from Hillin Village to Blue Lake going through the dark woodlands and enduring lots of rain. In fact, the two had spent a day together here already, unfortunately just missing out in the chance to see what happened on the south bridge. The news of it travelled quickly to them while they were here but Zane had disappeared too quickly and Ronald seemed to have disappeared. Will tried his best so search for the acquaintance but had no luck in the city. What amazed him the most about why he was here tonight was that Ioreth was another human, a race that Will hardly ever interacted with besides his friends. Entering this room, Jaapayo immediately felt very weak and uneasy. His injuries he still suffered felt more painful within the vicinity of Ioreth despite her doing anything out of the ordinary. She too was weakened here. The cell was enchanted with a barrier of magic that prevented the use of basic enchantments, potentially affecting the healing placed on Jaapayo's wounds by Rosalina several days ago.

"I know this feeling." Jaapayo grabbed Will's attention inside the cell after his groaning and moaning noises weren't enough to alert him. "I'll be waiting outside. It's my wounds." He turned around after receiving acknowledgement from Will.

"It must be the magic thing they mentioned earlier. Wait outside down the hall. I'll not be too long with them." He said as Jaapayo was opening up the cell door and leaving to stay outside. Will still went over to approach Ioreth, sitting beside her on her bed. She was showing hardly any interest to interact with him. He was unsure whether this was because she was too weak or simply uninterested in him as she didn't recognise him. She first thought that this person was the one she controlled on her crazed drive rampage on the way here, but he wasn't.

"I don't know you…" Ioreth rolled her body to the side after catching another brief look at him. "…What are you here for? You're not from around here."

"What were you doing with that girl?" He first asked about Princess Rose, for she was the only person in common with the two, at least for the fact that Will saw her one time in Yagpar a few days ago. Other than that, he was just attempted to insert himself into matters possibly concerning Ioreth. Will's only interaction with Rose was a good one as well. He remembered her being so nice to him when she spotted him hiding in the alleys on his only day there.

"What does that have to do with a random human… where are you from, Bedlam? Kerolt? Duchev?... Farmik?"

"Nowhere…" Will replied to her while she was listing random towns in the northern parts of the Wuhu area. Hearing his response provoked her. She leaned forwards and looked at him again, squinting her eyes.

"Well you've got to be from somewhere." Ioreth turned her body back down to the bed, closing her eyes again.

"I'm not from around here." Will was having his patience tried from her laziness induced by weakness, but he didn't know about the latter part. "So what did you want with Rose? You seemed to be very good with magic."

"It's none of your business." She exhaled, burying her face in her pillow. "Why are you even here? You've getting nothing here."

"Because you're someone I've never seen before." Will chuckled. "I'm still so puzzled at how a beautiful girl such as you could be getting involved in such dangerous acts. It's a pity that they've sentenced you for execution. Maybe your looks are too good for this world." Initially, Ioreth grinned and exhaled again from hearing the first compliment, but her eyes widened briefly and her mood changed after hearing the later part. She rolled over so that she was on her back and leaned her body up straight so she could easily face him sitting on the other end of her bed.

"I knew there was no escape for me, but… execution? Lies." She looked at Will right in the eyes and thought she could call his bluff. His expression showed no bluff though. "Seriously?" Her breathing started to turn heavy and her face began to sweat. "Tarren will save me." She lied back down on the bed. Will shook his head and leaned closer in to whisper in Ioreth's ear.

"I may be able to help save you from this place." He whispered quietly. "I need you to co-operate with me. You'll be able to escape execution."

"What do you want from me?" She spoke back to him quietly without moving an inch. She remained with her eyes closed and facing the back wall of the cell, uninterested to move at all.

"I want to know everything." He said eagerly and with desperation. "I want to know what happens around here and I want to know what happened to my friend Ronald. You can start with the latter. I've never seen anything like you in my time in these lands and you appear to be the most interesting person." She found it hard to believe if Will was genuinely interested in her. She started to feel the same way, however his approach felt almost suspicious. "Your business in this world is definitely not being spent rotting in a cell until your days' end." He then said. At that point she had had enough of the charm on her and shook him off her upper body.

"To hell with you!" She yelled. "I didn't hurt your friend. Now whatever it is you want with me… I'm not buying it. Get out of here you Mushroom agent!" Unable to use her magic, she kicked him away and tried to chase him towards the back of the room but the chains attached to her leg pulled her back. As Will was backing away from her, not because he was afraid but because he was disappointed in her, he then became afraid of something else that started to emerge in the room. A dark shadowy cloud started to emerge from nothing in the centre of the room, growing larger in size until it was greater in size than Will. He backed to the corner, not yet reaching for the door but engrossed in what this shadow would eventually form. A green-faced witch figure with purple clothes emerged from the shadows as they started to disappear, catching Ioreth's attention.

"Cackletta!" Ioreth's eyes widened with excitement. "Are you here to save me?"

"Foolish human!" The witch let out a shadowy wave of wind in Ioreth's direction as she spoke. "Where is Princess Rose? We're now to do the task which you evidently failed to accomplish!" She posed a visible threat to Ioreth's safety, appearing intimidating at first. However, after a few more seconds, Cackletta's expression became noticeably less angry and more anxious. The shadows around her figure started to disappear and her skin began to appear wrinklier. "Why does it feel so heavy in this room?" Her magical powers were starting to fail too. "What kind of place are you being held in? This is torture!" She complained at the other witch who was evidently powerless. While she was distracted with her, Will out of improvisation, raised his foot and kicked Cackletta forwards with his large boot and pushed her onto the bed. Quickly, Will opened up the cell door and rushed out, meeting up with Jaapayo who was further down the corridor recovering from the damage done to his wounds from the cell's magical incantation. "What? Who was that?" Cackletta got up from falling onto Ioreth as quickly as possible and turned around to see Will holding on to the closed cell door from the other side.

"Oh, you're an ugly one." He taunted her, keeping hold of the cell door from his side. Cackletta rushed over and tried to open it up from her hand to counteract the force Will was applying to keep it closed on his side. She tried to use her magical powers to overwhelm the force held against her but the cell's incantation drained her ability to use magic.

"Let me out of here. There has been a terrible mistake!" Cackletta held on to the cell door bars after realising that her magical powers were futile against Will's muscular strength. Ioreth also got up and rushed over to Will, begging him to help save her.

"Please, I don't know who you are but you have to rescue me from this cell. Please help me!" She cried, now also visibly wishing for his assistance.

"Jap!" Will called for his friend's attention across the corridor. He didn't realise that Will was in distress from keeping the door closed because he was focusing on his recovery. "Bring the Koopas here!" Jaapayo rushed away further down the corridor to seek for help. Will then turned back to the door and looked straight back at Ioreth and Cackletta in the cell. "Sorry girl, you had your chance."

"Leave the door alone." Ioreth grabbed hold of Cackletta eventually and pulled her back. "He'll be back for me. I know it." She smiled.

Jaapayo returned down the corridor with Nuto, Kranju and a few other police workers with the keys to the cell.

"Be careful!" Will warned them as they approached. "We need to make sure this stays locked." He kept his grip on the door as Nuto slowly approached the door with the keys, locking it and noticing the second body inside the cell.

"Cackletta?" Nuto was both confused and surprised. Saying her name surprised all the other guards in the corridor, making them want to have a look inside as well. "How did this happen?"

