The University of Goom was cut from much the same cloth as Poshley Heights. That is to say, the campus was practically paved with gold coins. The grass was freshly mowed, the sidewalk was newly-cemented and unbroken, and the air smelled crisp and clean – except whenever a student chose to ignore the enormous "SMOKE FREE CAMPUS, E FOR EVERYONE" signs plastered everywhere. These were some of the most frequent messages on the numerous campus signposts, followed closely by PSA warnings about how dropouts were destined to slave away for the Koopa clan or the Black Sugar Gang. Third place went to the big bold letters reading, " If you come to the edge of a bottomless pit, DON'T KEEP WALKING ." And fourth to the advertisements for the campus's "Goombas' Studies" classes, where students would learn all about how they were being stomped under the boot of social oppression.

From the looks of things, the university welcomed Goombas of all flavors, from Paragoombas to Micro Goombas to even the super obscure Galoomba subspecies. Being surrounded by groups of any single species made Vivian uncomfortable. Yeah, yeah, big surprise. What didn't make her uncomfortable, right? Vivian sighed. It was just that, here at an all-Goomba university, a shadow-person (Vivian refused to use the "d-word") stood out like a sore thumb.

It was bright and early out, meaning Vivian was visible for all to see in the sunlight. For the millionth time, Vivian thanked her curly bangs for hiding her face. No one could tell how red and puffy it was behind there.

After an eternity of fumbling with her map, Vivian was finally able to locate the dormitory building. Thank the stars, she hadn't needed to ask a stranger for directions. The dorm seemed welcoming enough, but Vivian wasn't here to fraternize. The instant she entered the building, she made a beeline for the women's dorms. Now, which room number was it again…? Vivian hopefully found the correct number, then took a deep breath, pushed down the butterflies in her tummy, and gave the door a nice, firm knock.

"Like, hello?" The door was answered by a female Goomba… who was a total stranger.

Vivian nearly jumped out of her purple skin. She'd thought she'd remembered the room number. "Sorry, I- I was looking for Goombella."

"Vivian?"

Relief washed through every pore of Vivian's body as she heard a familiar voice from the back of the dorm room. A second Goomba-girl waddled over to the entrance, and this one, Vivian recognized instantly. She may have traded her archeologist outfit for a nightgown – specially tailored to the Goomba's distinct body shape, of course – and her sleek blonde hair may not have been up in a ponytail at the moment, but there was no mistaking that pink skin and that single, rounded fang. Goodness gracious, she was much cuter than Vivian.

"Goombella, I, err..." Vivian had thought she might get tongue tied. That was why, before leaving Rogueport, Vivian had meticulously planned out this entire conversation. She couldn't remember a word of it. "I'm sorry, I hope I'm not bothering you at a bad time, but, it's very important."

"Well, we were studying for finals-" Goombella's roommate started to say.

But Goombella cut her off with, "Hey, actually, Goombecca, could you go study in the library for a while?"

"Oh, uh, like, okay." Goombecca obediently gathered up all her books and notes. They floated next to her armless body. Vivian had to keep herself from staring.

"Thanks, you're the best!" Goombella smiled after her roommate, but as soon as Goombecca was out of sight, her face grew more somber. Goombella ushered Vivian inside, then shut the door behind them. They were alone. Finally, Vivian could breathe. "Vivian? What's up? Is everything okay?" Goombella frowned at her.

"No, it's… it's really not." Vivian planted her shadowy butt on a nearby mattress. Sheesh, this place was even more cramped than Frankly's lab. Vivian had only been in here a minute, and already she was feeling claustrophobic. "Goombella, there's something I need to tell you. It..." She bowed her head. "...might be pretty alarming."

"Oh. OH. No, honey , you can tell me anything. It's okay!" Goombella immediately plopped down next to Vivian and leaned into her – which seemed to be the Goomba equivalent of a hug. "You know that me, Mario, and all the others are your friends." Why did Vivian get the impression this was rehearsed? "We all accept you no matter what you-"

"Someone's trying to revive the Shadow Queen," said Vivian.

