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"Koopin...Koopiiiiiiin!" "Yeeees James?" Koopin stared upon his husband, the raptor in brown scales and purple markings on his snout sat up in their bed looking exhausted, with red eyes and pale whitish snout amidst a small sea of tissues covering the bedsheets. His voice struggled to break past his lips as he stared towards the gentle blue-eyed koopa, his green pale shell marked with two arrow shapes pointing upwards on his back. "C-can you get me some orange juice please? My throat's burning..." "Alright then...need anything else?" "N-n-no...no thanks." He smiled softly at him, the koopa turning away towards the kitchen just around the corner from the bedroom's arching doorway as he got a bottle of juice from the fridge, poured a little volume out and filled the rest of the glass with water to dilute it slightly. He had no fear of entering the quarantine zone where the raptor snuffled and coughed severely as he grasped the orange juice weakly. His throat sounded like a broken jeep sputtering with an engine full of sand as he struggled to drink. Koopin sat on the bed gently turning towards him as he drank, the light of a sunny afternoon casting a gentle warmth across the length of their bedroom causing the walls to turn a sweet buttercup yellow as James' ring sparkled softly. A little star clear as the one on Koopin's ring, its perfect partner as he finished drinking whilst the koopa cleaned up all the tissues from the bed and put them into a sealed bag. "Mmmglk...gllk...thank youuu." "Feeling any better since yesterday?" "N-no? Uuuugh...least I stopped throwing up...I think." "I can't believe you've never been sick, I mean all those places you've been to, you never got sick once?!" "Not...really no, I guess I always had a pretty good...body for it, maybe it's the nanos." "They help your immune system too? I mean to be fair, the Booboos are a pretty nasty virus so I dunno if-" "SNRRRK!" He couldn't help himself from snorting a small giggling fit whilst Koopin crossed his arms sternly. "It's not funny James." "S-s-sorry just...god, damn I cannot take that name seriously, it-really? You call this the Booboos?" "I'm serious, Booboos are one of the most dangerous viruses out there, I mean normally you'd have to be sent straight off to a contained unit!" "So why aren't you sick?" "Um, because I had my shots? I told you, you shoulda come with me to the hospital, Roy had all his shots and he's only been living here since about a year ago!" "Roy's a freakin' boy scout, come ooooon Koopiiiin." "I'm just saying, at least now you know." "Mmmmmhhhhh..." James tried to roll himself over into sleep, but he felt too warm in some places and too cold in other parts as he tussled back and forth, whimpering. Koopin couldn't help but smirk giggling as he covered his beak with a look of pity upon his husband struggling to get comfy. "D-dammiiiit." "You want me to fluff the pillows?" "Nooo...not that, just so warm an' freezin' an' aaaaaagh...hhhhh...I'm glad you got time off, are you sure this isn't a hassle?" "Once I told them about your Booboos they understood, I had some vacation days stocked up but they said they wouldn't count it." "That's...nice of them...mmmmm...still thirsty." "Tell you what, I'll make you some Healthy Juice alright? That'll really fill you up." "Mmmmokay..." Heading back into the kitchen, Koopin began to work on making a warm bowl of juice by cutting up slices of melon and apple, before putting them into a blender. Whilst he waited for the fruit to puree, he began gathering a small selection of plants such as dried shrooms, stinky herbs and other strange leaves he ground up into a bowl and pestle. The constant clack-clack-clack of grinding herbs was oddly soothing to James, despite the gentle high-pitched whine of the blender as he cast his eyes lazily upwards. He soon regretted laying his head completely back from the phlegm pouring back down his throat as he coughed rasping harder. It took at least another fifteen minutes to prepare the juice during which there came a knock at the front door. Charlie barked ruthlessly from out back upon the sound of it, but the back door was locked thankfully so daddy James could have his rest. It was sunny and warm outside so the chain chomp would be safe sunbathing. "JUST A MINUUUTE!" cried Koopin. Finishing up his mixture, the koopa poured the apple-melon puree into a bowl before sprinkling a mixture of crushed herbs all across the top of it, but not before mixing some drops of honey and lemon juice into it before he was done. Handing it over to James carefully, he finally went to answer the door seeing a pleasant familiar face. "Hey Koopin!" "Hi Roy! How are you?!" "Ahm good, FG still sick?" "Yeaaaah poor thing, you wanna come in?" "Sure, ah got tahm." "Mind your head!"

Ducking carefully under the smaller door frame, a large visitor entered the Kennidon household which James struggled to bring a smile up to. The black utahraptor with blue rings around his eyes and a cheerisome grin stood heartily whilst wearing blue shorts and a very thin long-sleeved white shirt with matching dress gloves. "Heyyyy man...awwwwww you still got thuh Booboos?" "Uuuuugh...what do you want?" "Whut, ah just came to see mah buddy." "Don't you have work to do?" "Ah finished up mah shift. Howsit going FG?" "I can't sleep." The pale raptor slurped up some of the bowl tasting a beautiful convection of herbs and fruit juices that eased his throat powerfully. "My throat feels like it's on fire, and my eyes feel like someone keeps putting sand inside of them." "Hhhhmhmhmhm...ah warned you, ah told you to get your shots." "I told him that too," said Koopin adding, "but he was all like 'ohhh no I never had any diseases in my life, I'll be perfectly fine' and now look!" "Aw come on you musta been sick at least ONCE in your life!" James struggled to think back as he bit his lip gingerly before drinking down more of the bowl of juice. "I don't...think-no...wait, no there was...like when I was a baby I think, I remember my dad and mum were helping me get treated for some kind of fever. That was one time, maybe they helped boost my resistance I mean mum was a...doctor and all." "Well that may be, but, yanno even ah coulda told you that Dusty Gulch wuz going through a bad Booboo epidemic." "I didn't know!" squawked James feebly. "Well why'd you go anyway?!" "Cuz Boona needed help with something, I was in the area helping doctor Gadd with something and I-HRRK- HRAAAARGHK! ...uuuuugh...dammit my garden is gonna be ruined by the time I'm over this." "You know you COULD ask me," implied Roy, "ah mean ahm pretty strong, ah could handle your garden." "Would you really?" replied Koopin. "He's been so worried about his garden, all the work he's put into it and everything. My dad can't come up since he's getting old and, well, he's not as strong as he used to be and, I know you're busy so-" "Naw naw it's all cool, ah think after all he's done for me ah can spare sum of mah tahm helpin' you out." "Awwww, thank you Roy. See, HE'S nice and responsible, Roy wouldn't go off into the Dusty Gulch like an idiot who never got his shots." "Why don't you marry HIM then?" said James snarkily with eyes rolling. "Besides it's not like I imperson-YHHH-RHHH-K-KAAAGH...hhrrrrk...impersonated a lawyer in court." "Wait, what?" "Oh yeah mah bad," said the utahraptor bashfully, "that did happen once but to be fair-" "Did you-wait, when did you-are you a lawyer?" "Nnnno?" "...wow." Koopin put a hand to his chin in mock admonishment. "Just...wow, you two are made for each other, really, you're like brothers at this rate." "Except ahm thuh prettier one." "You're the younger one," said James, "if I wasn't in bed I'd still be kicking your ass." "But AH still remembered to get mah shots, ahm thuh respoooonsible one!" "Oh fuck off, I'm paying for it alright Roy?" "Hheeeheehehehe." The koopa rolled his eyes smiling at their banter as he sat on the bed next to his husband drinking up his juice still before looking up towards MacGregor. "So uh what's new with you Roy?" "Nammuch, jus' wanted to check in on you, if there's anything you need ah can get for you before thuh shops close." "Oh no, we're fine thanks but that's good of you to offer." "Ahm serious about thuh garden offer bah thuh way, ah know you really care about that." "You really want to do it for me?" asked James hesitant. "Sure, ah know how to work a field, ah learned stuff in mah travels so ah can come round tomorrow early an' see whut ah can do." "Alright...thank you Roy...wow, this juice is really good." "Healthy Juice," said Koopin factually, "one of Tayce. T's specialties, it really helps when you're sick but I added some honey and lemon to soothe your throat." "Mmmmm...thank youuu." A gentle smooch from Koopin made James feel warmed up inside. Until Roy tried to lean over with his own smooch. "What the hell are you-get oooofff!" "Awww come on man, ah wanna give you a smooch." "Uuuugh go awayyyy!" "Alrigh' then ahma hug you, Koopin let's double-hug him from each side." "Nooooooo, uuuuuuuuugh!" Trapped between his husband and best friend, James cringed holding his bowl of juice that kept his hands too occupied to push either of them away. The perfect trap as gentle toned yellow arms locked with brawling thick black muscle rocking him back and forth, both Koopin and Roy gently moaning happily before eventually letting go of him. "You guys are the worst." "Only because o' you," said Roy teasing. "Speakin' of, Koopin you catch that episode of Moo-moos last week?" "YES I did!" squeaked Koopin. "I can't believe what just happened I mean-wooooow!" "Yeah righ'?! Ah never woulda thought that Butterscotch grew up that good over thuh series." "Oh yeah yeah totally I mean, she was such a frail little thing back in the first series and now she's just this really confident strong centre of the group, it's wonderful!" "Mmhmm, ah still got mah favourite in Snapplecrack, she mah kinda lady, all honest an' business." "I wouldn't expect you to be for someone so down to earth, I was expecting Brash." "Naw man, Brashie got waaaay too much all up insahd her head." James could not contribute to this conversation as he settled back drinking up his juice, watching Koopin and Roy banter away about some cartoon he had no interest in whatsoever. He didn't mind it as much since both of their voices soothed him, made him feel not alone which was something he had not felt in ages. Loneliness had left this house forevermore, sighing happily as he finished up his juice and already felt his throat start to hurt less from its effects. Eventually sunset came, casting its long tender rays across the bedroom wall turning them to a sweet crimson amber as Roy noticed such. "Welp, ahma best head home, you need anythin' you got mah number." "Alright," said Koopin, "thanks for coming over." "No problem. Drink lotsa fluids FG...not that you'd have any problem with that, hahahaha!" "Take care asshole," said James smiling, "don't forget to write." "Later!" Roy left the Kennidon household as Koopin guided him out before locking the door as all became quiet once more, with James trying to turn himself in back towards the sheets but struggling to do so. His temperature was unbalanced wildly, his feet shuddering cold whilst his head swam with sheer feverish heat. Koopin walked back and sat at his side cautiously stroking his hand upon his husband's warm cheek. "Feeling better hun?" "S-sorta...that juice really helped, thanks cutie." "Hehehe...glad it did, I'll make some more tomorrow alright?" "Sure...um...h-hey, Koopin, can you...can you uh...tell me a story or something?" "What? Um...s-sure, why?" "It's just...I can't sleep, and I don't wanna focus on TV, it hurts my head. I just wanna listen to you." "Really?" "Course I do...it's nice to hear you talking about anything." "Th-that's...sweet of you, um..." A gentle blush came across Koopin's face, beaming quietly which only turned him even cuter in James' eyes. "What story you want me to tell you?" "Let's...seeee um, just uhhh...wh-what about...the one where you did all that stuff when I was away, like the- UGHRRKHH-HAAARHGHK...f-fuhhh jeezus...like that time I left?" "Um...r-really? But I already told you all that." "Yeah like maybe...seven years ago but I...I kinda wanna hear it again if that's okay, it was really good hearing you talk about what you were getting up to." "Are you sure you want me to tell you that again? I mean...much as I don't mind it's just that um, there's some pretty depressing parts at the beginning and I don't-" "I can take it. I know a good story can't always be happy fully, and yes I still feel bad about leaving you before. But I know...and you know that the story had a good happy ending, so it's not so bad to hear." "I guess you're right...are you really in the right mood to hear it?" "I am...please, tell me the story again, I just...need to listen to you for a good while." "Alright...okay, if you're that certain I guess I can, lemme just...sit up with you." The koopa sat himself up against the bedrest, pressing his shell against the pillows as he turned towards James struggling not to breathe too harshly out of politeness. Koopin was fully inoculated against most things thanks to his occupation requiring such in his travels, so he simply scooted closer to keep him company. "Where do you want me to start?" "Right back...to the beginning. I wanna hear all of it again...is that okay?" "Okay...like you said, its got a happy ending, so I'm not gonna be upset...much, I hope you won't be either. It all started back the day that you left...twelve years ago..."