"Good job, idiot!" Kranju peeked through the cell door bars and laughed at Cackletta, now standing awkwardly in the middle of the cell as Ioreth returned to her bed. "How do your arms feel? Sucker." The other police guards also laughed at the two witches inside the cell. Will started to walk away from the cell door, grabbing old of both Nuto and Jaapayo to walk down with him.

"I was just conversing with her, trying to find her reason for what she did but she refused to get anything out for me. As for that other witch… well… she sort of teleported into the room herself. Her entrance was dramatic, full of shadowy clouds for her arrival. It's a damn good thing she was caught by the magical barrier because I feel like she wanted to save Ioreth and set her free. She also asked for Princess Rose, the other witch. She's not the only one after her then." Nuto grew really concerned for the girl now let go by Blue Lake. She was taken all the way up to the Wuhu Capital, but even then he wasn't sure if Wuhu was a safe enough place for her if there were magical creatures out there after her. This land naturally went by the 'mind your own business' means so most forces wouldn't bother to help out if someone was at risk of extreme danger. Sadly, Rose was currently unreachable for other reasons.

"Something's going on here and I don't like it." Nuto led Will and Jaapayo back to the main work office area of the police station. "I really appreciate your help here now that you've arrived. We're doing our best to look for your friend after the incident too. I've got to make another phone call now so you're going to have to bear with me for a few minutes." Nuto waved to some colleagues as he walked into his office with the two following him inside. He reached for the phone and started to call one of the other town police department lines. The papers he had on his desk in the office showed various call directories and options to reach different cities and groups across the entire southern Wuhu area. Nuto searched for the Yagpar line, hoping to reach someone in charge of that area to inquire more about the beginning of the Ioreth incident the other night. Will and Jaapayo sat down on other chairs in the room and watched Nuto raise his concerns.

"Hi. I'd like to speak to the deputy operative in your branch…" Nuto began speaking on the line. "I believe his name is Iker Koopasi. Could I speak to him today regarding the witch chase case?... He's not available? Oh dear… I'm so sorry to hear that. Please send my best wishes. Blue Lake department wish him the swiftest recovery." The two humans read the expression of sorrow on Nuto's face. "Thank you, thank you."

"Bad news?" Jaapayo wondered.

"Well apparently Iker was affected in Yagpar by the incident, and he's currently recovering from gunshot wounds in hospital. Thankfully the secretary on the line said that she was going to send me their details from the attack on the Yagpar police office. It's still a massive concern though. I guess I will need to bring the case to Princess Éclair." Nuto went to check his computer for the email, seeing that it had already arrived. "You see, when there's an increasing number of witches and sorcerers lurking about, that's not a good thing for us people. We're hardly involved in things like that because they're usually going about in the Mushroom Kingdom. The Wuhu citizens won't like it seeing more and more people using magic to cause fear. They'll start getting their guns out on them." Nuto managed to get up the files on his computer, beckoning Will and Jaapayo to come over and check it out with him. "You two said you're here for Princess Rose's safety. Come and have a look at this. The witch as we know as Ioreth Schaeffer attacked Éclair, possessed Iker, causing him to fire against his own people and as a result causing him to be wounded, and captured both Rose and your other friend Ronald. The chase went through the highways from Yagpar to here and it also says here that she claimed twelve lives on the chase alone."

"Twelve lives?" Jaapayo gasped. "Kill her now before she can do any worse." He raised his voice.

"No." Will held him back. "She's hiding something more that you as the populace need to get out of her. Something bigger is at stake here."

"Good thinking." Nuto agreed with Will. "From the ending of the incident, Rose was taken away by united authorities and taken to the Wuhu Capital. As for Ronald… He left on his own accord, not stating where he was heading."

"Oh great." Will sighed, kicking the nearby chair in frustration.

"We need to send word to the capital about Rose's safety. Cackletta may not be the only other sorcerer or witch out there on the lookout for her." Nuto began to compose an email back to the Yagpar police secretary, forwarding everything in the mail history to not only the Wuhu Capital department, but all other departments involved in the case. The towns that operated in this joint investigation to help seize Ioreth included Hillin Village, Twin Peaks, Hyglon, Blue Lake, and Forest Walk. "It's evident that Ronald's not fully cleared of charges with regards to the Yagpar police department bringing him in for questioning. My suggestions to his whereabouts can only be either back there or back to where he lives in Zeltarc West." Will was not overly sure where to go now. Blue Lake was already showing signs of magical danger, but returning back to Zeltarc West meant that they were more at risk of being spied on by the Mushroom Kingdom. It was a case of who would be more worth being under threat of. Blue Lake was definitely more of a thrilling place to stay at the moment besides the horrible weather. It had been pouring down with rain here for nearly two days non-stop and showed no signs of stopping. Wherever he had to go, Jaapayo had to follow as he was the one with the money. It was definitely feasible to get an apartment further up in the city to stay at for the nights. What they needed during the day however, was a car.

"What are you going to do now then?" He asked Nuto after spending a long period in deep thought. It seemed to him that Jaapayo was on board with anything he was intending to do. He was further across the room towards the southern-side windows, looking at the pouring rain outside and the streets below.

"Just give me a minute to sort something out here." Nuto's eyes were glued to the screen. He was typing out another email, repeatedly clicking on the keys on his keyboard very quickly.

"Hey, Will." Jaapayo beckoned across the room. "Come take a look at this."

Will got up from his seat and slowly walked across Nuto's office to see outside. From the third floor of the building they had the view of the car park and a few side roads. What they saw down below seemed nothing out of the ordinary, but then Will realised why Jaapayo brought him over. There was an ominously parked car in the middle of the street with two large Koopas in suits leaning against it in the rain. Both were holding onto guns and waiting for a third Koopa still inside the car. Eventually, one of the Koopas went to the boot of the car and opened it up, taking out a large fire axe. The other remained in place but took out something from his pockets. It turned out to be an umbrella.

"Nuto. You might want to come over here." Will called out, looking down on the roads below. Nuto slowly approached and now was also looking down and seeing the Koopas. The three watched as the Koopa opening up the umbrella opened up the car door closest to him. While the Koopa holding the umbrella did not say anything, he looked back at the Koopa still inside. The others in the building could see some of the gestures he was making with his hands. The gestures eventually stopped… and at the same time the two Koopas outside the car looked up and stared straight at the three by the window.

"Move out of the way." Nuto shoved the two aside and made them hide out of sight. "Excuse me, you can't park here. This is a private car park!" He shouted down from the third floor.

"Nuto, can't you tell that that's a little strange? Why are you trying to talk to them?" The two Koopas in suits kept staring up at the police officer, saying nothing back to him. Even the Koopa inside the vehicle refused to say anything or even get out of it at this rate. "And put that axe away."

While Will and Jaapayo were hiding away from the window and sitting back at Nuto's desk, the Koopa kept his eyes focused on the others in suits down below. They didn't move an inch in response to his order from the third floor. The closer Koopa with the axe only started to move after half a minute when the Koopa inside the car was finished talking. His suit was getting drenched in the rain, but it did not faze him at all. He travelled around the car and handed the axe back to the Koopa in the car. The suited Koopa then pulled out a pistol from his inner pocket and turned his head to face Nuto again. His eyes widened as he noticed the gun being pointed towards him.

