Mario had started out with the Power Smash, hitting Hooktail's claws. The hero of the kingdom was also using his Firebrand. Luigi followed him, using his Thunderhand. Goombella used her Headbash. Koops used his shell for defense and offense. They had gotten the cricket earlier in the castle. Hooktail had revealed why he hated crickets - he had gotten bad food poisoning once from eating one. Mario managed to fight back the fire from the dragon with his own.

Hooktail told them, "W - wait! I give up! Please! I won't be bad anymore! I promise! In fact, I'm sorry! For everything!"

Koops blew a raspberry, "Sorry but we don't believe you!"

Hooktail kept going, "Come now, I'll give you 1,000 coins! What do you say? Can you forgive me in the least?"

Goombella shook her head, "Not interested in the least!"

Hooktail pleaded, "What? You must be joking! You don't need any coins? Then how about the lovely, rare, extra-special badge I have? I'll give you that. It's one of a kind! And it's yours for a limited time only! Will you take it?"

Mario replied, "Not in the slightest!"

Hooktail kept pleading, "Err… Really?! Well, I suppose I could apologize by letting you smell the bottoms of my feet. People pay good money to do this. I'm being completely honest right now. Really. So? Care to take a whiff of the rich, yet delicate scent of my world-renowned feet?"

Luigi stammered, "N - no way!"

Hooktail responded, "Hrmm… you aren't very trusting, are you? It's important to be able to trust someone you know. Er… I guess I better…"

That's when he backed up and tried to take a bite of Goombella. Koops quickly got in his shell and pushed her out of the way. The two were pushed to the side.

Goombella said, "T - thanks Koops! You saved me!"

Koops stated, blushing a bit from the praise, "You're welcome!"

Mario asked, "You two alright?" When the two of them nodded, he turned his attention to Hooktail. He snarled, "That's just horrible! We've had enough of you!"

Mario gave Luigi his right hand.

Luigi added, "A - and it time we took care of you once and for all!"

Luigi took Mario's hand with his left. Both of their powers were glowing a bright red and green, respectively.

Hooktail laughed at them, "Now my strength returns to me! You can't beat me all by yourselves! This is just laughable!"

At this point, the brothers looked at each other and nodded. The two of them spun around and made their powers spin around like a tornado. Both Goombella and Koops were in awe.

Goombella and Koops cheered, "Go Mario! Go Luigi!"

Hooktail couldn't believe what he was seeing. He started to say, "What the…?"

All of the sudden, the tornado fired straight at the Hooktail. The dragon was quickly sucked into the vortex of both fire and lighting. It took a bit but Hooktail was finally down. The tornado faded away, revealing Mario and Luigi. They were both fine. Dizzy but fine. Hooktail fell back. Koops and Goombella ran over to the brothers, happy to see them.

Koops told them, "Great job, you two! I didn't know you could do that! You are so brave!"

Goombella turned to him, "And don't forget yourself, Koops. You saved me!"

Koops replied, "Yeah, I did, didn't I?"

Goombella nodded, "All we have to do now is find that Crystal Star that we can't seem to find."

Before the group could try and move again, Hooktail was starting to wake back up. Mario got Luigi behind him, protectively. Mario was about to activate his Firebrand until Hooktail coughed up a blue shell.

"I'm out! I'm finally out!" The Koopa (Koopley) said.

Koops blurted out, "Whoa! I - it can't be!"

"Eh?" Koopley asked.

Mario took a guess, "Wait, is that your dad? Your actual dad?"

Koops sniffled as he walked over to his dad. Koopley said, "Hey! You're… You're Koops! Hey son! You've gotten so big since the last time I saw you!"

Koops was sobbing, "Well, I guess I have… But who cares, dad?"

Luigi asked, "Yeah, where have you been all of this time?"

Koopley answered, "Well, I came here a while back to deal with Hooktail, and all was well and good… But just before my finishing blow, he played a trick on me and gobbled me down whole. I've been hiding in my shell since then… inside of Hooktail's belly! And boy, was it nasty! Yuck! I am so glad to be out!" He then chuckled.

Koops groaned, "Honestly dad, everyone was so worried about you and I…" Tears filled his eyes at that moment and started to say, "I…"

Koopley walked over to his son and placed his hand on his shoulder. Just feeling his dad close, safe and sound, he really started to cry.

Koopley told him softly, rubbing his back, "Hey, my game isn't over yet. But isn't that a good thing? We're together again, right?" Koops nodded a bit as he looked over to his son's friends, "Speaking of which, what are you doing here with them? Are they your friends?"

Mario answered, "I'm Mario. And well, he wanted to come with us to stop Hooktail and avenge your death."

Luigi added, "I'm Luigi. Your son really wanted to improve himself. Plus Hooktail was making havoc in town."

Goombella replied, "I'm Goombella. And we are looking for a Crystal Star."

Koopley perked up, "Crystal Star…? This wouldn't be what you're talking about, would it?"

That's when he pulled out the Crystal Star from his shell. Koops had finally stopped crying out of relief when he saw the sparkling, dazzling stone.

He commented, "What's that…?"

Koopley answered, "I found it down there in Hooktail's belly. Nice, huh? I kept it as a souvenir."

Goombella gushed, "That's it! That's the Crystal Star!"

Mario mused, "No wonder we couldn't find it, it was swallowed by Hooktail."

Luigi stated, "Oh wow, that's just eerie thinking about it…"

Koopley smiled, "So this is the thing you were looking for then? Perfect! Just perfect! You have it! As a token of my thanks for bringing my son and I back together."

Mario took the Crystal Star, showing it to Luigi. The two had instantly learned a new special move by touching it, the Earth Tremor.

Mario told his brother, "It is beautiful. And looks like Koops got his happy ending."

Luigi replied, "I'm happy for him. I really am."

To that, Mario nodded in agreement.

…

Wishmaker1028: Chapter 11 is finally finished! Hooktail is beaten, Koops found his father, and our heroes have gotten the Crystal Star! Please read and review! And always think outside of the box!