"Holy Snifit!"

Vivian had never seen a Goomba do a pratfall before. She hated to laugh at armless people for falling over, but she couldn't deny it was pretty funny. "Why?" Vivian gave her a pointed look. "What did you think I was going to say?"

"Nothing." Goombella's voice had gone quite high. "I didn't have the slightest clue what you might have been about to share with… with..."

Vivian folded her arms. "You thought I was going to tell you I'm trans, didn't you?"

" Whaaat? You're traaans-? I had no id- " Goombella shrank under Vivian's stare. "I'm so sorry. I overheard Beldam yelling about it once."

"Yeah, Beldam has trouble keeping quiet about it." Vivian returned Goombella's hug. "But thank you. What you said means a lot to me. I'm just sorry you had to find out that way. Beldam's always had some, err, difficulty adjusting to the change."

"Well, I hate to say it, Vivian, but your older sister's a total b-" Goombella stammered as her eyes drifted to one of those "E for Everyone" posters on the far wall. "-bad person. I mean, she did try to start the apocalypse by reviving an ancient demon."

Vivian winced. There was the "d-word." "Well," she began, "I think there's a reason Beldam was so loyal to the Shadow Queen. Beldam recently told me that..." This was still hard to admit out loud. "...the Three Shadow Sisters are the Shadow Queen's daughters. Well, sort of."

Over the next few minutes, Vivian explained everything to Goombella. She explained about the revelation from Professor Frankly, the harsh words from Beldam, and, most importantly, the mysterious figure who'd appeared before the Thousand-Year Door.

At the end of Vivian's tale, Goombella nodded pensively. "To be honest, Vivian, the whole thing about you being the queen's daughter doesn't surprise me. Professor Frankly and I have been researching whatever ancient texts we can find about the Shadow Queen, and legends have it that she had the power to create monst- people ." Goombella caught herself, shooting Vivian an apologetic look. "Hmm, wonder if that makes Hooktail your cousin or something…? And, well, besides, you do have that same, uh, purpley-skin, eyes-hidden kinda vibe as the Shadow Queen."

Vivian nodded. "I noticed that, too. I guess I just never wanted to believe it before."

"Hey-" Suddenly, Goombella put on a goofy smile. "-so does this make you the Shadow Princess? That's pretty awesome, right?"

Vivian laughed. "I'll stick with 'Vivian.' I picked that name myself, so I'm sort of fond of it."

"Oh yeah, good point." Goombella laughed in turn. "Well, the important thing right now is stopping whichever jerk is trying to revive the Shadow Queen." Goombella pondered this for a second. "You don't think it's Beldam again, do you?"

Vivian shook her head. "Not unless she's a great actress. She's been so depressed lately, Beldam must really believe the Shadow Queen is gone forever." She hugged herself, shivering. "That's what scares me the most. If they ever realize there's even the slightest chance that the queen might not be completely dead, Beldam and- and maybe even Marilyn could..."

"Vivian." Goombella nuzzled Vivian's side. "Things are never going back to the way they were for you, I swear. You've changed so much, grown so much, that there's no way you'd ever let Beldam boss you around again."

"I guess you're right." Still, Vivian worried about Marilyn. Marilyn had never acted anywhere near as vicious as Beldam, but at the same time, Beldam hadn't seemed to hate Marilyn quite as much as she'd hated Vivian. And besides, Marilyn's vocabulary was so limited, it was hard to get a read on her. Who knew who she'd side with?

"And then there's this weirdo who yelled at you in front of the Thousand-Year Door." Goombella looked over at a piece of paper in Vivian's gloved hands, upon which had been hastily scribbled the words, carries essence of shadow queen, stay away, dark forces, death and despair . "Who could she have been?"

"I don't know." Vivian returned the paper to its hiding spot inside her hat. "But it seemed like she was trying to help me in her own weird way. If she's right, though, and the Shadow Queen could be revived, well, I really can't stay away. We have to do everything in our power to stop it from happening."