"Oh, shit!" Nuto jumped away from the window and rushed back to the desk, pressing down a button next to the microphone on the left. "Armed unit in the front. All deputies to the front gates! Three armed. I repeat three armed." Nuto rushed out of the room and disappeared out of Will's and Jaapayo's sight. Instinctively he went as quickly as he could to the front entrance of the police station, meeting with Kranju and the rest of the eastern department. Will hurried out of the room to catch up to him, seeing a group of over twenty Koopas and Toads all armed by the front entrance, all pointing their weapons to the three Koopas about ten metres away in the car park. None of the three appeared armed despite the window shattering on the third floor.

"You must know that trying to assault a police station is one of the most idiotic crimes I could ever think of." Kranju laughed at the three whilst having his gun pointed towards them. Now that Will had arrived, standing behind Nuto and Kranju, he was able to see the third Koopa. He was seemingly the one in charge, though shorter than the other two.

"Forgive Solleus over here for damaging your window. Please allow me a few seconds to fix this." The Koopa in the middle took the umbrella held by the other Koopa in a suit and walked a few metres away, using it as a tool to channel a magical beam of energy towards the window. Some of the police officers from their position were able to see the damage from the shattered window be reversed under the effect of the magical beam, repairing itself perfectly. Not only was the glass placed back together, but the cracks also disappeared. The Koopa holding the umbrella smiled as he walked back to his original position, whacking the Koopa who caused it to shatter in the first place with the umbrella. He then used the umbrella normally as a way to block the rainfall. "Now… Where were we? Oh yes, my original demands."

"You're not demanding anything." Nuto spoke with authority, standing in the centre of the group of officers. "Your business is not with us or the Wuhu Kingdom. You better get back into your car and drive back to where you came from or we will detain you all right here, right now."

"That won't be necessary." The Koopa chuckled. "My business with you won't be long here. Bring me Ioreth from her cell and nobody will be harmed. Refuse to do so and I will burn this building to the ground." The Koopa on the right took the umbrella and the centre Koopa revealed the axe from before from his clothes. Strangely, he held the axe upside down so the cutting edge was at the bottom. However, it was revealed to everyone looking at him that there the frame of the axe was all metal, and the bottom of it was straight, shaped like a rod. The rain started to get worse, drenching the Koopas outside. They all heard the noise of thunder from up above as well.

"Drop the axe!" Nuto shouted. "And the umbrella! Get out of here now, or we will open fire on you. You have ten seconds." The Koopa smiled devilishly and began to look up. "One… Two… Three…" All Koopas in the police station readied their guns at the three by the entrance. Both Koopas in suits remained put, eyes focused on the crowd. "Four… Five… Six…" The middle Koopa kept looking up, hearing the thunder and holding his axe upside down, fiddling about with it towards the sky. "Seven… Eight… Ni-." The Koopa passed his axe to the left and his umbrella to the right. The Koopas in suits each walked back to the car and placed the umbrella and axe back into the middle seats area. The Koopa being threatened by Nuto, Kranju and the other police officers growled, eventually walking back to the car as well.

"Be gone, hostile spawn." Kranju taunted them again as they all got back into their car, driving off from the premises quickly. "That'll teach them not to mess with us."

"Shut up, Kranju." Nuto held him back as the rest of the police force surrounded him. "I dread that won't be the last time we see those three. We really need to inform the capital about this. They're not the first people who have come for the girl we've got upstairs… and they surely won't be the last. Remember, Cackletta was just pure luck…"

…

Asterno

…

Within an hour, the three Koopas' surroundings got darker as they got closer and closer to the source of the dark and gloomy weather. This trip was once again to visit the weakening Galaxyë inside his abandoned house. Every day that passed made him get worse and worse due to the curse.

Tarren was only able to walk to the bathroom. His coughing was worse and his movement was impeded. Nobody here to feed him or bathe him made him start to smell and generally weaken in every other aspect. Solleus and Tavernis once again accompanied Sheridan inside the abandoned house, meeting Tarren in his chair.

"You have returned…" He coughed a few times in between his speech. "Do you have a Princess for me? Where is Ioreth… is she able… to undo everything?" Sheridan walked slowly towards Tarren and sat on a nearby seat, getting out a tissue to sit on as he didn't trust the state of the room to ensure if the chair was clean or not.

"From what we can gather, Ioreth and Cackletta are inside the eastern Blue Lake police station. Whether Princess Rose is there with them is unknown, but I'm leaning towards that she is not." Tarren slammed the chair's arm.

"Why are they not here with you then?" He growled and coughed a few times again.

"…Might we first consider your intentions with the Dargovi? You always used to say how your knowledge of the Galaxyë descendants would benefit our best intentions, particularly my father's…" Sheridan tried to bend the topic to his favour, but the old-looking man only got angrier.

"It won't be of any use to you if you don't bring me back two girls at least. A Princess to sacrifice to me is just the beginning, and then you'll learn everything once you take me back to your father." He began to cough even more, finally seeing first signs of blood in the mucus from the coughing. "Water… please. Help me out while you can and Ioreth can't." He was looking away. Silently, Tavernis started to turn around to head to the kitchen area to fill a cup but Sheridan raised his hand, stopping his action. The suited Koopas remained put and stood by the Sheridan's side.

"I'll do it." He said. "It comes from the heart, truly." Tarren smiled and watched the Koopa head to the kitchen.

"It gets difficult here when you're on your own. I feel like a ninety-year old Earthman." After fifteen more seconds, Sheridan returned with a full cup of water, offering it to Tarren to which he quickly snatched from him with the little strength he had. He downed the water quickly and threw the empty cup across the room, piling up with the rest of rubbish that stayed in there unattended to.

"The Wuhu Kingdom is different. We can't free Ioreth without starting an internal conflict with the Kingdom. We tried being nice. They won't buy that. What do you suggest, wise ancient?" He sat back in his seat and watched Tarren conjure up a plan in his mind, at least that's what he had hoped to get from the weakened ancient man still sitting in his seat after ten seconds of silence.

"Are you going to let your younger brother and sister beat you on this? How will your father feel about you being unable to do something so simple?"

"Are you threatening me, wise ancient?" Somewhat intimidated by this weak figure in front of him, Sheridan stood up, looking down on him. He knew that there were others sent off on this mission to bring him a Princess to sacrifice, family or not, but there were other ways he could think of to get the reward for it.

"Do what you need to do to bring them back. Think about what you could do with the reward you're begging to get from me…" Sheridan walked over to Tarren, trying to appear the intimidating one briefly.

"If we're found out for destroying hundreds in order to get to one or two… we'll tell them to see to you first. Nearly twenty years you've been hiding here and I can make that time end in minutes." He tried to threaten Tarren, not knowing that it would feel like nothing to him compared to his ongoing weakness imposed on him by Ioreth. "I will assault the police station and set Ioreth and Cackletta free. That will be my part. You want a princess? Get someone else to do that for you. You've got plenty to choose from. Blumiere, Marrec, even my brother and sister. Better yet, maybe my other brother with how close he could be to one right now. But I'll tell you what." Sheridan leaned over to whisper into Tarren's ear. "They don't do it like I do." He backed away, allowing Tarren to speak back to him.

"Your brother will be in the capital at any minute. He won't be there alone either." Sheridan bowed before him.