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THE RISING FALLEN STAR CHAPTER 1: KENNIDON

Morning had risen. His eyes struggled to focus as he flickered them towards the ceiling above him. He barely breathed and a part of him wanted not to, but he soon felt an automatic urge to push himself free from the trappings of his bed. He tried not to turn to his left. He knew it was empty. He knew it had been empty for the past two weeks and it would be empty again tomorrow, and again the next month afterwards. The bed sheets were thrown from his body as the koopa stretched pitifully in the morning light, his pale yellow form wheezing slightly. He hadn't taken off his shirt or shorts the past two days, almost never changing them since he arrived back from work. "Charlie?" He called out to the house, he knew he would come eventually as he slipped off his clothes and dragged himself into the shower. His hands went into a motion of rhythm, not even thinking. Turn the tap on, churn the soap and gel across his body with lifeless hands. Thoughts become drowned in the heavy warm rain, turn water off, leave to find new clothes. His old ones were left on the bed, slipping on another shirt and pair of shorts before gingerly putting on his shell. "WOOF!" The koopa was barely surprised by the voice from behind him, forcing a smile towards the chain-chomp that came up to his knee. A small but friendly creature, tongue panting from his black iron-ball body with leashed chain swivelling out behind him. Despite his roguish teeth he was always happy to see his owner as the koopa sighed to turn towards the mirror. "Feed you in a bit, daddy needs to brush first." Charlie whimpered, oblivious to the concept of self-cleaning beyond the odd wash and polish of his body as the koopa brushed his teeth with a green handled brush. Lazy strokes, lethargic, staring at himself in the mirror. Blue eyes gone misty without focus on himself, still half-asleep. He could barely look at himself before spitting out the toothpaste and putting it in the cup that they always were put. His hand trembled slightly when it felt the second toothbrush. Purple. He turned and left quickly to focus on Charlie's food, pulling from the kitchen cupboard beneath the sink his usual. "Okay, breakfast time...you hungry?" Normally Charlie would bark with gusto. He hadn't barked in two weeks, to the point that the koopa was becoming terrified of losing yet another voice within his house. He pulled open the tin peel and dumping the thick meat into the usual bowl for the chomp. He thought it strange an iron ball would need iron in his diet, but that was what the tin said. He was running low on apples in his fruit bowl, taking the last one he had. He wasn't in the mood to have a proper breakfast as he walked to his drawer beside the bed and pulled out his ID card. Koopin S. Kennidon, Tour Guide Association. He slipped it into his pocket before grabbing his backpack which contained most of his essential work documents and supplies as he walked back towards the mirror in the bathroom. Deep breaths. Focus. Remember to smile. Smile. Smile. He looked up to find his eyes turning misty, squeezing his fist with a deep sniff as he poured himself into another state of being, or at least tried to with fiercely gritted teeth restraining the urge to wipe his tears. "No...n-no, NO. No, it's too early, you have to work, hokay...hokay......Hi, my name's-"

"Koopin," he said before the audience, "and I would like to welcome you all to the Bob-omb Fortress. We're very glad to have you, and I hope that you enjoy the tour of one of the great scenes of a beginning journey, one of many for the great Mario. Please hold all questions until I ask for any from the crowd, and please remember, do not touch, and do not leave the group for any reason as these are still ruins and therefore can be unsafe. This way everyone!" Another brightened day in the Mushroom Kingdom, the sky eternal blue reflecting in Koopin's eyes as he took one look above before turning towards the old ruins of the fortress. A crowd of mixed creatures came from behind him as a smile remained on his beak, firm and rigorous as goombas, shy guys, the odd pianta or two as well as one yoshi looking particularly apart from the group, began wading their way in across the clear sweet grass. At this point he was simply running on orders, not even focusing on what he said knowing he had said it all before. This crack in the wall was recently made, this prison was recently excavated, that railing was replaced please do not touch, the battlements were constructed for this reason et cetera. He let his mind become a blank slate, keeping within the boundaries of his occupational power as tour guide and pleading for people not to ask any questions. Not because he couldn't answer them, but because it forced him to think. He didn't want to think, he just wanted to speak and smile and not feel anything. Not today. Never tomorrow. He explained everything reasonably well, constructing a speech over the years that made everything concise and easy to comprehend. He was thankful that tours were short in the old fortress, the walls riddled through with crumbling that occasionally he had to note and report for renovation. It was cold inside the fortress, and the further down one went, the more damp it became for the fact it was a fortress out on a lake. Renovation was not easy concerning this and in the past Koopin had enjoyed how old and mysterious it looked for its scenic imagery. But today, he now saw every little fault with growing irritation as he sneered bitterly at the structure. "E-excuse me?" "......um, yes?" A voice came nervously from behind him at the end of the tour, the time having since disappeared remembering nothing for the past hour. A pianta, brown-skinned with bulbous nose and beady kind eyes, female lashes and striking green clothes in the form of a skirt. "I had a question about the...ending part I forgot to ask." Please do not ask about the Koopa Bros. fight again, thought Koopin. "What type of wood was used in the Koopa Bros. fight, construction-wise?" Oh you have got to be kidding me. "I...would not know unfortunately ma'am, the reports were not especially detailed on the wood panelling of the False Bowser fight." "Ah...hmhm, sorry I know I must sound weird, it's just I myself am a carpenter so I had to wonder-" "I don't know. I'm...sorry I couldn't answer that for you, do you have any other questions?" "No...it...that's alright." "Okay, you have a good day miss." Koopin walked away with a turn in his stomach. Was he too short with her, or was he just being professional? He struggled with hands on his face hidden from everyone now leaving after his goodbye to them in his long-practiced speech. He had another two hours left before work was over as he sat down on an old pillar block of stone which gave him a vantage point for people coming close before they could see him. All the time he needed to practice his smile and cheer routine inbetween sessions of doubt. "Nnnnnnngh...I should have explained it to her, dammit. Dammit. Uuuuuuuuugh she's definitely not coming back, she's gonna write this place up and call me rude and then tell her friends and then they'll all think I'm rude, I should have just-...nnnngh." He tried to shove both fists into his eyes, squirming with a rising sense of guilt quivering all over his stomach lining, hot breaths that tried to become tears but didn't have enough in him to even make the attempt. Nobody else came today but that one group which left him feeling glad, except for the fact he had now two hours of himself staring into the waters of the lake. Briefly contemplating how deep the lake was. "Two-hundred meters...course you knew that, but not the wood you stupid moron." He went home soon after, a little fifteen minutes before closing time but the TGA associates who were authorised to clear and lock the place overnight had come earlier than expected. Two toads that he could never remember the names of, one yellow and one green. "Hey Kennidon, howsit go-" "Yeah hey was good I'll see you tomorrow." "Uhh...oh-kay sure, you have a good night now!"

He didn't want to talk to them, they always talked his ear off but he couldn't deal with that today. Not tomorrow. Not any week. He never took the long walk back home, not since he had Charlie, worrying about him to some extent as he made it back a few hours before evening. He slammed his back against the front door sighing deeply as he walked through his living room. The sofa on his right with TV against the wall beneath his diploma, the dresser on his left with his family picture and the telephone next to it. Charlie barked up at him, the only thing that made him smile slightly. "Heh...still hungry?" "RUFF-RUFF!" "Alright alright..." Koopin dug into the kitchen cupboards, a small rectangular room with fridge at the far corner and a whole array of soft bleach-yellow doors with all the food he needed. Except Charlie's dog food. "...dammit, I forgot." He rubbed his eyes groaning as he looked into the fridge. Luckily there was a large ham roast he was planning to have for dinner as he took it out, bunged it in the oven and set it to the usual times, not even remembering the numbers but his hands went at a robotic pace as the chomp waited with a gentle whimpering. Dinner between them was a quiet affair, the sunset drifting in through the windows as he carved half of the roast for him and the other half to Charlie. He could only eat through half of his before deciding to just scrape the rest off his plate. "Here you go boy. Daddy's treat." The beast looked at his extra portion ravenously and wolfed it down without any other sense in him as the koopa smiled. He wasn't that hungry, and he hadn't been for a good week or so. He stood up towards the TV after putting his plate away and tried to watch something, anything mundane. The shopping channel was gaudy. He had seen that movie before. The noise of the race was bothering him. He hated this episode. Every new channel he clicked, he had found an excuse to quickly change over to the next before he was done and decided to go to bed. He slipped off his shell fully before clumsily digging into the covers completely. Dropping his card into the drawer beside him, Koopin began to softly wish the same thing he had wished every day the past week. "Please wake me up from this...please...just wake me up from this bad dream...I don't want to feel like this...I don't want to feel this anymore." Sleep came easily to him. That was his only blessing. The next day was not his shift, thankfully and so he woke up at least two hours later than he would normally. He didn't care one bit, lying in bed with his arm punching out towards his left in a bitterness. The fact he only touched the air further seethed his fury from inside him as the only thing that even encouraged him to get up was the sound of his telephone ringing. His anger subsided briefly enough to put on a voice of what he thought sounded neutral before he picked up the phone. "H-...h-hello?" "Mister Kennidon? It's Chan from the Toad Town dojo." "Oh. Um, hello sir, I'm uh, really sorry I haven't been attending of late, it's uh peak season at my job and we're kinda understaffed." "That's fine, but you realise you still have to pay the deposit even if you are not attending. If you feel you are unable to attend for a while, we can halt it temporarily until you return." "Yeah that...th-that would be the best idea actually, I wouldn't mind that." "Are you alright? You sound tired." "Just been a long week, I'm...I'm sorry." "That is fine. You are always welcome back, but please do not be afraid to contact us for any change of your routine. I'll halt your deposits for the next two weeks, that's our standard policy maximum." "Thanks...sir, um. I have to go now. Take care." He hung up. He suddenly felt a weight upon his body, a great terrible lethargic dread as if every muscle in his body had just given up and reduced itself to jelly. He walked dragging his feet around the couch and slumped straight on top of it, collapsing his face into the pillows. "Useless." He raised his head. "Useless measly twerp. Can't even drag yourself out of the house anyplace except for your job, and what do you do? Walk around a big pile of rock with a bunch of idiots that can't even understand erosion. Stupid. Stupid worthless idiots, all of them." Koopin rolled onto his back hoping that the ceiling would offer him some answers. It didn't. "What do I even care about what type of wood they used, who even CARES about that?! Never mind all the big fights or all the traps that were once there NOOOO let's hear about the wood mister tour guide, you've only been DOING this for a living! Not like I wanted to do this...all I wanted was to find a big stupid squid that told me a bunch of cryptic junk and THIS is what I'm turning into. A fat worthless useless idiot that can't even do his job right...can't even remember to get food for his chomp, stupid moron." The more he spoke, the greater the urge to punch something came from inside him. He caught a glance of himself reflected on the TV screen and immediately turned away with disgust burning deep in him. His eyes burned inwards from the tears of rage as he crushed the pillow into his face as if trying to smother himself. He realised he had to leave the house at some point, and it might as well be to amend a mistake of his life in the form of getting his shopping.

It was a mild walk to Toad Town, and he never smiled throughout the entire day looking as monotone as he could like a koopa on a mission. His stomping feet gave enough of the game away however by the time he reached the outskirts finding the store to grab his usual supplies. Toad Town was rather at ease today, the sweet little settlement of houses with multicoloured roofs and yellow brick roads made it the perfect place for sweet easy shopping days. He had gone over what he needed five times in his head, making certain not to forget anything under pain of self-humiliation. Only a selfish idiot would forget by this point he thought, which was why he had written a shopping list. His handwriting was much sharper than usual on it, vicious scars of ink. Charlie's food was first, remembering that foremost as he went into the general store which was a pleasant little chain that spread across the length of the kingdom. Some stores had everything behind the counter that one had to ask the clerk to reach, whilst others were more spaced out allowing anyone to pick the items off the counter itself. Vegetables, cold cuts, chomp food, notepad, orange juice. Tea wasn't going to help him right now as he clunked his items in front of the clerk with an apologetic forced grin. Carrying off his load into a bag he brought, he headed back home. Heading southeast towards his home village, he almost managed to leave Toad Town without any problems until hearing a voice clamour from behind him, whilst standing next to an unmanned flower stall. "Koopin! H-HEY, Koopin!" Unseen was his face stifling frustration as his eyes sunk before turning with a neutral look towards the voice behind him. Another koopa, one he recognised with yellow shell and two C-shaped marks on the back of his shell. "Oh, hey Klyde." "Where ya been dude, I haven't seen you for ages!" "Yeah? Huh, musta been busier than I thought." "Sure is, what is it like peak season or something?" "Um, yeah, I just, had to catch up on a lot of reports." "Awww, sucks. Okay no worries. You look pretty tired, you did an all-nighter?" "Yeah, kinda." "You are coming back to the dojo soon right? I mean you haven't been back in for two weeks, you don't wanna get too behind the curve." "I told them I'd be away for a while, I uh...I've been busy, sorry." "You better get back soon dude, we just started learning how to disarm fire flowers!" "Really? That's...cool." "Hey uh, you wanna go do something-" "Um I have to go sorry." "You sure? It's a pretty good day for walking, I mean if you got nothing to do-" "I have to go!" Koopin turned away with sudden speed as his shopping bag shredded across a row of flowers on the stall next to them, petals scattering violently across the pavement between him and Klyde. He was left dumbstruck, the dry green shell with two arrow-shaped markings fading off into the fielded trees leaving the fellow dojo student in the dust amidst torn wilting flowers on the street. Returning home, he gave Charlie his food after putting all the stuff away, then sat on the couch and did nothing for the next hour and a half. He didn't even turn the TV on, wanting to just sleep. But everytime he had to look at his bed, he felt misery well up inside of him. He was starting to consider just sleeping on the couch for the rest of his life. He hated the days when he didn't have to work. He also hated the days when he did have to work. The next day he was back on shift, and once again he was putting on his best persona of the confident knowledgeable tour guide. He felt like a failing student before the big final exams, desperately trying to recollect everything he could about the fortress as the small crowd of mixed creatures behind him stood upon the lonesome stone bridge high above the ground. "Here is where Mario had to dodge a whole volley of Bullet Bills. Three of them were set up along here, they'd fire off all at once, making an impassable volley unless you either fought them direct, or duck out into the side-sections here. But Mario was smart enough to dodge, smash and plow straight through before facing the Koopa Brothers who briefly occupied this place. Now, any questions before the last room?" "What WAS this last room for originally?" asked a Toad with blue spots. "It was an observation post, back in the days of its original use, bob-ombs would be watching for any signs of approaching enemies." "It seems awfully important for an observation post, the design of it reminds me more of an armoury." "And why is that?" "The battlements on either side of this bridge. You said it was for protecting people from harsh winds, but I don't think that's accurate." Oh here we go, thought Koopin with a gritted smile, there's always one of you at least every three months, you smart-aleck punk. "Wouldn't it make more sense that the so-called 'observation post' be an armoury, and these battlements be used to hide behind whilst attacking invading forces with fire flowers and whatnot? I mean how else would you explain the blockiness of this whole bridge, or the size of that so-called 'observation post'?" "That's just how it was designed in that era," explained the koopa tersely, "they didn't go for finesse, they built things big and blocky because they weren't used to the stone used around this area." "I uh...I have to disagree, because I'm certain bob-ombs were natural artisans at construction, after all the work they did in Fahr Outpost proving their exemplary nature of building places in extreme conditions, this place seems awfully uh......well-" "Yes?" Koopin walked slowly towards the crowd focusing his eyes intensely upon the one shorter blue Toad. "Do you have something more you'd like to add, sir?" "Well, I'm just debating more about the context of this place because I think-" "How long have you been working as a historian?" "I-...never have?" "Oh, haha that's funny, because I thought you actually had a degree like I do. I mean, I'm very honoured you've decided to become so knowledgeable about this place in whatever passing browse through an article you might have read for all twenty minutes, because I've been here for five years and I practically LIVE in this place like it's a second home, so I know every inch of this place. You see these battlements? Do you know why you're wrong about them being used for cover in battle, let me show you." The tour guide dragged his critic towards the weathered stone parapets and planted both of their hands upon it. "Feel that? That's erosion, from the wind, because there are high winds in this area. There's no burn marks, no projectile shots, there's no evidence of fire flowers or any such artillery hitting this place. This place was strictly an outpost and living quarters for bob-omb troopers back in Snesian times, it was built specifically OFF the beaten path from the battlefield and hidden away as such. The fact it was built on a lake, means it also had running water capabilities for ease and comfort to rest their tired soldiers." "I uh...heheh, I-i-i am not sure I can attest to that theory-" "It's only a theory if there's no evidence. So, again, you're wrong about it being a theory. You wanna know why this place is so clumsily put together, why it's so weirdly constructed and bare compared to most Bob-omb constructions? Because it wasn't MEANT to be around this long, it was hastily put together by retreating troops during the Goombob-omb Wars with the Goomba kingdom in the west and the Bob-ombs of the far east. This building wasn't meant to last this long, it was supposed to be a temporary assemblage, a stopping point for bob-ombs so it's a miracle this place has held up this long ESPECIALLY for the fact it's built on a lake which should give it waterlogging." "I-i-i was just elaborating on a possible new line of inquiry-" "But for whatever reason," butted Koopin harshly, "this place has held up because of a master architect whose secrets may never be found again because bob-ombs were terrible at keeping records. IF you had been paying attention about four rooms ago, you would remember back when I told you and the rest of our dear guests today, that the underground channel has since flooded where we found rooms submerged underneath the water level. Inside those rooms, as I explained, we found evidence of old documents turned illegible from being rotted through with water, which would support what you just called a 'theory', except it's not a theory because we found IN that room a variety of old broken rusted architectural tools next to the watered-out documents. NOW, any objections? Or would you like to reread me back your 'theory' that you borrowed from Lakipedia?" The toad shut himself up looking extremely humiliated, his face burning red whilst the rest of the crowd glanced back and forth with a mixture of shock and discomfort. "Great, thank you, NOW THEN!" Koopin smacked his fist hard into his other palm whilst forcing every bit of cheer that could not possibly exist in him at the moment. "Let's go to the observation post where I can tell you all about the final battle Mario encountered with the Koopa Brothers, come on, keep up!" The bristling snarl of arrogance that crept into Koopin was a feeling he would not regret until after the tour was over. But once he had come down from his stately high horse of brazen insult, he felt worse than ever after the people had left, sitting with his back against a stone pillar as he waited for this day to end. He felt a sense of pride in managing to shut down such a prissy know-it-all but at the same time he hated it. He despised it, he felt the anxiety of the crowd when leaving and by the time he made up his mind to go apologise to the toad, the group had left. "Okay I'm sorry but-"

