Well, this has been a bit too long in coming. Sorry about that.

Anywho, enjoy!

Chapter 1 - Problems in Petalburg

We join our heroes as they rest for a moment in a peaceful meadow outside the walls of Rogueport.

"Well, this is Petal Meadows, all right," Goombella declared. "Our first order of business should be to gather information and supplies in the nearby village."

Before they could do anything, however, there was an earth-shaking roar, and a large shadow passed over them. Everyone quickly ducked behind the nearest form of cover as a giant dragon flew overhead. The three companions watched as it went into a tower of a distant castle. They waited for a moment to be sure it hadn't seen them, and then continued on their way.

"Well, that complicates things," said Goombella.

"Yeah, the castle that dragon just landed in looks a lot like the one on the map," Finn added.

Jake pulled the map out of Finn's backpack and checked it. "Aw snaps, you're right."

"And if that's the castle where the Crystal Star is, then the dragon is probably guarding it," Finn pointed out.

"All the more reason for us to stock up on supplies, then," said Goombella.

And so, the three of them headed towards the village.

"Welcome to Petalburg!" a friendly turtle-like creature called to our heroes as they entered the village. ("That's a koopa," Goombella later explained, "They mostly live in areas like this.") "Y'know, I haven't had the opportunity to say that in a while, what with that nasty Hooktail having moved into the old castle…" he added.

"Hooktail?" Finn asked.

"Must be that dragon we saw earlier," Goombella mused.

"Whoa, whoa, you saw Hooktail?!" the koopa said, his eyes widened in surprise. "You guys were seriously lucky she didn't see you, then! She'd have probably gobbled you up right there!"

"Not without a fight," said Finn.

"You must be really brave or really stupid to think you'd have any chance against Hooktail!" the koopa exclaimed.

"I'd say Finn's a bit of both, really," Jake deadpanned. Finn glared at him in response.

"As I was saying," the koopa continued, "We lost a lot of our best fighters trying to get rid of that dragon ten years ago, and the mayor's had the path to the castle sealed off ever since."

"Then I guess we need to talk to the mayor, because we need to get into that castle, whether or not we plan to fight the dragon," said Goombella.

"Ah, yes. That you do. You'll find him down the street here, in the pink house. You can't miss it."

A brief walk later, they arrived at the mayor's house. To their surprise, the door was ajar.

Finn cautiously entered the house, only to be beset by an old koopa with incredibly bushy eyebrows. "What do you want? Barging into an old koopa's house like that, you're probably here to rob me!"

"Uh, no sir," said Finn, "It's just, well, your door was open. We wanted to make sure you were all right."

"Oh! I thought there was a draft in here! Heh, I'd probably forget my shell if it weren't strapped to my back," the old koopa said. "Anywho, I'm perfectly fine. Name's Kroop, I'm the mayor of this here town, but you probably know that already. I assume, also, that you're not just here to check up on me?"

"Actually, yeah. We were told you knew how to get into the old castle near here?"

"Hooktail's castle?" the old turtle asked, "Why would you want to go there? Unless, you're some kind of wandering heroes who heard about our problem and are here to get rid of that dragon for us? Why, if someone were to do that, we'd be eternally grateful and probably shower them with gifts!"

"You don't need to make that big of a deal about it…" said Finn.

"What's that? You say just knowing that you'd helped a struggling rural community to survive would be reward enough?" Kroop asked.

"Hey, he never said that!" Jake shouted.

Kroop ignored Jake's outburst. "Oh, you truly are great heroes, doing us such a service just out of the kindness of your hearts," the old koopa continued, "Why, it brings a tear to this old turtle's eye."

"So, about getting into the castle?" Finn asked.

"Right, that! There was an old pipeline transport that would take us there, but I had it sealed off and stashed the keys over in the Shwonk Fortress, out east of town," Kroop explained. "If you can get them out of there, then you have my permission to open the pipeline and try your luck against Hooktail."

And so, our heroes were about to head off to challenge the trials of Shwonk Fortress, when they were approached by a young koopa.

"Um, excuse me! Could you wait just a moment, please?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure," said Finn, "What do you want?"

"Well, uh, my name is Koops and… You guys are planning to go after Hooktail, right? I, um, I wondering if, maybe…" the young koopa trailed off.

"Well, spit it out!" said Jake.

"PLEASE TAKE ME WITH YOU!" Koops cried.

There was an uncomfortable silence after that.

"Uh, sorry about that," Koops said, slightly embarrassed by his own outburst.

"Why do you want to come with us?" Finn asked.

"Well, you see, my dad was one of the warriors of our village who went out to fight Hooktail, and, well…" Koops started.

"You want to help us fight Hooktail so you can avenge him," Goombella finished.

"Yeah. I've been training ever since that day, in hopes that one day I'd be strong enough to take that dragon down," said Koops, attempting to pose heroically. "And I think if I team up with you guys, our chances would be that much greater."

"You're welcome to join us, if you really want to," said Finn.

"R-really?" The young koopa's face lit up upon hearing that. "Awesome! Oh, I promise you won't regret letting me come with you!"

And so Koops joined the group earlier than normal because he's the author's favorite partner in PM2, and he would have been a huge help against the fuzzies.

And hopefully it won't take me so long to get the next chapter out...