"We will both bring you back enough to continue this operation."

…

Down on the western shores of Asterno, Sheridan watched as small submarine emerged from the water surface. The hatch at the top opened up, revealing a Koopa girl; a close relative to his. Several small rafts were also deployed from the top compartments of the submarine, and with the Koopa girl coming out of the hatch, as did many other Dargovi Koopas after her. This Koopa girl was magic proficient and with her wand in possession, she levitated all of the deployed rafts and moved them towards the rough seas just next to the submarine in the water. These Koopas that emerged from the submarine boarded the rafts, ready to sail them to the Asterno western shores. She led the first raft and arrived to land first, heading straight to Sheridan. The two held each other close and touched foreheads.

"A pleasure to have you at my side again, sister." This was Vecheva, the oldest sister, but still younger than Sheridan. To those around her she was known as the Queen of the western seas, and no stranger to danger. She smiled upon being greeted by him.

"Karisa tried to call you yesterday." She said back to him which felt like a surprise to him.

"What would she want with me now?" Sheridan sighed, walking up the rocky paths back to the main roads of the town. "It's too late for the past; we've got bigger things to deal with at the moment. I can't go back and just make things happy between us all again. Not me."

"She's got Tom, the human boy." Sheridan stopped on the rocks. "Him and another one who looks just like him." He only stopped for a few seconds though, as he kept walking up with the small group of about thirty Koopas from the submarine behind him.

"It will have to wait. We need you for this now." They soon reached the top of the path and reached back to the main road. It was late afternoon in this town and once again the streets were empty. Luckily, the rain had stopped briefly so the journey to Blue Lake wouldn't be as horrendous as it usually would be. "Redirect the submarine if you can get someone to. Have it sent to the shores of Blue Lake." He watched his oldest sister configure a small device she pulled out of her pocket, pressing a few buttons to deliver a message.

"Done."

"The cars are down the road. Send the men and women heading to Blue Lake in those. Ours is up here with Solleus and Tavernis." Sheridan turned around and began redirecting the followers down the hill-slope road. Everyone that had followed Vecheva from the submarine were now loading themselves up in vehicles. Clear instructions were given to them to head to the edge of Blue Lake and assured to not cross the bridge to the eastern side yet.

"I want to see him." Vecheva walked on ahead, hoping that she could remember the exact abandoned house she was referring to.

"Be quick with it. I'll be outside with the car." She rushed on ahead, but after a few seconds, Sheridan had a realisation. "Wait!" He called out and hurried to catch up with her, but she wasn't listening. He followed her up the hill all the way to the abandoned house, grabbing her by the time she was already inside. Neither of them made enough of a loud noise to alert themselves of their presence to Tarren yet, but they could both hear noise coming from the room he was usually in.

"What?" Vecheva whispered, overhearing his typical loud coughing.

"He'll keep us for too long." Sheridan said back with a little louder whisper.

"Sheridan? Sheridan!"

…

The two overheard him croaking and choking, making louder noises than usual. He shouted the Koopa's name, thinking he was here.

"He's unkillable, remember." Sheridan whispered back to Vecheva. "We'll see him after." She nodded and agreed with him. The two rushed out of the building, overhearing what sounded like a worsening condition of greater weakness. They rushed across the road to meet up with Sheridan's suited bodyguards, ready to drive off and down the hill with them. The journey back to Blue Lake took nearly another hour, passing Nightwood along the way. The rain started to pick up again, getting heavier as the time went by. The darker clouds started to disperse as they were leaving Asterno, but the time reached near evening and the sky eventually began to darken again. Vecheva, now informed of Ioreth's imprisonment inside the police station in Blue Lake, managed to call the submarine all the way up to the bridge, still underwater and out of sight. It was ready for use whenever she wanted. Now that they had reached up with the rest of their followers, the group were ready to drive across the dam bridge to the eastern side. The town was a little more active than Nightwood or Asterno, but very few roamed the streets due to the pouring rain and thunder. All of these Dargovi followers were armed and ready as the mass of vehicles started to infiltrate the police station car park. The Blue Lake police force awaited their arrival prepared however, previously picking up footage of the vehicles driving across the bridge with their surveillance cameras. The weather was actually worse now in the evening than in the afternoon when Sheridan was here before.

"I've got an incoming transmission." Vecheva informed her brother. "There are a few police cars identified leaving the city to the northeast."

"How many cars?" He immediately asked.

"…Eight."

"Take the car. Take everyone with you. If you catch up to them and seize them, head straight for the capital and meet up with Bertram. He'll need all the help you can give him." He commanded. "You two are with me. I bet there's hardly anyone left here." Sheridan got out of the car along with his two personal guards. One provided him with his axe and the other provided him with his umbrella. As they approached the front entrance of the police station, they were met with a smaller group of armed Koopa police officers, all pointing guns towards him. Led by Kranju, they had also barricaded the entrance.

"We warned you before. Step one more foot forward and we will fire on you." The three overheard the Koopa shouting from behind the barricade. Sheridan grinned devilishly at Kranju and looked up, holding his axe and umbrella in the air again. He opened up the umbrella and pointed it towards the building, covering his body from the others behind the barricade. As the thunder approached and got severely worse, a flash of lightning came down, striking the rod part of the axe, shocking Sheridan and covering his body in bright electrical charge. It was completely redirected to the umbrella, causing it to glow white and create several electrical rings. Kranju's eyes widened as Sheridan closed the umbrella, turning it into makeshift electrical rod. With the axe linking the electrical charge to the umbrella through his own magical works, he pointed it directly towards Kranju. The Koopa started to open fire, aiming for Sheridan, but a second strike of lightning came down to the axe…

With the supercharged umbrella frame, the energy from the second lightning strike triggered the energy from the first. Sheridan used this energy to fire a supercharged projectile of energy straight towards the barricade, creating a huge explosion at the entrance of the police station. Every window surrounding the building shattered and most of the front wall was destroyed. Kranju and the other Koopas at the station entrance were completely vaporised and everything above the front entrance came crashing down and falling apart. Solleus and Tavernis took out their pistols from their pockets, kept their heads up and proceeded forward. Sheridan followed and the three entered the building, passing through the debris created at the entrance, now in search for the prisoners if there were any that were left here. There were few bodies present from after explosion, all dead and in pieces. Solleus shot any that he found anyway, confirming their deaths. Tavernis searched to the right of the entrance, heading up a staircase at the end of the hall. Solleus took to the left, and Sheridan stayed at the debris site, searching for any remaining bodies. Kranju's upper body was eventually found under some rubble. His shell was broken and his legs were separated from the rest of his body as a result of the floor above falling on top of him. His eyes were slightly open and he was making some groaning sounds, Sheridan smiled looking down at him. With his axe, Sheridan got down on his knees and beheaded the Koopa, sending him off. He inhaled with fury, swinging at the neck two more times and shouting upon the third.

"Shefi?" Tavernis was heard a few floors above. Sheridan rushed through the rubble and down the hallway, ascending two floors and going past Nuto's old office that he destroyed the window of.

"Is he coming?" He overheard Cackletta's voice coming from down the hallway. Tavernis stood silently and watched Sheridan approach the entrance to the cell that originally housed both Ioreth and Cackletta, but only Cackletta was shown inside the room. "Sheridan. Thank goodness you're here to rescue me. Please help me get out of here." The Beanish witch wrapped her claws around the visible bars of the cell door, sticking her head as closely as she could to the other side, being able to see both of them in there.