"Yeah!" Goombella hopped to her feet. She probably would've done a fist-bump if it'd been anatomically possible. "College has been so boring ever since our adventure."

Goombella joined your party!

"Now we can finally get the old gang back together, and I've got an excuse to skip my last exam tomorrow!"

" Oh, no. " At this, Vivian leaped off the mattress herself. "You're not flunking out of college on my behalf."

"Aww, but-"

"I'm sure the dark forces will still be conspiring to revive the Shadow Queen after your final exam. Although-" Vivian faltered. "I suppose we wouldn't really need to go on an adventure to stop the queen's revival at all if we just alerted the proper authorities."

Goombella rolled her eyes. "The 'proper authorities' can't even keep the head of state's daughter from getting kidnapped by a giant turtle monster every other Tuesday."

"Touché."

So now Vivian had to wait an extra day to begin the adventure, which gave her plenty of time to develop an ulcer at the thought of returning to the Palace of Shadow. She tried to make the most of her time by using the library's computers to send a couple emails, but it hadn't been as productive as she'd hoped.

As it turned out, Mario was still out adventuring, Koops was busy being the mayor of Petalburg, the baby Yoshi had hurt himself in a particularly intense Glitz Pit battle and was still recovering (Vivian made a mental note to send him a fruit basket), Bobbery was out sailing in places no email could hope to reach, Flurrie was still touring with that Sticker Festival play Doopliss had mentioned – though apparently it was getting slaughtered by the reviews – and Ms. Mowz was off sniffing for rare badges. It wasn't that none of them cared about the Shadow Queen's potential revival, but there was simply no way they could all return to Rogueport on such short notice. Looked like the old gang wouldn't be getting back together after all. It was alright, though. Vivian was happy she'd at least get to have Goombella by her side. Vivian couldn't imagine working up the courage to enter the Palace of Shadow completely alone.

Presently, as she waited for Goombella to finish her exam, Vivian was drifting off around the campus's food court. Shadow-people didn't get hungry, and Vivian didn't want to mooch off Goombella's meal plan anyways, but she did enjoy the smell of food wafting through the air. Of course, the food court was also super crowded, which meant into her Shadow Veil Vivian went. Yes, she could still smell the food from in there. Don't ask how that works.

The truth was, Vivian might have been engaging in a tiny bit of people-watching. It was a filthy habit, she knew, but she couldn't help herself. These Goombas were all so fascinating. Everything in this cafeteria had been specially designed to accommodate their pudgy, armless bodies.

But one group of Goombas in particular caught Vivian's eye. It was a congregation of a little over half a dozen Goombas, most of whom were girls. A lot them looked pretty typical, dressed in the kind of cute outfits you'd expect from co-eds, but the Goomba at the front of the pack really stood out. It wasn't the Goomba's short black hair or sharp, triangular glasses that caught Vivian's attention, though. No, it was the necklace this Goomba was wearing. On a chain around the Goomba's… um… neck – torso? Whatever. – rested a large, shiny key that looked like it was made of pure diamond. And, most importantly, carved into the handle was the unmistakable design of a Crystal Star.

From within her veil, Vivian gave a start. A Crystal Star? On a key? Why would some random Goomba have such a thing? Had the legend of the Shadow Queen passed into popular culture already? Were edgy Goomba teenagers buying Shadow Queen-themed jewelry? What if that key was important somehow? Was it connected to the Thousand-Year Door?

It was obvious what she had to do. Vivian needed to hop out of her Shadow Veil and go ask this Goomba about that necklace. Yes, Vivian would have to place herself in the middle of a huge crowd, but… but this was important. The fate of the world could rest on that key. All Vivian had to do was go up to this stranger and start a conversation. Easy peasy.

Vivian watched from within her veil as the Goomba clique waddled its way out of the dining hall.

"Like, can you believe what shoe Goombrittany was wearing?"

"Yeah, a giant green boot with a wind-up crank on the back. I, like, wouldn't be caught dead wearing that."

"Totally."