James could not help butting in with a smirk of selfish pride despite Koopin's downtrodden look. "That...sounded pretty awesome the way you shut that dude down, like...hahaha damn that must have been humiliating for him." "I wasn't proud of it," murmured Koopin. "I mean at first I was like, yeah wow got a real surge of confidence in me but then I realised it wasn't really confidence. It was just me being cocky for all the wrong reasons." "Hehehe...picking up bad habits from me are you?" "Possibly. You are the worst sometimes." "Sometimes?" The two smirked at each other teasingly as James continued with: "I mean...nnngh I understand what you're saying but he...shouldn't really be telling you how to do your job...I mean you study it for a living." "Yeaaaah but, I coulda handled it better." "You also could have handled it worse-ECH-HHRRRECH...ucch god, speaking of worse." "Well, that comes later so, after I was done with that tour-"

He stared down at his hands, trying to will them to punch himself in the face but he couldn't bring himself to. Instead he decided to find the nearest rock and punch it out of view from everybody. His fists went flying, hammering straight into the large stone of smooth grey until his fingers became bruised, wilting with purple marks. He didn't stop punching until it hurt, until they spasmed furious with pain which frustrated him even further before slamming down both of them at once. "AAARRRGH!" Koopin sighed defeated, the firm smoothness of the rock almost mocking him for how little he had hurt it as he slumped his head down against it, covering his face with his arms to rest his warm cheeks against the cold surface. Time passed as no one came until his day was done when the two TGA associates arrived to lock up the place, the green toad asking jokingly: "Heh, long day?" The koopa turned his head slowly to look up. He said nothing. "Wow you look pretty rough, you been on an all-nighter Koopin?" "......no. Just tired." "Heh, alright then, you go on back home and rest, take care of yourself." "Yeah." He dragged himself away as the two toads looked at each other oddly. The next day he was off, and it was coming up to his usual bi-monthly visit to see his parents as he headed off down to the train station. It was either that or the underground sewers but he already had enough familiarity with darkness. He was thankful his parents wanted to see him. He had nothing to do, nothing to distract him and even the excuse of Charlie was starting to tire out when he had neighbours to take care of him on longer days. Charlie always had neighbours to look after him so he never worried too much. Charlie never had to worry about anything. Charlie was happy so long as he had at least one of his two daddies. Koopin started to hate Charlie for his passive innocence, but only for a few seconds. Then he felt like a monster. He cried in hatred of himself throughout the entire journey on the train, the old iron steam engine clattering along the rails and taking him straight across towards Mt. Rugged. The scene changed from green to red to dusk-orange did great wonders to soothe him, calmly blinking as time passed ethereal as he soon arrived at the small station outlet beneath the mountains, a shack barely and nothing else as he walked his way to the mountain paths along the way. Some people he passed, but none he would talk to, his bottle of water at his side for the desert journey which while he was used to, was still enough of a journey for anybody to traverse, native or foreign. He barely focused as he took his route, everything passing by, his eyes tracking forwards without even blinking the entirety of his great long trek. The desert itself, grand and infinite-seeming as it took the length of the southeast Mushroom Kingdom, was nothing he had not conquered at least twice a month until he arrived in Dusty Dunes within the space of an hour. Maybe it had been two, he wasn't certain as he reached the gates of his hometown. Traipsing through the crowd of yoshis, koopas, goombas, mousers and shy guys deviating between honest tourists and pilfering shysters, the many stalls of the sandstone-sculpted town were a familiar comfort to him. Toys, watermelons, hammers, possibly unavailable items that were not sold in Rogueport for various reasons that could not be named legally, whatever they had to show. Even though Dusty Dunes was one of the better reputations of the desert, a market town still attracted an element undesirable that Koopin only noticed more within recent weeks. At least until he arrived at his family home. "Koopin!" His mother's smile caused him to crease his own beak slightly, barely showing teeth as she pulled him in tightly for a hug. Soft yellow skin with sallow cheeks, her brown hair twisted up into a messy bun behind her head whilst still wearing an apron, always of a lighter pink with crimplene edges. Heading inside, it would always be the same rooms he had known since he was young, which somehow comforted him more than his home did. This house was never empty. "Hey son, good journey?" The voice from the living room to his right was his father, seated in his chair with newspaper and bifocals planted on his beak with the slightest crow's feet bristling around his soft-settened eyes. "Was okay...how are you dad?" "All good here. Did you catch the fight between Yoshitaka and Krusher?" "...was that this week? Awww." "I taped it in case you wanna watch-" "N-naah I'm...good thanks." His father creased his eyes behind the newspaper restraining the urge to sigh heavily. His mother in turn responded with a much brighter voice asking: "Do you want some of your favourite spread? I got some over at Dry Dry Outpost, they didn't have any in this town can you believe it?! Anyways I have some for you, it'll keep good for a month-" "I-i-i'm not...thanks, mom but I'm not too hungry." "Ah-ah-ah! You know well enough as I do that you don't eat anything on the train and after walking through the desert you must be hungry for something." "Um...okay then, I just don't...wanna be any trouble." "...you're my son." She moved from the kitchen doorway and gently gripped his shoulders. "You are NEVER trouble to me. You know that." "S-sorry, I meant th-there's no reason for me to be...you know what, I'll have the spread tonight, s-sure." "Good." With two pats to each shoulder she headed back to the kitchen and began to prepare their dinner whilst Koopin sat down in a separate seat from his father. Shelldon tried not to make eye contact in a least-obvious way with the newspaper but at the dinner table no reading or devices were permitted. Koopin had his pager turned off as they waited, the occasional throat-clearing stifling the atmosphere with such distressing thickness between the two males that they almost wanted to scream. It was the worst dinner they ever had, and they hadn't even started on the food yet. "Heeeere we aaaare." Klair saved them from confrontation as she brought forth a juicy pile of steaks. She had one smeared already for Koopin and gave it over to him prepared in such a way as to become irresistible to her son. She silently thanked the stars when he started eating, the smell opening up to taste as he smiled softly. "Mmmm...thanks, this...gosh that's good." "Hmhmhmhm! Right." She sat down and began eating whilst Shelldon did the same and for the first few minutes there came only the sound of clinking knives and forks with the odd chewing noise before Klair could bring some discussion in. "So, do either of you remember Goomazzo?" "Goomazzo?" asked Shelldon. "Was that not the uhhh...oh jeez who was that now-" "The head of the wrestling team, remember?!" "OHHHH...I remember him, yeah, he was a hardhead." "Well, I just recently met his sister and we went to speaking about old days-" "Wait where did you meet his sister?" "Just down the road, two days ago! She came for a holiday whilst her husband was making deals to Sarasaland." "Deals? Hold on, Klair, what kind of deals?" "I didn't ask specifically but-" "Because if someone else is competing for Sarasalese products I need to keep up on this." "Well she's still around I believe, I can go and find her and ask-" "Yes please, thank you. So, anyways, Goomazzo." "Well, he apparently was-Koopin are you listening?" "Yes," said their son blankly. "...well, apparently Goomazzo went completely guru, just gone off into the southern islands, no technology no nothing." "Really?!" asked Shelldon in surprise. "Hardhead Goomazzo?! You're kidding me." "No no, I swear straight from his sister, told me he went all new age, found a great sense of inner peace in himself and now lives on a mountaintop. He still sends letters to her though." "I would not believe that if it wasn't you, gosh he was such a jerk. He must have had a lot of frustrations in him, I remember that about him." "Maybe, but either way...would you like some more Koopin?" "No thanks." Koopin had just barely finished 3/4ths of an entire steak. The parents looked at each other as Shelldon tried to approach him tactfully. "How was work?" "Was fine." "No silly stories to share?" "No." "...hmm, normally you always get at least one idiotic question a week, people must be learning hmm?" "Heh." "Koopin." Klair stepped in as she leaned her head forwards. "Are you alright?" "...I'm fine." "You know It's okay to talk about things, you can say anything you want here." "I am." "Not that. You know what I mean." Koopin slowly rose his head up with a bleary eye towards his mother. "Do you want to talk about it?" "About what?" "Your recent mood. Koopin I cannot ignore this, I need to ask-" "I'm just tired mom. I'm sorry, work was rough." "No Koopin. I know when you're tired, please...don't do this." "Do what?" "Trying to hide things from us, there's no reason for you to be-" "Be what? Upset?" "Are you upset?" said his father. "You barely said more than eight words at once today." "I am TIRED. You've had your days when you don't speak much, right? We've all had that." "Not to that extent with you. Koopin please, your mother and I are worried about you, can we talk about this?" "What's there to talk about? Neither of you are gonna be able to magically fix this-" "Of course not but that doesn't mean-" "Then what's the point of talking about it then?!" "You're clearly suffering, you need to talk about this-" "S-STOP IT!" He slammed his fists hard on the table causing everything to clatter brilliantly. "J-J-JUST...STOP IT OKAY!? I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY I'M RUINING OUR LITTLE FAMILY DINNER!" "I didn't mean that and PLEASE do not shout-" "WHAT DID YOU MEAN THEN HUH!? If I'm not the one ruining it then who is huh?!" "Definitely not YOU that's for sure." The way Shelldon said this with a dark murmur had Koopin turn his head with bitter eyes. "What's that supposed to mean? Dad?" "It's not you causing this entire atmosphere." "So who is it then?" "Well it's not anyone in THIS family." "You better not be saying what I think you're saying!" "ENOUGH!" Klair put a stop to things before Koopin had a chance to retort, waving her fork between both of them. "I'm not having any arguments at the dinner table, sour words make sour food remember?!" "It's already sour!" clamoured their son. "I'm just trying to sit and relax and dad here is making accusations about-" "It was NOT an accusation Koopin." "YES IT WAS!" "DON'T shout at your mother!" said the father. "She has done nothing but stand by you and all you've done was shut us away from you!" "I don't need you for everything!" "But we are here FOR you Koopin, unlike SOME people!" "SHUT UP! SHUT UP DON'T YOU EVER TALK ABOUT JAMES LIKE THAT YOU STUPID FARMBOY! _" "WHA-KOOPIN!" "NO, I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING, I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK BUT I LOVE HIM! I LOVE HIM AND HE LOVES ME, HE DIDN'T WANNA GO AWAY! HE DIDN'T WANNA LEAVE ME, I KNOW HE DIDN'T! BUT HE'S GONE! HE'S GONE FOR I DON'T KNOW HOW LONG, BECAUSE OF THIS _STUPID MONSTER HE HAS TO FIGHT AND I HATE IT! I HATE IT, I WENT THROUGH ALL THIS PAIN FOR HIM AND THEN HE LEAVES ME! I HATE HIM! I DON'T WANT TO HATE HIM, I KNOW IT'S NOT HIS F-FAULT BUT DAMMIT I H-HATE HIIIIM! _" Silence hit the Kennidon household like a dead weight. Koopin slumped forwards into his plate and broke down completely, the sound of his sobbing clearly ringing through the place as both parents slowly stood up from their seats and wrapped their arms around their mourning son. They said nothing more, gently rocking him back and forth as he shrieked with wailing torment, drowning his food in tears. His hands clenched, his voice petered struggling to speak: "_I m-miss him...I-i-i'm sorry I miss h-him, I MISS HIM! I WANT HIM BACK, I WANT HIM BA-ACK WITH MEEEE! _" "I know," whispered Klair, "shhhhh...it's alright...let it out sweetie, we're here for you." "_I'm sorry...I'm sorry I'm sorry I shouted at y-you, you don't deserve this, I'm sorry!" "It's alright," said Shelldon, "I forgive you son...I'm sorry for what I said too." "Y-y-you don't...deserve a son like me." "Don't ever say that." Shelldon dropped his voice. Koopin stopped from the fright of his father's words as he pulled his head up. "You are my son, you are our son. I love you, I am proud of you and so is your mother. You are a strong, kind young koopa who never caused anyone any trouble. I love you. Every day, we are so thankful to have you with us." "D-d-da-...d-...d-dad..." "If you want to wait for James as he promised, then we'll wait with you. But...let me say this." He moved his head closer until their beaks touched, the son staring into his father's grey wintry eyes. "I will not let him bring you such grief when he is gone away from us. We are a family, and we always have been. Whatever happens...you have your own life. You owe nothing to James." "Wh-wh-what...what do you mean?" "What your father means," said Klair, "is that none of us would want you to be like this. Not us, not James, and you have to force yourself through this. But you are not going to be alone through all this, you have your family and that in the end is what matters most. We're here for you Koopin." "I...I-i-i...okay...thank...th-th-thank you." It took him at least thirteen minutes to finally calm down with his sorrow broken through and revealed. But it did nothing to clear the doubts and misery from his heart despite venting some weight off from his chest. He called his neighbours from the family's house to explain he had to stay overnight and hoped they could look after Charlie a little longer. He was thankful to have lived in such a nice neighbourhood, as he went up to his childhood room and slept in the bed that was still there hoping that a change of scenery would help him. It was the best sleep he had since James had left him. His heart was on fire, burning deep yet his mind was forcefully exhausted from his constant tormented state of emotions ranging from bitterness to sorrow. And yet still he managed to sleep, finally he could rest to stop feeling the bitterness of his tears that went stinging across his eyes as his parents decided on a new plan. Something their son would desperately need in the coming months. "I'm sorry."