"Where is Ioreth?" He asked looking through the viewing gap and noticing that she wasn't in there with her. "Is she elsewhere?"

"They took her out. I don't know where they've taken her. I'll help you find her if you get me out quickly, I promise!"

Sheridan looked to the ground, leaving Cackletta in suspense. Despite the police station being seemingly mostly abandoned, the magical enchantment placed on the spell to weaken Cackletta was still in place. As Sheridan too was proficient with magic, he felt the aura close to him when he searched the room from the outside.

"Ta lirojmë?" He said to Tavernis.

"Çfarë do të mendonte i lashti i mençur." Tavernis said back to Sheridan.

"Please. I don't know what you're saying but you've got to help me out of here. This cell… there's some sort of shield around it. I can't fly." While she was panicking, Sheridan only looked back at his personal guard who said nothing in response to her. The two decided to leave silently, leaving her in the locked cell. "You're getting the keys right?" She panicked. "Don't leave me in here!"

…

Vecheva and her crew were on the highway roads. Having left Blue Lake, the tracker from the submarine showed that they were still only a fixed mile or so behind the group of police cars driving through the storm on their way to the Wuhu capital. One of her followers was driving for her and she remained in the passenger seat inside one of the trucks they had parked in Asterno, fitted with motorbikes on the back. There were several trucks driving alongside her, all with her followers both inside and on top of them. While her eyes were on the road looking ahead, she received a call on her phone from Sheridan.

"Yes?"

"Only Cackletta's there, locked inside a cell behind a magical barrier."

"You've left her there, right?" She said to him while at the same time indicating to her driver that she was talking about Cackletta and not about Rose or Ioreth. "Serves her right for getting herself stuck there in the first place. A big name reputation can only get you so far." She chuckled.

"I think she'd prefer to stay in there than to deal with Tarren or father after telling them about her accomplishments on this matter."

"Can you confirm that Ioreth and Rose aren't there then?"

"Can confirm. You may press on to the convoy."

"Alright." She nodded to her driver. "Try and catch up to us." Vecheva hung up the phone and undid her seatbelt. She rolled down the window and nodded to herself in assurance.

Like her brother, Vecheva too was proficient in magic. Her best abilities with it involved smoothly repositioning her body and using channelled inner energy to move herself without having to use her own interior strength. Unlike Sheridan though, she was one of few in the world who was able to perform magical spells and abilities without the need to have a wand or object to channel it through. Vecheva grabbed on to the frame of the door and lifted her entire body mass out of the car and bending herself up and over to the roof of the car. With the car driving at high speed against heavy wind and rain, she was able to keep herself stable on the roof once again due to magical energy channelling through her body. Vecheva then acrobatically climbed down to the motorbikes and got herself on the seat of one of them. She waved a hand signal to the front of the car, being seen by her driver. She turned the motorbike on and watched the tailgate drop downwards, scraping the road. Vecheva started her motorbike and slowly reversed down the tailgate. The driver began to slow the car down, allowing her to get the motorbike off of the truck safely. As soon as she was off, she accelerated the motorbike rapidly, overtaking the car as that too started to accelerate back to its former speed. Vecheva dropped back and went around to the other side, getting up close to her driver. "We catch up to them when I come back." She said. "Let everyone know." The pale Koopa she had for a driver nodded back to her and reached out for his transceiver and relayed the orders to the other cars while Vecheva accelerated on ahead. Her motorbike wasn't amazing and wasn't able to go significantly faster than the speed of the cars behind her. As a result, Vecheva had no choice but to channel magical energy into the engines of the motorbike, causing it to glow slightly purple but significantly increasing the speed. After she reached a certain speed threshold induced by the magical power, her trail began to light up in small flames.

It took her thirty seconds to reach up to the convoy from the back. The highway had four lanes and vehicles were driving on all the three inner lanes with some going in between lanes. The entire area seemed to be only occupied by them and there were few cars further behind that were just regular occupied vehicles. Vecheva overtook them and pulled up to the nearest police car. Eventually she was able to see a larger truck that carried a large container presumably carrying the people she was searching for just as intended. She accelerated, catching up with the truck, as she got to the side of it she began to feel weakness in her body. This too was enchanted and magic was not going to be the means of bursting it open. The police cars surrounding the truck started to play their sirens, alerting Vecheva and scaring her. She immediately dropped back, letting the cars go onward.

"Catch up to them." She got out her transceiver and spoke through it. "We need everyone here. Prepare for a fight." She slowed down again, waiting for the group of her followers to catch up in their vehicles. They prepared themselves more when catching up, arriving to her in their trucks, cars and motorbikes. The Koopas were all armed with guns and other weapons, ready to assault the police convoy up ahead.

…

Inside the main truck of the convoy, Nuto was the designated driver, Jaapayo sat in the centre and Will sat on the opposite side. With all the police officers in their cars around the truck, Will noticed something else far into the distance behind them through the wing mirror. Motorbikes, trucks and more cars emerged. The second group had arrived.

"We need to go faster." Will alerted Nuto. "There's… ten, twelve of them behind us. Twelve or so vehicles." All three of them jumped in their seats after first hearing gunshots coming from the front-most vehicles of the second group.

"Under fire!" Nuto pulled out his transceiver. "All units retaliate. I repeat, we're under fire, all units retaliate." Whilst focusing on the road, he switched channels for his transceiver, contacting the capital police department. "Code Red, requesting capital support on the W-twenty-eight! Send for, now!" The three watched as the Koopa and Toad police officers in the police cars surrounding the truck start to roll down their windows and open fire on the vehicles behind them.

"Let me help." Jaapayo asked, searching for possible places inside the truck for guns.

"That compartment there." Nuto already armed himself, giving Jaapayo and Will a pistol each for their own defensive use. Jaapayo climbed behind his seat to open the back door to the cab and climbed on to the front frame of the trailer container.

"Hey, Jap! It's not safe up there!" Will sighed, looking at his wing mirror and seeing a couple of the vehicles of the Dargovi group spin out of control after police officers shot down the drivers. Their vehicles were approaching closer to the truck however and the gunfire became so loud he couldn't distinguish whose guns were the police's firing and whose guns were the Dargovi. Will took his gun and left the back door to meet Jaapayo on the ladder. The police cars were starting to crash, more and more of them started to have their drivers shot by the Dargovi bikers and car passengers. Vecheva drove all the way to the front, attempting to shoot Nuto but not getting a perfect aim with the wind going against everyone. Nuto kept his right arm on the steering wheel and started shooting at her with his left, but was also missing. Vecheva backed up… and in came Sheridan's car. Distant from the magically enchanted container, he climbed onto the roof of his car with Solleus driving. The Dargovi drivers were slowly getting the advantage over the convoy, giving Sheridan the space to leap on to the back of the truck container, climbing on to the top of it. The magical shield began to weaken his ability to cast spells, but he still felt physically strong and capable to assault the front of the truck and whoever was driving it, but now somebody stood in his way… Will. The two were in stance facing each other from opposite ends of the roof of the container. He had only brought his axe as the umbrella would be useless to him now. Sheridan took it out from his pockets and threatened Will with it, showing it in front of him.