"Hey, I've got that essay you asked me to write for you!" Suddenly, another Goomba approached the group, and Vivian actually recognized this one – It was Goombecca, Goombella's roommate, and she was holding up a piece of paper.

"It's about time." The black-haired Goomba, who seemed to be the alpha of the pack, snatched it out of her nonexistent hands. "I'd better hold onto this. A klutz like you would, like, lose it right away. Now, c'mon, girls, we've got some bars to hit up..."

Their voices grew fainter and fainter until they vanished completely.

...Aaaaaand Vivian was still inside her Shadow Veil. You win this round, social anxiety.

Vivian had been kinda down after that, but seeing the look on Goombella's face as she emerged from the classroom raised her spirits.

"Do you think you did well on the test?"

"Who cares? I'm just glad it's over!" Goombella practically skipped down the hall as Vivian floated after her. "I've finally got some free time, and I even called out of work for the week so we can go adventuring. This is gonna be just like old times!"

Well, Vivian hoped it wasn't going to be exactly like old times, but still, she admired Goombella's enthusiasm.

Vivian had to admit, though, it was always a little weird to see Goombella out of her trademark archeologist outfit. Currently, while she did have her hair in a ponytail as per usual, Goombella was dressed in Goomba-sized jeans and a tank top. Come to think of it, Vivian had no idea how Goombas put on shirts. Maybe Goomba shirts were made to be super stretchy so they could squeeze over their giant heads?

"So," said Goombella as they walked. She didn't exactly have a shoulder to look over, so she had to twist her whole body to glance at Vivian. "What were you up to while I was testing?"

"Oh, well, I was hanging out in the foot court, and I saw this Goomba wearing a- Wait, there it is! "

Vivian hadn't thought she'd see that Goomba again, let alone so soon. And the Goomba was even wearing the exact same Crystal Star key necklace.

"Oh." Goombella's face fell. " That Goomba."

"We need to ask about that necklace." But Vivian was too distracted to notice her friend's lack of enthusiasm. With Goombella at her side, Vivian felt bold enough to float right up to the group.

"Um, are you sure?" frowned Goombella. "Because that Goomba kinda has a reputation for being a little-"

It was too late. Vivian had already caught the black-haired Goomba's attention. "Excuse me?"

"Like, what do you want?" The Goomba spun to face them, and the crowd of followers quickly did likewise.

"Uh, hi, Goomblair," Goombella began. "My friend wanted to ask you something."

All eyes fell on Vivian. She'd gone a bit magenta, but Vivian managed to stammer out, "I was wondering where you got that necklace from. Is it based on the Crystal Stars from the legend of the Thousand-Year Door?"

"Oh, this old thing?" Goomblair glanced down at said necklace. "I dunno, it's just some family heirloom. I only wore it cuz I thought it looked cool with my top."

Suddenly, one of Goomblair's friends walked right up to Vivian and blurted out, "If you're a ghost, why are you purple?"

Goomblair spun towards her, scowling. "Ohmigod, Kurikaren, you can't just ask somebody why they're purple!" Then Goomblair turned back to Vivian and Goombella. "Now if you're, like, done bothering us, we need to go turn in our essays."

"That dissertation on de facto speed and parallel universes took me all night," said Goombecca morosely.

Goomblair turned to Goombecca. "Hand me that essay you wrote for me."

"Uh, what?" Goombecca looked startled. "But- But Goomblair, you took that paper from me, rememb-?"

"YOU MEAN YOU LOST IT?" At this point, Goomblair was shrieking loudly enough to elicit stares from passing students. "Ugh, you ruined everything as per usual, Goombecca! Why do you always have to be such a BAD FRIEND?"

"I'm really sorry, Goomblair." Goombecca turned away, cowering. Her eyes were beginning to water. "I'll do better next time, I promise."

Goomblair merely snorted. "If you think I'm going to, like, ever trust you again after what you-"

" Stop it. " Vivian surprised herself with the acid in her voice. Without even realizing what she was doing, Vivian had placed herself between the two Goombas. "I was in the food court earlier, Goomblair. I saw you take the paper from Goombecca. You owe her an apology." She knelt down to put her arms around the cowering Goomba, who gratefully accepted the hug.