James looked towards Koopin who rubbed his hands nervously in his lap. "I know it's...been so long but...I'm still sorry." "It's okay James...like you said, there's a happy ending now." "I can't believe you of all people would...explode like that. I dunno what your parents must have thought." "I'm not gonna lie, the first few months were really difficult. But you did say you wanted to hear everything." "I tell you all about...stuff I've been through everytime you ask...so it's only fair that I-...hhhhhh...hear this story again too." "Heheh...r-right." Koopin smiled as he braced himself to tell his husband the rest of the story. He remembered all the words he said in his sorrow and fury. He never told James what he now had come to regret. Every time he had told this story, he never spoke or repeated those words of anger ever again as he continued: "So the next day, I arrive back home on the train feeling rather well...miserable, but at the very least I felt more calm about stuff, like I had a good release of things and-"

The first thing he saw upon arriving back at his house was Charlie bouncing his way towards him, the wide long teeth in his smile shining beautifully like his tongue. "RUFF, RUFF!" "Hahaha, awwwww heeeeey Charlie daddy missed youuuuu." The koopa kneeled down and hugged the medium-sized ball of iron wagging his tail behind him in the form of a sleek chain of warm steel. His neighbour was also a koopa with glossy green shell and a slanted square-pattern on his back as Koopin nodded up towards him. He was an old koopa, somewhere around his late 50s at the very least older than Shelldon whom he had always known ever since first arriving in Koopamuir. "Thanks again for looking after him." "It's alright," said the neighbour, "not like I have anything else to do in retirement so it's nice to have your little chomp around." "How's the wife doing?" "Still workin' away the usual, haha...you uh...you doing okay youn' pup?" "Yeaaah just, surviving." Koopin stood up slightly stretching his back with Charlie still at his heels. "Just gotta keep going...had a talk with my parents, managed to clear the air a little bit." "I'm sorry. There anything I can do?" "Naaah it's fine Kris, you're already doing me a huge favour looking after Charlie." "Well, alright then um...before I forget, you had a phone call just today about an hour ago." "Really?" "Yeah um, from your work. The main office, they said they wanted to see you. No need to go up to Bob-omb Fortress." He panicked sharply, his heart stifling in his chest as Charlie whimpered nervously at him feeling his daddy become anxious in turn. He hadn't been back to the office in at least one year, never having any reason to return back to it with all his work being sent out to him. But he knew that whenever the head office called, he had to respond swiftly, as he asked his neighbour Kris nervously: "U-um, can you-" "He'll be fine with me," said the other koopa knowingly, "we both got the second half of Sixty-Four Questions to watch anyway and uh, Charlie here needs to brush up on his history, hmhmhaha." "Thank you, you're a lifesaver Kris. I'm sorry Charlie." Gently Koopin kneeled down to hug his chomp who whimpered and licked across his face in return. "Daddy needs to...go see some important people, I'll be back as soon as I can." "Wh-whuun, whuuuuun!" "Shhhhh d-don't, don't...don't be like that, I won't leave you...I won't. I promise." The look of trust between them said everything as Koopin gave his firmest most trusting gaze upon Charlie and blinked slowly to emphasise this. Staring at chomps was a bad idea, that he had learnt from his mother on how to care for them, they had a different way of measuring trust. The chain chomp licked his face sweetly as if assuring him he would be alright. He found himself soon inside the Toad Town branch of the Tour Guide Association. Grey walls and blue ceilings with green carpet to falsely mimic grass in a daring attempt to soothe people. Koopin stared around the waiting room outside the office of his boss, the name clearly emboldened upon the door with smoke-patterned glass window to obscure whoever was inside it. Three seats in surprisingly comfy leather armchairs were laid out alongside each other with Koopin sitting on the one closest to the door whilst hearing the clack of a computer. The secretary had her own desk opposite of where he sat, a Boo wearing half-moon spectacles and a clean-pressed collar rim around her body with a tie in black and pink. Her hands, flipper-like, were tapping away expertly on the beige word processor. "Mr. Kennidon?" "Yes?!" He almost did not recognise his own name. "Mr. Lakitude will see you now." "Um...th-thank you." Nerves shot through him like a lightning bolt, standing up cautiously as he waddled his way forwards into the office which buzzed the door open to reveal his boss. "Ahhh Koopin. Come in please, close the door behind you." His main employer's office was a treasure trove of travellers' tales from around the entire kingdom. A surprisingly ornate medium-sized desk carved from Petalburg with flower embossments, sturdy brown wooden floor and green walls with pictures on his left and bookcases on his right. A chair humble and leatherette with spinning wheels underneath stood in front of him, whereas on the opposite side of the desk was Mr. Lakitude himself. He did not need a chair for he had his own seat of transport in the form of a cloud filling out half of the desk's width against the back wall. "Sit down, please. Very glad to see you come so early, I was expecting at least for this to be tomorrow." "I-i-um...y-yes, well I mean I um...haven't been back here since the big party." "Indeed." He sat down into the chair feeling his muscles all tense. The lakitu simply pressed his hands firmly upon his cumulonimbus seat, blue spectacles with thick lenses nestled above his smooth grey moustache that twirled into gorgeous spirals on either side of him, which his cloud also had in fine curling black. "Was rather worried I admit, about leaving this hanging any longer than it had to be." "Um...leave what hanging, s-sir?" "This." His boss handed him a sheet of paper, very clearly showing Koopin's name and a rather unsettling trend in the form of a performance review. His head started to sink gently down into his shell the more he read through and down the list as Mr. Lakitude placed his hands together on top of his cloud, gently tapping his thumbs against each other. "The past two weeks, you have shown a consistent decline in your work quality. I've had various reports from associates as well as visitors who left feedback that you have become very distant, irascible and in some cases downright confrontational." "I...I-i-i know, sir." "How long have you been working with us, Koopin?" "...a-...about eight years, sir." "Do you know the last time I received a performance review such as this, concerning you?" "I...I don't know, s-sir, please let me ju-" "Never. Not once, in all of your years with the TGA have you ever been marked for such negatory behaviour. I mean you have had your rather shaky days but nothing worse than other people's usual but you always remained dilligent. You have shown an exceptional dedication to knowledge and research for various places and not just the one you are usually assigned to. That, and your work when we lent you to professor Kolorado for his expedition was an outstanding boon to our standards so I am entitled to ask you this. What's happening to you?" "I'm...I-i'm sorry sir. I was wrong, it...it was my fault, I acted out of line, I did poorly on my job, I've been letting this company down because I've been having problems but I know that's no excuse." Koopin curled up his limbs gently against himself fearing the worst for his job security. Mr. Lakitude was not convinced. "I'm afraid an apology is not going to undo your past recent behaviour. Your entire performance the past two weeks has been frankly terrible compared to your standard output. Now considering that you are a very capable member of our team, and this is the first time your performance has sunk to this depth, I am going to give you a chance. Normally I would have grounds for demotion, but I want you to explain yourself. Tell me why these two weeks have been so terrible." "I...it's...it's not to do with work, Mr. Lakitude." "If it's affecting your performance, then it is." "I-i-i don't...want to sound selfish." "That is up for me to decide. Now, explain to me."