"Ah, dark man. Step out of the way and I'll make this swift." He tried to intimidate the human, but it didn't faze him at all. Will kept his resilience and put his fists forward in a brawler's pose.

"Try me, Torrance." He joked, slowly walking down the container roof. To the side, Vecheva tried to keep the motorbike on level speed with the truck, readying her pistol to try firing at Will, but was threatened by gunfire coming from Jaapayo down the other end of the container, forcing her to back away and leave the two on the roof with each other. Sheridan approached Will and started swinging, with Will evading his attempts. The two started a lengthy fight against each other, hurling punches and kicks very quickly. Will's attempts were quicker and more precise, to the point that Sheridan wielding his axe became a hindrance in his ability to attack the human successfully. Sheridan also faced the greater difficulty of swinging attacks at Will against the direction of the wind due to the truck's fast speed. Eventually, Will swung one punch right at Sheridan's chest then managed to kick the axe out of the Koopa's grasp, sending it flying into the wind and thankfully missing everyone else out of their cars. With Sheridan disarmed and the magical enchantment on the container weakening him, Will managed to grab hold of the Koopa's arms, restraining him in place. The human then jumped and put both feet forward, pushing them against Sheridan and letting go of his arms, forcefully pushing him off from the ground and sending him flying rapidly off the container. Sheridan landed on to the windshield of his car, cracking the glass and blinding Solleus, forcing him to slow down. Angered, he could only see Will on top of the container looking back at him and then walking back down it to retreat from the ongoing gunfire.

"Keep driving, damn it!" Sheridan was furious, rolling over the windscreen after regaining his power being distant from the magical enchantment. "Get in front of the truck!" The vehicle began to accelerate, but things started to get worse. The sound of helicopters could be heard from the highway lanes and Sheridan knew that these weren't on his side.

Meanwhile, Vecheva sought to her own plans and measures, getting behind the truck now that Will was no longer present on the top. With the Dargovi followers clearing a few more of the remaining police cars on the right side, she managed to get in contact with a few drivers next to her. One of the passengers on the top of a car was beckoned over by her, getting him to ride the bike with her.

"Axe please." She yelled at him. "Take the seat." She allowed the Koopa follower to easily take hold of all of her driving positions on the bike and followed her new instruction; to ride up to the back of the container again. The helicopters began to approach their group of vehicles in the sky now, shooting down on them with heavier weapons. Vecheva was just about able to get on to the back of the container just as gunfire from the Wuhu attack helicopters shot some bullets into the follower on her bike, causing the motorbike to drift off into the woods and crash. With the axe in her hand and grip onto the frame bars of the container doors in the other, she began to search the doors, figuring out a way to open up the doors.

"Capital turnoff in ten miles!" One of the Dargovi followers shouted in their car as they drove quickly past a road sign. Vecheva's patience grew thin, resorting to more violent measures. Instead of trying to find a way to unlock the door from the front, she sought to brute force, trying to cut the pipes with the axe. Due to the gunfire, she hid her head in the shell, blindly swinging at the door. Several bullets struck the doors of the container, creating holes in the door. She took more fire, including a few bullets creating cracks in her shell. The danger was getting too much for her and it annoyed her too much too. Seeing more of the Dargovi cars and motorbikes crash due to their drivers being shot by the remaining police cars and the helicopters above, Vecheva gave up with the axe method, doing a back flip off of the door and landing on the roof of Sheridan's car.

"We don't have much time left." She said to Sheridan, giving him the axe briefly. "I've got no choice." With her powers regained from being distant to the container, her hands started to glow purple.

"Five miles." Sheridan pointed out, climbing back into the car.

"I need the space!" Vecheva called out from the roof and being caught in the wind. With her hands glowing a radiant purple, she fired a projectile of magical energy up into the sky, missing all of the helicopters but they all backed away in the sky, halting their fire. "NOW!" She shouted, causing Solleus to flaw it on the pedal, rapidly approaching the doors of the container again. Sheridan reached out from the window and offered her back the axe, and as they approached the truck with greater velocity and some remaining magical energy in her, Vecheva gave one last full swing at the doors, busting them open. The reaction to the swing and breaking open of the doors along with the magical enchantment caused Vecheva to be sent backwards. She fell off the car and onto the road. Every car drove on rapidly ahead, leaving her out of it. Luckily, the doors were open and Ioreth was in sight, cuffed inside but able to escape now that the exit was in sight. Solleus drove the car back to behind the container, allowing Ioreth to safely get in the car. Her powers became restored once the distance from the container was great enough, making her able to break out of her cuffs immediately.

As Nuto was still fending off a few more Dargovi follower cars and only a few more police cars were left to guard the convoy, the turnoff was approaching. Will and Jaapayo had re-entered the truck to avoid any more gunfire, but while the thought of approaching the capital bounds felt reassuring, the surroundings did not make them feel that way. Nuto started to change lanes and turned off the exit, following the road and massively slowing down. He knew exactly where to go next, the capital castle where Éclair resides. Unfortunately, coming off of the exit, they saw a large Koopa standing in the middle of the road. Nuto's eyes widened in shock reacting to what he saw on the road. He swerved the truck trying not to run the Koopa over, narrowly avoiding it. The force of the truck caused him to lose balance driving it. The vehicle swerved around and drove off the road, crashing and scraping into the nearby set of warehouses along the road, destroying their front walls. Jaapayo, Will and Nuto all sustained injuries from the crash and were unable to get up. Unfortunately, they were surrounded by more Koopas that seemed to be Dargovi.

Will tried to recover himself from a few pieces of metal that fell on to him but it was the Koopas that approached that moved them aside first. The larger group of Dargovi Koopas that weren't there previously held him up and restrained him, dragging out onto the road on the outskirts of the capital. The other cars arrived, with Sheridan getting out and being accompanied over to him with Solleus and Tavernis by his side. Jaapayo eventually appeared to Will's far right after being recovered from the truck as well. Five more seconds and Nuto joined him on his left. Koopas surrounded them on all sides, with Sheridan approaching him first.

"Never before have I met someone to best me in combat in recent days." Sheridan congratulated Will. "It reminds me of how grateful I should be to be born with such capabilities."

"What do you want with us?" Nuto spoke first to Sheridan but was ignored.

"Two fresh humans. I bet you're not even from these parts, are you?" Sheridan remained in conversation with Will. He also signalled to the Koopas restraining him to be easier on the grip, easing some discomfort the humans had. "I bet you're a friend of what's-his-name… Tom's. That's right?" Both Will and Jaapayo's eyes appeared back to life. The two thrilled with excitement but unable to show it truly.

"You know about Tom? Where is he? How's he doing?" Will and Jaapayo were quick to ask. Anything Nuto attempted to say was led to him being quickly silenced by the Koopas restraining him.

"He's doing great actually. You see, he's been welcomed to the north like the honourable hero he is. My sister… well, other sister is taking good care of him. You humans… you see, you're on the wrong side of this war. Why would you want to side with a tyrannical queen who, last I recalled, wants you all dead?" Will and Jaapayo were unsure what to say back to Sheridan. Meanwhile, the two could see a Koopa flying in the air coming from down the road where they came from. Vecheva had returned, landing on the floor quickly and immensely, creating a magical thud on the ground. Getting out of Sheridan's car was also Ioreth, the girl that he once saw before in the police station, looking a mess but clearly not in the Wuhu police's hands any more. She got out of the car and walked over to meet up with Sheridan, Vecheva and the other Koopas.