There was a shocked silence from Goomblair's circle of friends. The way Goomblair was vibrating brought to mind a tea kettle on the brink of eruption. Vivian wasn't sure how she'd expected Goomblair to finally break the silence, but it sure hadn't been to shriek: " GIRLS! GET INTO POSITION! "

Seven of Goomblair's friends obediently hopped onto each other's shoulders until they'd formed a three-by-three grid of Goombas towering towards the ceiling, with Goomblair in the top-middle position. However, if you've been doing the math, you might've realized that only added up to eight Goombas, and they needed nine to complete the grid.

"Goombecca!" Goomblair barked down at the poor girl, who was busy cowering behind Vivian. "Get your rear in gear!"

"Y-Yes, Goomblair..." Vivian and Goombella tried to stop her, but Goombecca was too quick. She hopped up into the Goomba-tower, completing the grid. There was now a solid brick of Goombas blocking the hall – though luckily, by now most of the student passerby had already cleared out.

"And now, girls..." Suddenly, the Crystal Star key around Goomblair's neck (or rather, the spot where Goomblair's head ended and torso began) started to glow a brilliant white. "...INITIATE MEGASPARKLE SUPER STICKER KAWAII SHINE GET CHIBI MOE MODE DESU!"

There was a brilliant, blinding light, and when it subsided, a dazed Vivian and Goombella found themselves staring down a massive Goomblair. The Goomba's body was now garishly shiny, and there was a crazed look in Goomblair's eyes – even more crazed than it'd been before.

And the next thing anyone knew, a curtain fell over everything in sight, and when it drew back up, the three of them were now standing onstage before a massive audience of cheering university students. Vivian and Goombella stood on the left side of the stage, while the giant sparkly Goomblair occupied the right.

"Gee whiz!" Vivian stumbled backwards. "We're having a boss fight already? But we didn't even have time to buy items or grind for Star Points!"

"We'll have to make due with what we've got on hand." As always, Goombella started off the battle by whipping out her Tattle Log. She flipped the book to a page with a picture of a giant Goomba that looked almost as shiny as the real deal standing before them.

Goombella read out: "That's a Megasparkle Goomba, as seen in Paper Mario: Sticker Star . Y'know, the one nobody liked." She looked up from the page to give Vivian a befuddled look. "I'm not editorializing. That's what's actually written here."

"Go figure."

"Anyways, it says its max heart points is twelve, its attack is five, and its defense is one, so it sounds pretty tough. Oh, but the log also notes that the Goombas that fused to create the Megasparkle Goomba are a lot weaker individually, so our best bet would be to try and get them to un-fuse somehow."

"Get them to un-fuse?" Vivian pondered this for a moment (Don't worry, the fighting was all turn-based, so she had plenty of time to think). "Well, I have no idea how to do that, so I guess we'll have to try our regular attacks for now."

With a dramatic point of her finger, Vivian cast a Fiery Jinx. It was a direct hit, but the Megasparkle Goomba was unfazed.

" Nice try! " The transformation had given Goomblair's voice a lot more reverb. " But this sparkly lamination is completely fireproof! Your puny jinx is nothing compared to the magic of the Crystal Key! "

Next it was Goomblair's turn to attack. The massive Megasparkle Goomba pounced into the air.

The beast landed with a thud , bringing all of its weight down upon poor Vivian. Vivian had tried to Superguard, but Goomblair moved so fast, it was impossible to get the timing down on the first try.

"Vivian!" Goombella immediately ran to her partner's side to give her a healing Mushroom. "You okay?"

"I've had worse." Now that her HP was a bit higher, Vivian was able to pull herself to her feet – or, err, her shadow tendril. "But if my fire can't hurt that thing, then there's nothing else I can do."

Vivian was left with no choice but to drag both herself and Goombella into her Shadow Veil for the round.

The Megasparkle Goomba once again tried to squish them, but this time it only slammed into a shadow on the floor.