The koopa gently sighed before gulping back his tears, pressing his head against the seat as he struggled to admit his truths. There was some small part of him that never wanted to accept it, or even admit it, but he had to. He needed to. "...my...m-my boyfriend...left me. He had to go home, back to...where he lived to fight a war. To help save his friends." "Really?" The head of the office was taken aback, leaning slightly backwards on his cloud who in turn looked astonished. "What region is he from?" "It's...it's really far away, it's not anyplace we've mapped, some place called Chicago." "Shi-kah-go? I've never heard of it." "It's far away...like I said, and he has to um...make a long travel back to where he came from so he...he can fight. To stop a monster." "That is quite...I...I-i see, and do you know when he will return?" "No. I don't." He was too exhausted to cry as he slumped forwards helplessly. "He left two weeks ago. I've been trying my best to keep working, I really have b-but it's so difficult...it's...it hurts every day I wake up, and he's not even there to see me. Every day I woke up for the past four years, I would see his face. Smiling at me. Now I wake up to an empty bed, and I hate it. I hate being in my house, so I go to work, I do my job but I hate it there too. I can't bring myself to smile some days, I've been trying so h-hard to deal with all the questions and I just c-can't...I'm sorry. I'm sorry sir. I-i-i failed this company." "Why...why didn't you say anything?" "B-b-because I didn't wanna look like some kind of s-selfish jerk, I know everybody has problems but we still gotta do our job! I still need to work, I have a chomp at home, he still needs me to look after him, to buy food and I just c-can't stand being in my own house because everything reminds me of my boyfriend...I wan-...I wanted to escape but I can't even do my job right like a STUPID idiot." "That's enough." The voice of his boss was firm enough to stop his thoughts, but not cold and unfeeling as Mr. Lakitude leaned back with a hand on his forehead. "I can't believe this. You really thought not explaining your emotional state to us was better than trying to force yourself into work every day?" "It's not...it's not like somebody died o-o-or maternal leave, I-i-i couldn't just call up and say 'hey I'm sorry I can't come in because the one I loved for four years was forced to leave me and go fight some demon', I-i-i mean that's not exactly covered in the handbook isn't it?!" "I thought you said it was a monster." "GUH-...monster, demon, whatever it's some big STUPID JERK that's taking my boyfriend away from me every day he's not here and it is KILLING him! It's literally killing him and I have no idea if he'll even come back or not. Wh-what if something happens?! What if he...wh-what if he doesn't even make it back home, and I'm sat here hoping, w-waiting for someone who might not even...m-might......I have to wait...and hope for however long it takes because I promised him. But there's this awful voice in my head saying that he's never coming b-back...he might be dead. H-he might have died m-m-maybe two days ago and I'll never know..." He couldn't hold himself back. His head sunk deep into his hands as a stifling sob broke through from his beak whilst his boss reached into a drawer from his desk. The lakitu struggled to adjust his spectacles clouding over slightly. "Here." A small packet of tissues was offered to Koopin. "Come now. Dry your eyes and just...refocus a little bit. I understand now." "I'm...I'm sorry." The tissues were soft and slightly scented like the smell of fresh trees after a warm summer rain. "I'm s-sorry for not...being able to work and f-f-failed my performance-" "I don't care about that. Mr. Kennidon, I only want you and everyone else to give their best when they're able to. I don't expect anyone to come in when they're sick, or pregnant, or suffering an emotional crisis like you are." "I...b-b-but I know it's not, this, this pain I'm feeling, i-it doesn't matter-" "Why would it not matter? It's obviously affecting your work, this isn't the mark of laziness, that would be you not even bothering to show up. But instead you drag yourself to work and yes you managed to keep tourists in but at a cost to some dignity. That's not what I want from people, especially when in such a state that your work is suffering." "I-i don't...I wasn't thinking straight." "Well now let me do some thinking for you. Because this is the first time anything like this has happened to your performance, as I said, I am going to give you a chance to wipe this clean from your record. If you are willing to cooperate." "What do you...want...me to do?" "Go home. And rest. You have vacation days saved up, I know you do. You are going to be off for two-and-a-half weeks to get your head back together and relax." "No, n-n-n-no I-i can't. I can't please." "You can and you will because that's an order, Kennidon. You are weeping in my office, you cannot focus, you're irresponsibly putting yourself back into work when you should have called us, explained and negotiated some time off which you very well know you did have." "I-i-i don't want...I don't wanna stay home. I need to be useful, I NEED something to distract me." "Then find a hobby. Travel, do SOMETHING other than berate tourists from behind our badge!" "H-HOW can I f-f-focus on anything at this point?!? At least I know what to do in my job, I know what to say, I know how to act, I NEED this! I need to work, I need to bury my head into something and forget, I can't stop thinking about James and I can't TAKE IT!" He scrunched the tissues up in his hands violently, twisting them into soggy little lumps. Mr. Lakitude closed his eyes pensively and debated on what would be the best course of action seeing his employee's dilemma. "...tell you what." "Yes?" "You want to work, clearly, and I admire you for holding such ethic in times of crisis that you are in despite other things so I'm going to make you a bit of a compromise. We will halve that term of vacation and when you come back...you are going to work in the office here, doing menial work. Something small, some administration where you don't have to talk to people, don't have to interact, you can work just quietly away in our office." "W-wait, you mean like...just filing stuff at a desk?" "Among other things, general work on reports and such. I will need to find you a position as well as find a replacement to take over for you at the fortress." "Wh-what, no! But I-" "I did not mean a permanent replacement, Koopin. Just one who can fill in for your usual, that won't be a problem. You want to work, you come back to this office but only after you have had nine days of vacation and until then, you are NOT to set foot amongst any TGA-authorised monument or region, is that understood? You are on paid leave, you can make up for it when you return in which by then I will have found you a nice small desk, somewhere much less social for you to struggle with." "I...I wasn't sure but um...that...that does sound kinda good, I guess it would be alright about not...seeing anyone or need to talk to anyone." "You will still be in an office with other people but you have no need to interact unless of course you're correlating with somebody on projects naturally. Is that acceptable, Mr. Kennidon?" "It...yeah, actually it is, I think um...I think I could do with a change of scenery, th-thank you sir." "Good." The boss offered his hand forwards across the desk. Koopin smiled slightly and shook his hand to finalise the arrangements, before he was sent off back home to start his brief vacation period. The moment he got back home in the smaller town of Koopamuir, Charlie was there waiting for him on his doorstep in front of their house with green roof in the shape of a shell like every other house, along a quieter end street to the side. His neighbour Kris smiled with hopefulness in his eyes. "How'd it go?" "Good, they...just gave me some time off concerning...things." "That's good, so everything's okay?" "Yeah, I'm not out of the game yet. Charlie been okay?" "Same as ever...slightly down though. In fact most of the times I look after him, he's always a little happier at my house than in yours." "I can see why. You don't wanna be stuck at home either do you Charlie?" "Whuuuunnnn..." The chain chomp whimpered with a slight understanding at Koopin's eyes looking resigned with sadness. They both looked towards their own house and sighed almost in unison before heading inside giving Kris his thanks. Charlie was rather sluggish, almost like he was bored out of his ball as Koopin felt the same sense of exhaustion overcome him. He realised what was the first problem besides the obvious. "We need to get out of this house. Both of us can't sit here for a whole week and a half, we've got to do something...what do you think?" He had no answer from Charlie, who simply bounced up onto the sofa and curled himself up with the chain of steel around his body. Leaning himself back against the dresser behind the sofa, Koopin sighed heavily with his mind gone blank until he felt the telephone against his wavering hand. He cautiously picked up the receiver and decided to try at least one means of distraction dialling a number from memory. "Hello?" "OH, Koopin helloooo sweetie! How are you?!" "I'm fine, th-thanks mom. Uhhh listen, are you or dad free anytime this week, I just got some time off work because of well...stuff, and I got at least nine days to burn." "Really? Well, I'm very glad you got some time off, it'll be just the thing you need." "Well, the thing is...I don't wanna be cooped up in this house all week, I think I need some fresh air or rather a...change of scenery more often. Charlie needs it too, he's not been himself lately." "Both of you need it certainly...let's see...your father's at work at the moment but if I can just......OH, actually...I DO have an idea, something that you, me and Charlie can do!" "Yeah?" "I have some coupons that I've been meaning to use for the Shiver City Spa but I just never had the time to go do so myself! Would you like to come along? It would be a great time to do so, kick up your feet, let someone else pamper us." "That...huh...hmmmm...you know what, that's a great idea. I think Charlie would really appreciate it." "Great, that's wonderful, I'll be up at your house in two days if that's okay?" "Sure, two days from now, that's a great idea mom. Thanks." "See you soon sweetie, goodbye!" "G'bye!" The phone clacked down as he smiled with some relief, which Charlie sensed and looked up from his seat to cock his head slightly. "Guess what boy, we're going on a vacation!" "Wuuuh?" "Mmhmm, mom's gonna take us out for a little trip, you've not really been anywhere outside this area haven't you?" Koopin swiftly swept round the sofa to sit down into his seat with eagerness oddly rising inside of him. That or it was denial but either way he accepted it as some small faint hope of breaking his routine before he switched on the TV with the remote. "We just gotta hold out for two days on our own. Yep. Two days...not gonna be a problem." "I know where this is going."

The raptor smirked with a devious chuckle, trying to keep up his own spirits for the rather tumultuous first part of his husband's tale as Koopin blushed deeply. "I-i-it's not like I PLANNED anything but-" "But what?" "Well...two days without anything to do is kind of hard when you're...alone with your thoughts." "What, Shell City wasn't keeping you hooked?" "It wasn't exactly the best thing to watch considering my mood at the time." "When I was having...hhrrrkh, hard times back at Sarah's place, we used to watch reality shows about cops." "Why?" "Because...you ever seen a...hhhhhrhhghk-f-f-fuhhh-" "You alright?! You need the bucket?" "N-no no, no I'm fine...anyways, you ever seen a drug dealer run through people's gardens with his...pockets full of stuff?" "Not...really." "Watching other people become totally stupid...really helps distract you from stuff." "Heh, I'll uh...keep that in mind, so, back to the story, around two days after she called-"

Klair would find herself at the entrance to Koopamuir, a place they had not been to themselves in quite some time. The sight of the fresh green and rolling hills was slightly jarring after so many months in the desert town as they walked down to their son's address. Klair had brought a parasol in case it would rain, which she knew was more common in Koopin's area. Her shell was smoothly green and had only one single cleaving vertical mark down the centre of it, her brown leather handbag dangling from one arm. "Goodness it's warm here," said Mrs. Kennidon to herself. "I always think it's going to be colder like Petalburg was. Nnnnmmmhhh...I'm glad we don't live near Rogueport, always full of people with fake smiles and bad pockets." She simpered with a little smile as they finally reached Koopin's house. Klair knocked gently rapping her knuckles on the door before almost instantly it opened after the third tap. "HI, H-HIYA!" "OH, h-hello sweetie, can we come i-" "SURE, please please come in!" Dragging her by the arm he pulled her into his house as she closed her parasol before it revealed a scene of chaos. The sofa had been pushed ruthlessly against the wall, the TV shunted to one side, the bed completely undone to be almost totally bare with the kitchen absolutely spotless to a glaring sheen that hurt their eyes. Koopin himself had the look of a ragged housewife, his eyes sunken with hands fidgeting to reveal carbuncles turning raw like welts from constant cleaning chemicals. The mother tried not to look fearful as she started with: "Been uh...keeping busy Koopin?" "Y-yeah, yeah I uh just, you caught me in the middle of cleaning." "Ahhh huh. I see, you uh certainly did the kitchen up good." "Yeah I just...finished, I was planning to do the rest of the house and uhhhh the time just went away from me hahahahaha!" "Well, that's...good to see that you were keeping busy, why don't we all go out and give you that break you earned finally?" "You...you uh, s-s-sure? I mean I don't wanna leave all this-" "It'll still be messy when you come back, nobody is going to come round whilst you're away." "I'll just uh, get my things I got 'em all in a backpack just rarin' to go, and uh CHARLIE! CHARLIIIIE-one second." He stomped across the house in a huge flustering out to the backyard to look for his chain chomp. Klair shook her head silently. "READYYY!" "RUFF-RUFF, RUFF!" "OH, h-helloooo Charliiie!" Mrs. Kennidon bent down to give him a hug and kiss, the chain ball smiling with a happy nuzzle and one too many licks across her face in an almost desperate state of relief. "Awwwwww you wanted to see grammy Klair didn't youuuuu, yuzh you diiiid awwwwwwww...are you ready Koopin?" "Just a sec, gotta leave a note someplace!" "Note? What for?" "Just-yanno if James comes back or something, don't wanna make him worry!" She nodded with understanding, saying not a single word as Koopin scribbled down a piece of paper to leave it on the top of the dresser next to the telephone. The koopa son hefted his backpack behind him and with a gleaming smile of sweet desperation braced himself to face the outside world. "HOHkay, Iiii'm ready, let's go!" "Come on Charliiiie!" "RUFF-RUFF!" The chomp was first to leave with panicked frenzy to be someplace away from the house, barking out into the sweet open street of Koopamuir which was more a wide plain of green grass and houses with one single tree. Somewhat similar to Koopa Village in its design but more streets branching out beyond this central "road", Koopin locked his door behind him and waved his goodbye to the neighbours before walking through with Klair and Charlie all alongside of him. The chain chomp panted with fresh excitement, whilst the mother linked her arm around Koopin's elbow with her parasol holstered to dangle off the other arm. The first breath he took was of a deep sigh of mental exhaustion, almost ready to slump into their arms but he kept fiercely defiant in walking onwards. His mother noted this by how his head jutted forwards as if about to drop to his chest. "Did you sleep well?" "Didn't have enough time, too excited!" "Oh-kayyyy hahahaha, well I suppose it is exciting to rough it out on the big road after a long while!" "We'll sleep plenty at a Toad House, I got no worries about that SO where do you wanna go?" "We're going to Shiver City, you remember sweetie? We're off to a nice spa, I checked with the place and they also offer services for pets so Charlie can get a treat too!" "Sounds great! I haven't been to Shiver City in um...ages, you sure you won't be cold?" "I brought a scarf, don't worry. I'm very glad we could do this, you need to get away from the house for a good bit." "RUFF!" "See, Charlie thinks so too!" "Well Iiiii um...c-can't argue with that, hah." Koopin had already planned out the route in his head, whilst Klair had brought along a small map scribbled in by Shelldon's expert hand on where to go. Starting from Koopamuir, they headed along towards Toad Town to find the entrance to the sewer passages. Despite its location, it was the central hub for all faster transportation services across the Mushroom Kingdom if one dared to brave its subterranean depths. The water was constantly clear and purified by the kingdom's exceptional facilities, making the journey through the underground rather clean and brisk to experience. Klair was not one for dark places, and Charlie had never been to such a place before which made him nervous and uneased. Koopin held onto his chain like a leash to keep him away from the water, not that the chomp had any inclination to even try for his slightly shaky mood. The sewers stretched out in every direction, even managing to reach as far as Lavalava Island across the sea but still some people preferred to take vehicles above ground, purely because the underpassage was not the most scenic route they could take. "I wish Shiver City had an open road," said Klair. "Me too," said Koopin, "but it's all up in the mountains what are you gonna do?" "Well, start a railroad maybe up there?" "I always wonder why you don't take this route, like go from Dry Dry Outpost to Toad Town and my house." "Koopin I do not like Dry Dry Outpost, it's too big and they always offer the worst deals of the desert." "Heh...you're just mad because your Desert Blues group got a bad reception there." "PHILISTINES the lot of them! They can't appreciate a good classical piece, in my day it was the talk of the town whenever a concert was in season whether it was Koopi Kondo or David Booie!" "Booie?" asked Koopin. "OH, yeah that dude, dad loves him doesn't he?" "Exceptionally," stated Klair, "pray do not talk about him when your father is around he will go oooooon and ooooon about how masterful he is. I almost want to believe that your father has a crush on him." "It's David Booie, trust me, everybody's got a crush on him, that's normal." "Hahahaha." Eventually they reached Shiver City which continued to live up to its name as they entered the pipe encrusted with ice all around its green metallic structure. With a resonant sound of PRUN-PRUN-PRUN, the world of snow greeted them with a blisteringly cold breath of air that pushed straight into their lungs as Klair pulled out a pink scarf to wrap around her neck. Koopin had no such luxury but resisted the cold well enough, whilst Charlie did not care what whether it was so long as it wasn't raining. He did however become fascinated by the snow, trying to eat some of it before realising its biting cold spitting all of it out with blustering whimpers as they made their way to the spa. The spa was situated on the outskirts of Shiver City, a sizeable house of seething warmth from inside its walls where it sat on top of a glorious hot spring, one that naturally occurred from the old vents of a volcanic fault. The nearby town was a quaint place, a quiet charming settlement at the foot of the ice mountain where small penguin-like Bumpties waddled about across the ice with furry hats to keep warm. Klair walked into the mildly warm place and made her arrangements with the bumpty receptionist, handing over her coupons as Koopin waited whilst they chatted away. He struggled not to remember the last time he had come to Shiver City but it was too late. Despite the calming walls of caramel-coloured wood and soft blue carpets, he couldn't stop thinking of James when he had a memory of him in every place, and he despised himself further for not being able to escape it until he felt his mother's hand. "Let's go sweetie, we have a room to ourselves!" "H-huh, really?! But what about Charlie?!" "Now don't you worry," said the receptionist, "your little chomp will have his fun around this place too, just you relax and enjoy yourself. We have somebody here who can take care of him." "U-u-um...oh-kay?"