"Don't kill these guys." Ioreth smiled. "I like that one." She had her eyes on Will and winked at him.

"Where were we again?" Sheridan looked back to Will and confronted him again.

"I never claimed that I was on Peach's side. Just because we're not on hers, doesn't mean we're on yours."

"That's the problem." He quickly hushed Will before he could say any more. "Did you really think that once you got to Éclair to help deliver Ioreth that she wouldn't immediately go back on you guys and send you straight back to the Mushroom Kingdom? The Dargovi see all, but that's okay. We're here to talk business. We're not like what you think."

"Personally, I've never heard of you before."

"He wants the thrills. He told me himself." Ioreth backed Sheridan, whispering into his ear next. Vecheva also listened. The three ended up talking to themselves for a few seconds. While that was happening, Will turned to his far left, noticing a large crowd of Koopas around where they saw the first one alone in the distance. Nuto looked back at Will, full of anxiety and stress.

"Where's the Patrol and Brigade when you need them?" Nuto whispered, trying not to be heard by the Koopas restraining him. Will shrugged when looking back at him. In the distance, he started to see one of the Koopas in the crowd get up and disperse from it; a much larger Koopa than average slowly making his way over. This was the same Koopa that he remembered seeing alone on the road. The face was exactly the same.

"What are your ties with Bowser, if any?" His eyes widened as he heard Jaapayo try to interrupt Ioreth and the two Dargovi Koopas in whispering conversation.

"Good question!" Sheridan smiled. "Somebody knows his history."

"I've had my encounters with Bowser in the past. The notion of Dargovi Koopas, particularly a family and friend of Bowser's finally came to memory." The Koopas felt somewhat reassured, as did Will and Jaapayo.

"My father used to always say to me when I was a child, any friend of Bowser is a friend of mine. You'll fit very well in to Dargo."

"You want safety from the Mushroom Kingdom? You want no spies lurking around you? No lies, no tricks, you'd best be sticking with us." Vecheva added looking to her right and seeing the Koopa get closer to them. "We've got what we came for."

"How do we know that this in itself isn't a trick?" Will wanted to be very sure. He was already injured as a result from being chased by them, and did recall the chance of being shot to Vecheva. She quickly apologised, telling the Koopas restraining him to let them all go.

"I'm sorry for before. We thought you were genuinely working for Peach. You don't want that either, especially with the way she wants to kill you and your friends, right?"

Sheridan started speaking in old Koopish to Vecheva, moving away from Will, Nuto and Jaapayo, allowing the three to talk amongst each other as well. It was difficult on what to make of the situation. Jaapayo seemed at the top of the scale where he was on board with the idea of joining the Dargovi Koopas. After all it would be much a safer environment to be safe in the north based on his previous experiences there in lesser hostile places. Nuto was at the bottom of the scale; a Blue Lake police officer with the best interests of serving and protecting the Wuhu Kingdom, especially with matters involving Princess Éclair. He was surprised that she didn't send for aid to them yet, or that anyone in the capital noticed about this crash. That was the supposed downside of an unforced Brigade for the Kingdom. Almost everything was privately run in the Wuhu Kingdom. Will was in the middle of the decision. He feared for Nuto. So many of his colleagues had been killed on the highway road but so did many Dargovi Koopa in their vehicles. It was the price they had to pay for Ioreth, and this person, this human, seemed to be Will's interest at the moment. Such a strange figure. Maybe Sheridan was right. If she's on their side, if Tom's on their side, why shouldn't he be too?

"So you've got what you've came for?" Will first looked to his left and saw the Koopa stop on the spot a few metres away from everyone else, then he confronted the three after they stopped talking.

"Pretty much. We just wanted Ioreth back." Vecheva smiled, appreciating Will for seeing her reason.

"Ioreth had a problem with us though." Nuto confronted the three next.

"Excuse me?" Ioreth stood before the Koopas, asking about Nuto's claim.

"You had a problem with Princess Rose, right? That's why you wanted to take her that night for yourself. What's that all about?" Hearing Nuto, Will looked to his left and realised why this happened in the first place. Now his verdict on whether to follow the Koopas or not was thrown into instability again.

"What do you want to know?" Ioreth smiled, slowly approaching Nuto. Will watched him begin to speak with Ioreth but also noticed Jaapayo being escorted to one of the cars, conversing now with Sheridan. While Nuto was talking to Ioreth, demanding her for a reason for her wanting Princess Rose and her responding back with a long story of an explanation, he looked ahead to try and eavesdrop on Jaapayo's conversation with Sheridan, listening to both them and Nuto and Ioreth at the same time. He noticed Solleus and Tavernis approaching Jaapayo, but they all had smiles on their face. Will's thoughts felt somewhat relieved for him. At least he would be getting-.

BANG!

…

Will became partially deafened in his left ear and he felt something liquid spray onto the side of his face. His heart rate began to rise very quickly with his nerves shooting up while his eyes were completely widened. He slowly turned to his left to notice that the sprayed liquid was blood as he saw it pouring thinly out of a hole in Nuto's head. All the Koopas in front of him turned to see what had happened and Ioreth too was shocked but hardly as shocked as he was. Nuto's body collapsed to the floor and behind that revealed the Koopa holding a pistol. Threatening did he appear to Will, but he lowered down the pistol with no intention to shoot any more. The Koopa only chuckled and taunted him, fuelling him with a rage. Will tried to get up and attack the Koopa but was restrained by the other Dargovi followers.

"Oh… Forgot about Bertram." Vecheva scratched her scalp and felt embarrassed.

"Nuk më pëlqejnë jugorët." The Koopa looked straight into Will's eyes, exhaled, and then turned around to group back with Sheridan and the others. Jaapayo had already been escorted into the car, not even tied up by them. Will's rage slowly started to fade away as he regained his hearing in his left ear. The Dargovi followers started escort him towards Sheridan's car now that he had calmed himself down. He turned to his left and saw three of the same family now: Sheridan, Vecheva and Bertram, all looking at him. Vecheva gave him a gentle anxious wave, still feeling embarrassed.

"You'll thank us later." Sheridan assured him as he was taken into the same seat area as Jaapayo. Solleus and Tavernis now took the front seats of this car, not even wanting to start the engine. They just watched the Koopas all walk down the road and around the bend. Once they had turned out of their sight by going around one of the warehouses, Solleus then started the engine.

"What exactly are we supposed to do here then, just wait?" Will demanded something out of the two brothers, but once again, they said nothing and chose not to turn their heads to face him. They started to drive the car further down the road and it was around this bend did Will and Jaapayo start to see more people. They were still unsure if these were more Dargovi followers or actual Wuhu capital citizens.

"Hey, don't stress." Jaapayo tried to calm Will down. "They deliberately didn't kill us for a reason. What if they're genuinely trying to help us out?"

"Do you not remember anything that happened around you tonight? Yes, Ioreth does strike me as interesting, but this all seems very… evil." He looked back at Jaapayo. While he appeared to be calmer now, his voice was still very loud in the car and easily heard by the two Koopas in the front.