" Ugh! " Goomblair howled in fury. " We could've hit them if we'd been faster! You're slowing us down, Goombecca! Do better next time! "

"Wait a minute." Vivian pulled them both out of the veil. "That's it!" Instead of attacking, running away, or using an item, Vivian looked up at the Megasparkle Goomba and called out, "Goombecca, can you hear me in there?"

" No, she can't! " Goomblair called back down, followed shortly by, " Shut up, Goombecca! You shouldn't be listening to these losers anyways! " Since the Goombas were all fused together at the moment, it looked like Goomblair was scolding the thin air beside her.

"Goombecca, please, I know resisting Goomblair's orders is hard! Sometimes..." Vivian stared at the stage floor. "Sometimes you get roped in with people who take advantage of you, people who are cruel to you, and you're scared to go against them because you don't know what will happen, but..." Vivian gazed back up at the Megasparkle Goomba. There was a dramatic wind blowing from offstage, giving the Goomba a clear view of Vivian's face behind her bangs. "...take it from me, your life will get so much better if you learn to stand up for yourself."

" I've had about enough of you! " Goomblair readied her huge, monstrous body for another jump attack. " You wasted your round on talking, so now it's my turn again. " Once again, the Megasparkle Goomba leaped into the air.

Down below, Vivian huddled together with Goombella, trembling. "Goombecca, please..."

" Ha! " Goomblair successfully landed on Vivian's head… but the other eight Goombas did not. As they'd sailed through the air, Goombecca had bailed out, causing the creature to de-fuse back into its component Goombas. Goombas were sent flying every which way in the chaos.

Of course, Goomblair had landed a direct hit on Vivian, but now Goomblair was back to being a regular Goomba, only inflicting a measly 1 HP of damage. Vivian had to brush off a bit of dirt she'd gotten from Goomblair's shoes, but other than that, she was fine. And now it was Vivian's turn again.

"H-Hey, stay back!" Before Goomblair could run offstage, Vivian popped out of the shadows and snatched the Crystal Key.

"This is obviously too dangerous for someone like you to have." As she spoke, Vivian sank back into the shadows and re-emerged at Goombella's side.

"Yeah! You did it, Vivian!" Goombella looked like she wanted to give Vivian a high-five, but… you know.

With the battle over, the stage around them magically transformed back into the regular old halls of the University of Goom. The only difference was, the Megasparkle Goomba had been replaced with nine disoriented Goomba students. "I- I..." Goomblair stepped backwards, shaken.

Vivian frowned. Was Goomblair maybe about to apologize for treating Goombecca so horribly?

"I'M GOING TO WRITE SUCH NASTY THINGS ABOUT YOU ON SOCIAL MEDIA." Nope. Goomblair instead chose to run off down the halls, wailing.

Most of the other Goombas followed after their alpha, but Goombecca lingered behind.

"Hey, uh, Vivian, was it?" She smiled at her. "Thanks. I hated writing all those essays for Goomblair. I didn't even like Goomblair, but I wanted her to like me . I don't even know why. Does that make any sense?"

"Oh, trust me, it does," said Vivian.

"Anyways, now that I'm not hanging out with Goomblair anymore, I guess I'd better go study. I've still got two more final exams left..."

"Yikes." Goombella winced at her pain, and then Goombecca vanished off down the hallway.

And now, with all that out of the way, Vivian and Goombella could finally continue on their quest.

"Hey, Vivian?" Goombella leaned in to nuzzle Vivian once again. "That was brave of you to stick up for Goombecca like that. You've grown so much since I first met you."

"Thanks." Vivian gave Goombella's hair an affectionate stroke. "And at least it wasn't a complete waste of time. We got this." She gestured to the diamond key in her other hand.

"Wonder what this thing is, anyways?"

"Maybe we'll find out," Vivian said mysteriously, "if we take it to the Thousand-Year Door."

All of a sudden out of nowhere, Vivian was overcome with the urge to hoist the Crystal Key over her head as triumphant music played.

You got a Crystal Key!

END OF CHAPTER