Taken towards two separate rooms, Klair and Koopin were both met by huge strapping bumpties with a surprising amount of muscle, towering over them by a good foot at least. Their bodies were black and triangular in proportion, broad shoulders and stubby legs with pectorals sculpted so perfectly upon their white fronts, it was as if somebody had made a snowhunk and given it life. The mother and son blushed equally as they were both separated, with Charlie left on his own bouncing throughout the hallway looking rather confused at first. Until he saw who his caretaker would be, a fine gorgeously-toned sea-blue yoshi with red hair and muscles like a pro gymnast athlete. "Well helloooooo cutie boy, what's your name?" The chomp said nothing, naturally, simply panting his happy tongue at her face as she bent down sweetly with a little finger rubbing underneath his chin. "You're Charlie aren't you? Why don't you come with me, I've got lots of friends who would love to play with you." "Rhuuuuh?" His curiosity was piqued as he gladly bounced his way down the hall with the mysterious yoshi, whilst Koopin found himself being laid down on a table after removing his shell. Then his clothes entirely as the bumpty began his work. "This is some nice muscle." "Huh?" "Your arms, you're a martial artist arentcha?" "OH, y-y-yeah I um...I like to go to the um, dojo down in Toad Town." "Not bad...these legs of yours are good too, you must walk a lot. Your back's really tense though." "Y-yeah...um...it's been a rough week...or month." "Heh, I can tell, you got a couple bruises on ya, that recent?" "Yeaaaah um we got ambushed in the sewers." "Aw jeez, that sucks well, don't you worry, I'll get all that stress out of you dontcha fret none. Just relax every part of you that you can and empty your mind." "That's gonna take a lot of wo-HHHHHRRRR...nnnnnnnnggggghhhhhh." The moment he felt those thick warm flippers against his back, Koopin melted shuddering into the cushioned folds of the table as the masseuse began his work. His arms creased into Koopin's back, cautiously kneading across the tense points of his body with practiced precision with fingerless limbs, poking and pushing down onto each muscle until they were forced to submit. Sometimes he rubbed them in circular motions, sometimes he spread his flippers back and forth or even karate-chopped them in repetitive motions up and down the length of the koopa's spine. Every motion that he did was pure bliss and gasping sharpness to Koopin. His eyes fluttered briefly, trembling with a moan throughout his entire body as his little tail twitched back and forth. His mother was feeling the same thing in the other room, crying out in sweet pleasures of her muscular unfolding as she laid on the floor, feeling a thick strong webbed pair of feet dig and crush the stress out of her back. The snapping flex of thick orange palmate combined with firm claws gripping her slightly wrinkled back, sent whimperings of elation through the middle-aged koopa. Even Charlie found himself in the midst of comfort, lathering up in a wondrously smooth oily bath that treated his iron ball surface exceptionally well as four yoshi females sponged him down plentifully. To any other hot-blooded male or lesbian this would be a dream only derived from one's most hedonistic fantasies, sweet smooth naked skin trickling with liquids as the sounds of tender giggling from girlish mouths came bubbling over. But to Charlie the simple chain chomp, he was enjoying the feel of many hands warmly caressing him until he began to sparkle with a lacquered sheen to his steel carapace. Koopin twinged from every muscle unwinding suddenly at once, with the scrunching of thick elbows squishing into the tightest spots he had to quash any stressful parts of his being. And there was certainly a lot for the masseuse to deal with as he popped and twisted the skin enough for the younger koopa to squeal with gasping pleasure. There came a blush hotly across Koopin's face as he felt a certain part of his body turn much more firm against the seated leather fabric, but said nothing hoping that the bumpty wouldn't notice. "It's natural for that to happen," said the masseuse. "H-h-huh?!" "Just your body's natural reaction to this sort of treatment, don't worry about it." "UM...I-i-i was just, it's just-" "Shhhhh. "HHhhhh...o-ohhhh staaaars-" "Theeeeere we go, just sink down into the warmth...and let these flippers of mine guide you." "Mmmmhhhhhhhh..." Klair was also experiencing a rather similar sensation of bliss as her eyes rolled with ecstatic delight. All across her back she was being sprinkled with strange herbal quantities which were then pushed and smeared into her yellow wrinkled skin. The plants had a strange warming release like a natural salve as the mother made a soft gentle whimpering with her tail flickering in sensual joy. Neither of them however would hear the sound of a screeching power tool that grinded upon the surface of a chain chomp five rooms away, as Charlie felt the wondrous sensation of a sander searing across his body. It was like an angel coveting him with a thin fibrous heat that came seeping into his steel cracks minute as they were and almost inconceiveable to most. But Charlie simply rolled over and laid sweetly upon his back panting with growls of bliss as the power tool rumbled in the hands of a burly-looking toad, whilst the yoshi girls cleaned his chain-tail with several lubricants. Eventually, after a good two hours of treatment individually, they rejoined each other in a relaxing warm mud bath which Charlie loved exceptionally so as Klair spoke with her eyes closed: "Mmmmmmm now see, isn't this a much better use of your little vacation than sitting at home?" "Ohhhh yeah," said Koopin softly, "this is fantastic...I feel so clean and...gosh, my mind is just blank for the first time in ages." "Hmhmhmhm...I'm glad I could help." "Seriously, thanks for this. Helps a lot." "Always here for you my sweet boy...heeheehee, Charlie seems to be enjoying it." "He is, I'm surprised he likes being in a mud bath." "Well mud isn't really water, plus it's not deep. Long as he can touch the bottom he's fine." Indeed Charlie was trudging his way through the mud in a circle of excitement, swishing his tail behind him which became caked in thickening gloop that never came up past his mouth. Being a ball of steel he was rather averse to water in general but he gladly enjoyed the specially-treated pool that eased all three of them. Once they were done soaking up its nutrients, they clambered out one by one to rinse off the mud clinging to their bodies in separate showers, Koopin sharing one with Charlie as they decided to take in the sights of Shiver City before heading home. The peaceful mountain settlement offered comfort in the form of warm houses and hot chocolate inbetween bouts of ice skating, ice fishing and mountain climbing should the weather be right for it. Koopin decided that today was not a day for scaling cliffs and so enjoyed a hot mug with his mum at the local cafe, with Charlie bouncing back and forth in the snow merrily chasing his own tail. "I love this place," said the younger koopa, "it's always so...I dunno, it just feels calmer than most places." "Probably because it's the least bustling town," said Klair knowingly, "not many things happen up in Shiver City." "No...heh, well, not since I last came he-...oh." His eyes suddenly became tense, realising what he had just done as Klair innocently asked: "When was that?" "...heh...when I first met James we uh...we came up here." "Oh...really, you never came back any other time after?" "Not that I can remember." He felt the abyss open up inside of him once more, slowly dragging his happiness back into the rift as Klair pondered loudly: "Did you know he once went all the way up here just to help me fix the sink?" "Wait, what?" "My sink had broken back at the house and James came up to help me fix it. We had to get the spare parts from Shiver City and he insisted to go by himself, buy them and come back, all in two days." "Wow...that...that was really nice of him, he never told me that." "It was just before we went to Yoshi's Island, remember that trip?" "How could I forget? After all the bloopers and everything." Klair giggled as she pulled Koopin closely to her side, gently cuddling him with her hand rubbing along his waist. "You know you can tell me anything...alright?" "Um...yeah, I know." "You want to talk about anything and anyone, feel free, I'm not going to avoid any topics unless you want me to. Okay sweetie?" "O-okay...thanks. Hhhhhhhmmmm...it's hard." Koopin planted a hand to his face struggling to sigh. "Everything reminds me of him, I'm trying not to think about him but if I don't I feel like I'm just dishonouring him, like I've broken his promise. How can I do it mom? How can I...keep thinking about him without being sad like this?" "Remember all the good times like we just did. He's still here in your memories, and your heart. You don't think he's feeling the same thing too, out on the road?" "I just wish I was able to send a letter, or hear...something back from him. Just something...so I know he's okay." "I'm sorry." She hugged him closely as he embraced his mother, tenderly rocking back and forth. Charlie came up towards them after tiring himself out with the snow slathered on his steel back looking up towards Koopin, preciously innocent still as he wagged his tail chain behind him. Soon they went back home, their relaxing brief stay at the mountain city helping them somewhat, but only shortly. The moment Koopin found himself back at home he felt emptiness weigh upon him like a cloak tightening at the throat, seeing the remains of his forceful spring cleaning still left unattended as he set himself to work.

In a way he was glad that he had gone a little crazy, allowing himself to get busy into refurbishing the house, cleaning, polishing, restocking the fridge but with less violent gusto than he had before. The house looked the same as ever by the time he was finished except with that extra finish on everything, a certain sparkle to a clean place that gave him a sense of pride to see. Then he slumped onto the sofa brazenly and waited for the days to sweep past his face. It was about three days after his trip to the spa that he found himself finally with a new task, courtesy of his father Shelldon on the phone asking him for assistance which required a few days of Koopin's time. It was like a breath of fresh air, the golden ticket that would seal his salvation from whatever madness that would gleam from the inside of his own roof every time he stared upon it. He left Charlie in Kristopher's capable hands and walked back towards the train station of Toad Town. Shelldon had a pale green shell much like his son's with a very thin T-shape marked across the back, and while he was more travel-friendly than his wife, he always hated travelling on his own. Koopin had not understood this until now, knowing his father had always been a rather quiet methodical koopa who greatly appreciated the gift of solitude. But in the past few weeks he had come to learn that sometimes the worst enemy to face, was oneself as they stood readily outside his shop the moment that he arrived back within Dusty Dunes. "Everything ready son?" "Yeah," said Koopin, "I think so. Where are we heading?" "Monstro Town, I need to renegotiate a deal with a trading partner of mine, some small changes to the contract we have." "Huh...wow that's kinda far away, I don't think I've ever been to Monstro Town." "You have, once when you were very little. Your grandfather Kerry came from there remember?" "Ohhh yeah...I forgot about that, I always keep thinking your mom and dad were from Petalburg." "Only my mother, my father was born and raised in Monstro. Anyways, let's not waste anymore time, let's go." The two trotted off, heading far to the southwest peninsula that lied within the Mushroom Kingdom. Koopin had almost never gone this way, having his usual route take a large circle around the central continent that he had lived all his life upon. But there was a point of the world that was rather forgotten. And most people preferred it as such. The Land's End was their destination, the last piece of land that separated the ocean from the lava-entrenched domain of King Bowser's castle. Separating the castle from the sea was a mighty volcano, of where all seething magma came from. None of the Kennidons had truly explored the southwest peninsula in years, the last of them being Shelldon himself as they passed from Koopamuir to Toad Town, before making their way beyond the safety of Peach's castle. The lands beyond were less controlled by either of the reigning kingdoms, past the Midas River and towards the mountainous Moleville in which a colony of large-clawed cheerisome burrowing creatures made their home. The journey itself took two days, with stopover in Moleville as Shelldon and Koopin rested up at an inn once it was getting dark. Land's End was a difficult place, one that few people ever travelled commonly as Shelldon brought out his map whilst they woke up at the inn, having breakfast at the table. The moles were kindly steadfast people, brown sleek fur and pointed noses as they offered thick ham and cheese rolls with local water that was rich with nutrients from a spring inside the cavernous mines. In the morning light just creeping over the ridge of the mountaintops, Kennidon the senior began explaining. "So, the first part we have to deal with is the mountain cliff itself." "Right," said Koopin, "are you gonna be alright with that?" "I'll be fine, I know some ways around it. Next is the small field of flowers where we can relax, and then we're off to the desert. Now I remember which way we have to go so you follow me on this son." "Okay." "Then lastly there's the underground cavern by which we go through the old temple and lastly we reach Monstro Town." "I remember, Belome Temple. Such a mysterious place, we've not got anyone from the TGA covering it." "Oh? Why not?" "Well, if I remember right, the Monstro Town citizens don't want all the attention, so they asked kindly for us to keep away." "That's understandable. Good sleep?" "Mmm...a little, this journey's nice though. I haven't been out walking with you like this since I was eight." "Hmhmhmhm...remembering our big journeys across the desert, visiting Toad Town, Shiver City-" "That one summer we just went eeeeeeeverywhere, it was incredible. Shame mom didn't come with us." "It was, but you know how it is, back in the day when she was always at her concerts." "...you know, I remember after that summer she went to her concerts less often, she uh-" "The summer season obviously, concerts always happen during then." "Yeah...that's...true I guess. ...do you...um-" "Yes?" "Do...did you always wish I would take over the family business? Like you did with your dad?" "Well...a part of me once did." Shelldon simply smiled and clasped his hands softly. "But I can't really tell you what to do with your life, you've become a solid hard worker. I admit I was worried you would be rather bored in such a job as tour guide but then again I did not realise it was more than just walking people around old ruins." "Heheh..." "Why do you ask?" His son rubbed his neck nervously, questions about the future slowly drawing up in his mind. "It's just...I was remembering grandpa Kerry and how once he...passed on you took over the shop but...do you have anyone in mind to take over the place?" "I do." "You do?" "You forget I have workers Koopin. And associates, I may run the store on my own but I have friends in a circle of influence who all appreciate my candour and we absolve many an agreement between us. I already have some understudies planned out to hand the place over to once I earn retirement." "Oh, th-that's good. I was kinda worried-" "Koopin, you've never won a bet against me, do you really think I was going to not have a contingency plan?" "...I...I-i-i guess um...sorry." "Hmhmhmhm." His father gently patted him on the back, leaning over the table to rub his shell as they soon went out towards the last step of their journey. First there was the cliffs, an arduous climb for one koopa but for two it would be quite the chore, but thankfully Shelldon had his plan by handing Koopin a small set of pitons and a bundle of rope, allowing the younger to clamber up the cliff face and set a path for him to scale after. It was only then that Koopin started to realise Shelldon had had no intention of making this journey alone ever. He almost wondered if he even had a supplier in Toad Town to begin with. But regardless, he did as he was asked and once he tied up a pathway of rope for his father to climb he waited at the halfway point, sitting up on a rocky shelf where he could watch from safety as well as be close at hand in case of any accidents. Shelldon was not the strongest, but his arms after years of carrying stocks of fruit and vegetables remained firm as he pulled himself up, whilst Koopin also assisted by pulling the rope up. Overall, it took them a gruelling fifty minutes of cautious climbing before they reached the flower fields. For the most part, there were almost no other people who travelled alongside them, but Shelldon did warn his son about the desert up ahead which housed many a rogue hidden underneath the most dreadful sand whirlpools. It wasn't a larger desert than that of Koopin's home, but it was to prove itself rather tasking to trek across. Like Shelldon had said, the whirlpools were their biggest threat of which they had to dodge and sweep around cautious for any traps or pitfalls that may occur on that day. But while most whirlpools remained in place since time immemorial, sculpted by nature, a few others had been set to catch travellers by artificial means. There was also the fact that they were now in a desert sitting at the top of a cliff, which made the air rather stifling and much thinner than it would be normally on the ground below at sea level. It was strenuous to drag their feet and backpack-laden shells across the arid lands, whispering winds bitterly striking up the sand before their eyes as Shelldon guided him towards one particular whirlpool. Trusting his father, Koopin went in first, landing inside a cool blissful darkness of the underground passageways of the desert. An ancient cavern with winds howling above like the last breaths of gasping windigoes as they walked onwards. The moist brown walls of stone were soothing to the Kennidon duo as they found themselves at the Belome Temple, a grand labyrinthine construct of pale yellow sandstone with pillars supporting various floors of the maze. Almost nobody remained inside the temple except for strange cloaked figures with piercing white eyes beneath their turquoise hoods. They acted as guards for Monstro Town, checking travellers and allowing them to pass through if they did not sense any malice within them. Their eyes glimmered starkly as they allowed them to pass through into the end-passage out towards the Kennidons' ancestral home. A cliff-side settlement nestled away from prying eyes towards the sea, beyond the reach of both Princess Peach and King Bowser Koopa.