"You'll see more of the world soon enough." Jaapayo smiled and patted Will. He looked ahead and suddenly noticed more large magical figures appearing down the road, previously lurking in hiding and in the shadows. "Oh damn. Is that the Count?" Tavernis nodded. "It is?" With his eyes fixed on the larger shadowy figures, he couldn't spot who the other one was.

"Wait. I know that guy though!" Will also noticed a human that was walking alongside them on the way to the Dargovi Koopas. "That's Marrec! Zane's friend!" The three Dargovi Koopas and the other three that approached them formed a circle surrounded by other Dargovi followers. This entire area of the outskirts of the capital had been deserted of its citizens and completely taken over by this larger army of Koopas. Will and Jaapayo kept watching as the shadowy figures presented somebody to the three Dargovi: Princess Éclair. She was tied up with ropes and dragged across the floor. Sheridan turned around and beckoned Ioreth in the distance to walk over. She seemed delighted to see Éclair despite her being tied up and captured by the Koopas. Will and Jaapayo were unsure of what to make of it; perhaps there was another reason they wanted to come here. All Will could remember was them demanding Princess Rose, but she wasn't here and from what he remembered from Nuto's word was that she was taken there. Sheridan was the first to start walking back to the car as well, reaching over to Solleus in the driver's seat and waiting for him to roll the window down.

"Send these two back to Asterno." He said. "Make sure they're well fed." Solleus nodded and started to get the car going.

"Hey! What's he doing here? I know who Marrec is!" Will shouted out of the car again as they were being driven away. He was deeply frustrated on the start of the journey but he was at least somewhat relieved that they weren't going to be harmed on their way back. The only question in his mind now was whether to attack the two in the car or not. Jaapayo on the other hand would try his best to persuade him otherwise. With Solleus with his eyes on the road all the time and Tavernis sometimes looking away, the two would often make eye contact with each other, with will indicating his wish to take the car for themselves and go. Tavernis would often look in the wing mirrors to examine their behaviour and after some time on the highway the two noticed that there were some other Dargovi followers in cars driving back to Asterno with them…

11:00PM

Asterno, Far Southwest Wuhu

During the drive, Tavernis had turned the radio on, tuning in to the news station that was broadcasting live coverage and reports of the ongoing incident. As it turns out, there were previous assaults happening to the capital, including a planned kidnapping of Princess Éclair. The police across various local towns including the capital had been working together to chase down the captives, resorting to many lives lost on both sides of this fight. The helicopters from before had pressured in to the conflict occurring on the outskirts of the city, also established by the Dargovi. Thankfully, Will and Jaapayo were able to escape the scene quickly before it descended into worse danger. The route back to Asterno was different to the journey from Blue Lake to the capital, taking a different highway route all the way to Nightwood and then the same roads back to the westernmost city. The streets here were dark and empty and the rain had picked up again. When the car carrying the two humans arrived to the city, they were taken straight to the back roads along the spiral, not too far away from the paths down to the rocky shores. Neither Will nor Jaapayo had ever been to this city before; the sight of lifelessness felt so strange to both of them.

"So are we supposed to just wait here in the rain?" The two were taken down to the paths and made to sit under some small wooden shelter, taking some of the heavy rain away from them. Will called out to Solleus as he stood and waited with them further up the steps, but said nothing back to them. The two silent personal guards always confused Will, making him more inquisitive than usual. Jaapayo again seemed to just go with it; it was hardly any worse than what he had seen in the past.

"Hey, Will…" Jaapayo called to him softly in the rain. "Don't you think it would be good to… you know… relax just a little? We'll get through this, don't worry. We're better off here than anywhere else we've been to previously in recent days anyway."

"How am I supposed to know that what that Koopa said about Tom is true? We've seen them resort to violence and shootouts to kidnap a couple of humans and now they're taking us to… whatever this place is, it's like a ghost town." He leaned against the surface underneath the shelter, looking out to the sea and seeing the darkness ahead. The thunderstorms, pouring rain and rough waves crashing into the rocks could only be heard and seen through the clouded night sky when the frequent flashes of lightning occurred. For once this year the two started to feel cold as well. The temperature started to plummet during the night, finally moving towards the autumn season here.

"I don't know about this place either, but I hardly think we're being screwed over here. You don't know what it's like to go out of the Mushroom Kingdom much, particularly out of Mushroom City. It's really not as bad as it sounds. I do my own thing a lot you know, and this is… well it's normal. I've never been to Asterno before but I know that it's weather is just always bad. At least the people here don't want to kill you."

"They killed Nuto!" Will shouted back at Jaapayo. "Do you not remember literally a few hours ago? That big Koopa shot him right in front of us. He didn't deserve it. He helped us when we arrived here and we've just let him die like that."

"I get it!" For once Jaapayo snapped back with a loud voice, instantly feeling shock from his injuries from raising his voice too loudly. "It can be a cruel world sometimes, but this is war. It's like that everywhere you go now. You saw it unfold in Mushroom City just days ago. You want to get out of it? Best and safest place to go is probably in the north. Let's just assume that they're right about Tom. The Koopa with those bodyguards, he seems… trustworthy enough." Will decided not to reply. The words that he heard from Jaapayo were a harsh call to reality here. Nobody was technically on his side at the moment with the impression from the Mushroom Kingdom that he's still wanted. If he wanted a side to be on, he knew that he had to listen to Jaapayo and follow his intentions to stay with these newly acquainted Dargovi Koopas. "If we find out that Tom's not there, then we can make up our minds. They're keeping us alive for a reason, so if Tom isn't there then what could we be of use to them for?"

"I think it's too late to go home." Will said softly looking out to the sea. A vision in his head reminded him of the life he had back home and how he gave it all up for this; what he thought would be eternal bliss with all of his friends. One thing he did learn tonight is that there was complete disorder in the Wuhu Kingdom. Éclair never really had proper authority over the lands as everywhere was privatised and anarchistic, otherwise a few groups of Koopas from Dargo would never have been able to enter here so easily let alone rush all the way to the capital for whatever reason God-knows-what.

The seas started to feel extremely rougher, shocking both Will and Jaapayo. The flashes of lightning in the distant night sky allowed them to see some of the surface. A lot of the waters near the coast started to foam up until something started to emerge from underneath the surface. While the two were watching what appeared to be a submarine rising from the waters, a Koopa appeared behind them: Sheridan. He said nothing at first, only looking at both of them and pointing towards the emergence in the water. He alone travelled down the rocky paths with them to the rough seas, heading towards the nearest boat that was docked up ashore.

"Care to explain what's happening now?" Will tried to speak with Sheridan in a softer tone, proving to him that he was calmer about the situation. Sheridan still chose to ignore him at this point and only offered oars to the two as they started rowing the boat over towards the hatch.

"Hurry up with this." Sheridan also appeared visibly frustrated. He rushed once he got off of the raft to help place it back into the deployed compartment where they came from originally. Afterwards, he opened up the submarine hatched and watched as Will and Jaapayo difficultly crawled their way through the wet surface towards it. With the thunder and lightning still dangerously active, Sheridan grabbed on to the two as they almost reached him, helping them get to the ladder. Once the two were down, he joined them, closing the hatch on their way down.

EOC: The consistent progress is likely to continue throughout the summer months with the way things are going right now. I will probably still release by the days that these chapters are completed and keep up the 2-3 weekly basis.

See you next chapter.