It had always been an anomaly in the Mushroom Kingdom, and always it had preferred to be just that, formed originally as a safe haven for those who became exiles of the Koopa King's army in times past. Some had either disagreed with their actions or were simply conscientious objectors as the town practiced a sense of perfect neutrality, never taking sides upon the great feuds that remained between both kingdoms. Despite recent changes after many attempted conquests over his neighbouring regions, Bowser never interfered with this place. There was a law from ancient times past signed by his ancestors after a long and spurious agreement had been made between the town and his estate, concerning that he never conquer, demand or even try to upset the balance of those who had left his ranks here. These were not deserters, but simply exiles who could not be hired or forced into recruitment once again. Desertion however remained punishable, except under special circumstances. Yet even on his occasional visits of rare diplomacy he never demanded anything from them. All sorts of creatures lived here, goombas with families, thwomps, pirahna plants, anyone who had managed to find this place in some yearning for peace. Koopin briefly contemplated doing just that upon seeing how cosy it was nestling along the side of the southwestern cliffs. The view of the sea was beautiful, a soft mellow blue where one could see the sun slowly sink beneath the horizon, where it seemed to set upon the ocean alight with burning orange. Several row of doors lined up along the side of an inner wide path sculpted smoothly from the rock. Koopin could already tell that half the construction of this place had been done artificially, judging by how oddly precise and uniform the paths went for sake of ease to move about on as Shelldon headed towards the local shop. Three tiny goombas stood behind the counter, soft green grass beneath their feet instead of the usual carpet flooring as they bounced up onto the counter like tiny balls of chocolate. "HELLO, WELCOME!" "Hello there," said Shelldon smiling, "I need to speak with your proprietor." "Um, wh-whysat mistah?" "My name is Shelldon Kennidon, I'm the owner of Kennidon's Groceries?" The senior koopa flashed out his business card which the goomba children gasped at, their little milk teeth glinting in the shop light as one of them ran off on his stubby little feet up towards the staircase in the far right corner. It only took a few minutes before the owner of the establishment came waddling down with clunky brown feet, smiling happily with eyes sparkling. "HEHEYYYYY Shelldon!" "Hahah, hello there, been a while hasn't it?" "Yeah yeah, um...howsit going?! This your son?!" "He is, Koopin this is one of my trading partners, Goomissero." "Nice to meet you." Bowing with respect, Koopin did his best to smile as the goomba nodded. "Gosh it's been ages since I seen a Kennidon around here." "Well," replied Shelldon, "we are roamers it has been said, my son is a tour guide even." "Oh yeah you told me 'bout that, been travellin' all over kid?" "Sorta," said Koopin, "business has been rather dry of late so uh, not had much of a chance to travel as often as I could." "Awww...heh, well, I sure hope you had at least a good time to air out your tracking shoes whilst coming all the way up here." "Sure did." "Right, now then," said his father, "let's get down to business on that contract of ours hmm Goomis?" "Oh yeah course," replied the shopkeep, "lissen I'm sorry about all this I know it's a hassle coming all the way out here-" "Now now, we can talk this over at the table upstairs. Is that okay by you?" "Sure, come this way. Now kids, you keep the shop running good okay?" "OKAY DADDY!" Shelldon smiled at such eager children with a slight wistfulness before turning towards his own offspring. "Koopin, why don't you explore the town a bit, me and my friend need to talk some things out." "You sure?" asked his son. "Oh yes, don't you worry. Take some time off and enjoy the sights, reminisce why don't you? I'll see you back here, alright?" "Okay uh...later dad." Taking his leave from the shop, Koopin cautiously roamed the long cliff-side town with curious investigation taking reign of his mind, glancing towards the various denizens who came from all walks of life. Most of whom were descendants, almost none of them having left the town itself or its boundaries in years yet living quite comfortably far and away from what troubles there would be in either kingdom. Despite his intrigue at the township, he wasn't particularly in the mood to walk up and speak to anyone until spotting a dojo halfway down the "lane". He could not resist taking a peek inside to see what was not in fact a training ground full of masters and students sharpening their skills in mind and body, but rather a group of children and teenagers. Sitting down on the soft tatami-style carpet of what was certainly a martial arts dojo with bonsai tree in the corner and wooden walls furbishing the place, seven young creatures between the ages of 10 to 19 were listening to a huge Clubba, a green-skinned grey-shelled fat-lipped beast in a leather jacket with vicious streaked hair, showing ripples of black and yellow as he spoke with a thick rough voice: "Considerin' you all been seein' it when yous wake up every mornin', I think it's good if yous got to seein' it with yer own eyes on whut it's about. So I got a list up on whut we're gonna do once we get to Seaside Town, I gotta list o' jobs fer ya an' I been lookin' around to see whut mighta perk yer interests. We ain' gonna be doin' ALL of 'em, I jus' picked out a whole buncha stuff fer sumthin' yous all might be interested in." The clubba handed all of them pieces of paper. A goomba, a whomp, two shy guys, a boo, a pirahna plant and lastly a little canine pup of the Chow species as they read over the lists. "The trip's gonna be in about four weeks, so take yer time, put down a job yous wanna do, get yer parents' permission fer them to write down their signature an' just pop it down over at my house. Alright kids?" "Alright," said the youngsters. "Now geddoutta here, I'll see ya's tomorrow." Koopin watched in astonishment as he gently stepped to one side to let the kids and teenagers leave single file, staring towards the clubba who only just noticed him after they had all left. His eyes black and buggy stared at the newcomer for a moment until cocking his head towards him. "Ey yo, you need sumthin'?" "......Carl? Is that you?" "...wait......Koopin?" A smile crept upon both their lips with a slight fondness as the koopa walked to him first. "I...w-wow, I can't believe that's really...oh jeez, it's so good to see you." "Hhhheheh, no kiddin'. Whut you doin' out here, I thought you still lived in Koopamuir." "I do, my dad's here making deals with the goomba shopkeep." "Ohhh...dang, I better keep my head down considerin' last time I saw him, hehe." "Awwww come on, I'm sure that's in the past now." "Ehh...s'great to see you again." Carl offered his hug with arms spread open as Koopin returned the gesture, patting on the back firmly with a distanced warmth. "You've seen where I ended up finally." "Yeah wow," said Kennidon, "what are you doing out here then?" "I'm workin' with all these kids, got myself into college, studied up, decided to get down to bein' a youth worker." "Really? So you're helping kids?" "Yeah...sumbody gotta do it, this place is real outta touch, these kids have got nowhere else to go, I wanted to find sum peace but then I saw all these li'l guys wanderin' around it...well, I dunno...I guess I jus' got kinda worried about 'em." "Hmhmhm...that's very sweet of you." "You say that like it's a bad thing." "Wha-nooooo of course not, I think it's wonderful! I just never expected you to get into this sort of job." "Or any job," said Carl shrugging, "s'alright, I know whut impression I made when I walked out." "Yeah..." Koopin couldn't help but feel strangely awkward as the clubba shoved his fingers through his hair before replying: "Whut's wrong? Come on Koopin it's been like years since we last talked, I ain' mad about things anymore, that's why I went out to find peace here." "You certainly look a lot better than before...I mean, more happy about things." "A lot less bruises too." "Heheh, y-yeah...looks good on you...you kept your jacket." "The kids love when I wear it, they all think I'm cool like sum kinda gangster."

He couldn't help but turn himself around showing the back of his jacket which had a shrieking chain chomp studded with ghastly spikes all over its body beneath the words " BLACK STEEL" embedded upon the fabric. Koopin could never forget that image, despite a touch of sadness reflecting on when was the last time he saw it. "Good to see yous still a cutie." "Hhhehehe...thanks." "Am I interrupting something?" A voice came from the door as Koopin turned to see a boo floating across the air, wispily fading into mist before reappearing right next to Carl with a beaming smirk. The ghost had a purple sweatband around one of his flippers but nothing else as he giggled at the koopa. "Well aren't you growing fast, you're a big boy for your age." "I'm...no, I-i'm not-" "He's just an ol' friend," said Carl diplomatically, "just helpin' his dad out on a small business. Koopin, this is my BF, Booregard." "OH, h-hi there." "Nice to meetcha," said the Boo as they shook hands, "so what brings you down to our neck of the woods?" "My dad owns a grocery store, he's got a supplier here." "Oh really, whereabouts you from?" "Dry Dry Desert." "Wow...that's a long way away, you had any problems getting up here?" "Uhhhh, not really, I mean the Land's End cliff was sorta long to take and honestly I expected the desert to be a lot worse." "Especially with rogue gangs, hooo. Place can get rough if you ain't strong enough." "Do any attacks happen often?" "It's really hard to tell when we don't get many travellers around here, sometimes they're out and hunting and sometimes they're not. We try to have the guards keep an eye on them but we gotta keep enough back to protect this place." "I thought this place was more a pacifist town?" "It is...that's why we got shamans to guard us, lotta magic tricks to throw people off if they're not wanted." "Ohhhhh I see." The boo smiled feeling glad to answer questions to a newcomer until he suddenly flinched remembering something. "Oh, Carl before I forget, I need you to grab some cake mix and horsetail, my sister's coming over." "Oh jeez," said the clubba facepalming, "again? Whut is it this time?" "I don't know, I'm not psychic." "Well why do I hafta do it?" "Because you're not the one cooking." "Heh, fiiiine." His swollen green fist rubbed gently along the ghostly body feeling a strange lukewarm sensation across his hand, like the tender breaths of a lover against his skin before they kissed. Koopin tried to look away without appearing rude as a slight contempt welled up inside of him before he added: "If you're busy I could come back-" "Nah nah, I got time to spare, we can talk stuff a bit." "Not too long I hope," said Booregard, "I'm gonna need you in at least half an hour." "Fer whut?" "YIE!" The boo felt his wispy tail being pinched by the clubba who chuckled filthily, with Booregard rolling his eyes and floating himself away to the exit. "I'll see you back home then alright big boy?" "Twenny minutes, tops." "Bye now. Nice to meetcha Koopin!" "Byyyye...he seems nice." "He's awesome, really helped me get down into muhself an' sort out a lotta issues. He's more the reason I stayed in Monstro Town." "Of course." Koopin felt somewhat out of place more than usual, as if becoming the third wheel. "I'm glad you found peace." "Heh...thanks, I know it's been like uhhh...years since we talked." "It's okay." "Whut about you? How's things going wit' you?" "I...could be better. I'm h-having a hard time." "Boyfriend problems?" He turned away with a look of shame, but Carl pulled him back towards him with a thick green digit. "Heeeey come on, s'not like I don' recognise dat look. You gave me the same one when yous said we should split." "I did?" "Yeah. Made me realise I wuz only hurtin' myself an' other people, all my anger issues an' yous even called me a-" "Violent s-stupid punk...yeah......I remember." He rocked back and forth on his boots sighing pitifully. "Not even the last time I said that to someone either." "Whuduzzat mean?" "...never mind." "Alrigh'. Tell ya whut." The clubba sat down carefully. "Let's roleplay a bit." "What, no." "Whut, come on sumthin's eatin' ya." "It's not...any of your business Carl." "No, it's not. S'why I ain' gonna force it outta yous, but this is kinda whut I do, least fer a livin' with all those kids." "I don't think I have the time to get into a counselling session." "Well, I dunno how long yous stayin' here fer but I mean, you could do's worse than tell me." "It's...n-no, I can't, it's...it's too weird, and I already told what was wrong to my mom, my dad and even my boss because my work was suffering so bad because of it. I don't wanna be one of those people that keep spreading my own misery around." "Yer not that kinda guy. I know you ain't Koopin. But maybe...yous wanna tell me sumthin' a li'l more complicated? Or personal?" "Like what?" "Well like maybe how yer feelin', like why's this whutever problem yous got's all up eatin' inside'a yous." "I dunno! I don't...hhhhhh..." With an unconscious struggle Koopin sat down next to his ex in a moment of vulnerability. "I was with someone for four years. His name was James, he's...a wonderful person, he's reckless, he jumps into danger like a stupid idiot but always to save other people. He's got anger issues too, like what you had but I think he was trying to let go of them a lot faster because he had a bad life, he had...stuff in his past that was affecting him deeply like problems at his home. But he's wonderful, he makes me feel like I'm the center of his world, and he's so PASSIONATE with me." "Inside or outside of bed?" "B-b-both! He's funny, he's exciting, he loves my mom and dad and they loved him too. He's strong, he's feisty, he never backs down when any bullies step up-" "To be fair neither did you, I mean, look at me." "Yeah but......I'm sorry, this is not anything to do with you." "No no." Carl put an arm around Koopin reassuring him, fingers rubbing across the shoulder. "Let's talk this out. Come on I knows whut problems can come up in a relationship, yanno, stuff you can't say to yer family or yer boss. Let's hear all the good an' bad, whuddayous love about this James guy? An' whuddayous hate about him? An' finally, whut's the big issue you got eatin' up inside ya?" "Alright...I guess you would understand a lot better than most see...okay, what I love about him...well I told you that already, he's funny, he's exciting, he's reckless, he's passionate, he'll do anything with me. But he also has anger issues, he's got serious baggage, he can't just let things GO sometimes, he can't move on from stuff, he's dirty-mouthed, he can't forgive people, he has a huge problem with holding grudges and there are times that I can't help being reminded he's just a punk and it hurts me that...he's four years older than me and I feel like I'm dealing with a STUPID teenager!" "Ha ha ha, alrigh', sound familiar." "And the worst part...the worst part of it is...the one thing he does that's the most responsible thing he's ever done...is the one thing that is killing me." "Whussat?" "...leaving me." Koopin slumped his head upon Carl's shoulder, his thicker lips frowning to a grimace as he petted him. "M'sorry Koopin. I know it's hard." "No...it's...here's the thing, we're not like...it's not like what you and me did. We're still together, me and James, we never said anything about splitting up." "Wait, whut?" "James had to leave because he...had a call from home, basically. There's some kind of big war going on back home and he has to fight it. His friends, his adopted family, his...his entire world is fighting something evil and..."

His hands struggled to shape out the story he had told and retold inside his head many times, shivering in front of him. "He's made a journey back home. To help people, to save his city and I can't do anything about it. I can't write to him, I-i-i can't...I can't call him, I can't-" "This place far away?" "Very far away...like, much further than Sarasaland is." "Woah...that's harsh. But yous said that yous still together?" "Yeah...we talked this all out, had a few weeks to prepare and after that he would leave. And neither of us know how long it'll take, or even if he's going to be able to come back...I'm scared Carl." Koopin wrapped his arms around himself feeling cold with hot tears dripping down his cheeks. "I'm scared of...waiting forever for someone who might...never come back if he...if something happens. I don't know why it's so hard for me to just wait and be patient and just have FAITH in him but I worry about him. I just...I just worry...I can't stop worrying because I have no idea if he can even come back or not." "He got any reason to come back?" asked the clubba "Of course he does, he has me! He loves me, I know he does, we've been through too much to let that all just go away like nothing, I know he'll come back. But it's not him I'm worried about, it's everything else, what if something happens to him? What if-......I don't want to wait forever." "Then you don't." "...huh?" He turned his head up towards Carl, a slight saddening look in his beady eyes. "Live your life the way you always lived it. Do you think he wants you to sit around mopin' on yer doorstep?" "N-no." "Then live. Your life don't hafta stop just cuz he ain't around Koopin, it's okay to forget about 'im fer a few, just so you can focus on yer own life fer a bit. If he comes back, hey that's great we're all happy but, until he does...you can't just keep turnin' him around on a pedestal inside yer head waitin' fer an answer, yous got a life. Don't stand around waitin', just keep walkin'. An' eventually he'll catch up with you one day." "I really want to...but I...just...f-find it so hard to even walk without feeling my heart just burn inside of me." "Alright...I gotcha, first step's always the hardest but think about it. Whut do you think your boyfriend felt when he took his first steps away from you huh? Did ya ever think it didn't hurt fer him either? He's the one that's gotta keep walkin', every step he takes away from you is killin' him an' he's got to do it. He already did, he never wanted to. But he had to...an' that's hurtin' him every day." "How do you know that?" "Because I wuz hurtin' too." The clubba slowly slipped his arm off of Koopin's shoulders leaning back slightly. He gave a deep heavy sigh of remorse with eyes turning weak towards the koopa. "You don't think I regret the way I wuz wit' you back then? I know your parents didn't like me, I know I wuz rough an' from the wrong side'a the tracks, I treated you wrong, I took you fer granted but when yous straight up told me that you couldn't do this, I just had to walk. An' it hurt. Hurt me deep, every step I took just killed me a li'l bit more. So trust me...I know whut yer boyfriend is feelin', you're not alone in that pain yous got burning deep cuz every day that he's not here, he's carryin' that pain just a little longer...so let him carry it. Not you. You got no reason to carry that pain." "You......you...wow......that...I never thought of it like that. Wow." A look of newfound appreciation crossed over Koopin's beak. "You really have changed since we last talked, you...that helps me understand a lot better. Thank you, Carl." "S'whut I do." The two hugged more tightly than before, showing sincerity as Koopin buried his nuzzle deep into the clubba's shoulder. A stinging nostalgia pierced him as he felt that familiar leather jacket rub against his soft skin, something last reassured him many years ago. "Feelin' better?" asked Carl. "Yeah," replied Koopin, "that really helped me...put things in perspective." "Thas' good." They slowly parted. "You do the best fer him by livin' yer own life like yous always been doin'. Alright Koopin?" "Yeah...I'll...I-i'll do my best, everybody's been telling me that but the way you said it sounds so much...more clear than anything but it-" "Nobody expectin' yous to start singin' through the fields or nuthin' dude, you just take as long as you want. Just don't stop in one place fer too long or else you won't start movin' again when yous have to." "I understand. Thanks. I better get back to my dad, you uh take care alrighty Carl?" "Later, yer always welcome sweet cheeks." Giggling with a blush across his face, Koopin walked off having an extra skip in his beat as he returned back to Shelldon at the general store. He only took ten minutes longer than Koopin did as both Kennidon senior and Goomissero came back down the staircase laughing away. "Hhhahahahaha, ohhh he would have broken your head for that!" "Well yanno your dad was a real sourpuss, might as well change his expression for once!" "Putting chilli in my father's coffee is not exactly the best method!" "I know, his face STILL stuck that way I mean jeez they should model the statues in Bowser's castle after him! Would frighten the pants off of Mario!" "He was a real frightener for this town that's for sure. Well then." The koopa offered his hand to shake which the goomba responded with his foot as Shelldon wrapped his fingers round it. "Thank you for your business good sir." "No problem Mr. Kennidon. Keep that money rolling!" "I always do. Hopefully we'll have more time to talk in the next arrangement." "Likewise! Take care! Nice to see ya too Koopin! Kids, say goodbye to our customers." "GOODBYE!" shouted the triplets. "HAVE A NICE DAY!" "You too!" shouted father and son. With the sun still high in the sky, Koopin smiled towards his father who beamed back in return looking very profitable as they hoisted their backpacks. "You're looking well," said Shelldon, "had a good walk?" "Yeah totally," replied Koopin, "got to talking with some folks, really helped put things down in perspective for me." "That's good! Looks like this was a good trip all round." "Thanks." "...for what?" "Taking me with you...you didn't really need me to come with you, right? You just wanted to get me out of the house." "Well I'm not going to lie, I thought a good bit of fresh air and someplace new would help, like your mother suggested. That and I would rather not go to this town alone." "Alrighty...so, are we done?" "Unless you have anything else to do whilst we're here." "Nope, I'm good." "Let's head back then, we can catch Seaside Town before it gets dark." Heading back along through the passages of the temple, Shelldon and Koopin were in high spirits jaunting along the ancient subterrane with its cool dry atmosphere to help them brace for the desert. Pushing themselves up through a pipe exit, they came back outside above the sandy whirlpools and barren rocks readying themselves for the climb back down. Unfortunately, they found two black shadows approaching them from behind the rocks that would delay their trip a little more than was expected as one voice shouted: "HEY!" They turned quickly, seeing a rather fearsome-looking creature that resembled a large ant wearing armour, 6 feet tall with a shield in one hand and a shining axe in the other. "Can I help you?" asked Shelldon. "I'm sure you can, if you remember there's a toll through this desert." "A toll? I don't believe there is." "Recent legislation, nothing too worrisome, just hand over your coins." "Do you have a guard's licence?" "What's wrong, sir? Do you not trust my authority?" "I don't, no." "That's too bad." The rattling of armour came from behind them as they found yet another armoured ant blocking their exit, the two pincering them in between them as they approached with axes glinting in the desert sun. Koopin silently cursed his luck as he felt that spirited happiness ebb away from the tides of fear, whereas Shelldon only shook quivering in his arms. "Hand over your coins," said one of them. "I don't think Monstro Town employs such a toll," said Shelldon calmly. "If you kept your eyes and ears more open you would realise what this is." "I know exactly what this is, and I am not going to fund thieves like you." "You have two choices here old shellhead. Either give us your coins, or we take them from you." "I will do neither such thing." "Are you sure about that?" The top of the axe was pressed against his chin. They were completely blunt, but still made of steel and dangerous weapons regardless. "Last warning." "I SAID...no-DHHFFF!" "DAD!"

A vicious kick to his leg sent Shelldon down on his knees, gasping slightly before the axe smacked itself across his face knocking him to the ground. But before the ant could even approach, Koopin rushed him hard with a vicious elbow slam into the ant's face squarely below the helmet. "GET OFF OF HIM!" "NNNNGH! DON'T interfere boy!" "BOTH OF YOU BACK OFF, OR ELSE I'LL MAKE YOU!" "TAKE HIM DOWN!" The second ant rushed forwards with a mighty swing of the axe towards his head, which Koopin dodged in a sudden duck before countering with a striking axe kick, sending his boot straight up inside the thief's face. Staggering back with a harsh grunt and dizzying eyes, he shook himself clear and gripped his weapon tighter. Koopin in turn felt a sense of blinding outrage suddenly take control of him, the storms of frenzied heartbreak now channelling towards his strength. "You dare fight the Land's End Shoguns little BRAT?!" "I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE, NOW GET OUT OF OUR WAY!" The Shogun charged at him for his insolence, swiping the axe as he spun twice to sweep high and low trying to hit the koopa who ducked then jumped before cracking his elbow viciously across the ant's face. Like a hammer shattering on his cheekbone, the bandit groaned from the second elbow strike that punched him directly between the eyes as he clutched his face blinded by pain. The first ant thief tried to charge at Koopin's back, but he was soon tripped up by a stray foot as Shelldon swung his leg out to make the bandit fall down hard whilst stumbling back onto his feet. Both father and son started to back up against each other, bracing themselves for a fight as they took one opponent each. Koopin rushed forwards with aggressive spirit, but the second shogun jabbed his face with the top of his axe-spear and stopped his offence short with a painful punch-stab before he battered the koopa hard with his shield. Shelldon was more patient, waiting for the ant warrior to come out swinging as he cleaved down hard with his axe thudding into the harsh sand. Shelldon swiftly dodged to one side and swung his leg towards the bandit's foot, followed by a furious hammerblow with both fists powering straight into the enemy's back. Even with armour on he felt the impact as he fell hard, face-first into the dry desert dust. Koopin was slightly stunned but resharpened his focus with broiling anger as the shogun swung in a large circle coming down with his axe diagonal. It was much more difficult to dodge once he had the full swing of momentum, as Koopin barely skirted underneath despite the powerful strike clanging fiercely onto his back sending painful shuddering vibrations through him. He gritted his teeth through the dull pain and swerved his body towards the side of his enemy, pulling one leg up against his body before shooting out with a violent straight side-kick, his boot pummelling hard into the ant's waist like a bottle rocket. "GUUUH!" Feeling his armour crunch against his body harshly from the impact, the rogue clutched himself struggling to regain the strength in his legs as he swung fast with his axe, right before he charged at the younger koopa. During this, Shelldon was ready for another attack from the first bandit who swung his blunted weapon diagonally twice, shrieking down-left then up-left before suddenly thrusting hard at Shelldon's chest knocking him down hard onto his back. His shell unfortunately made it more difficult to roll back up, now completely vulnerable. The thief chuckled and slammed his foot into the older koopa's face to assert his dominance, planting a solid kick to make Shelldon yell out from pain. But the koopa braced his beak and scrunched sand in both of his hands before hurling one handful out to make the ant back off by instinct to avoid being blinded. In that moment, Shelldon grabbed the bandit's leg just above the foot and pulled him down hard as he could, sending the shogun into an awkward stumbling fall. As soon as the ant thief's face was close enough to try and punch Shelldon across the head, he threw his other handful of sand right into the thief's eyes. "A-AAAAAAGH!" Struggling to wipe the granules from his face, he was in perfect range for Shelldon to lunge forwards in a half-roll swinging his arm around the bandit's neck and pulling him down fully into a fierce headlock. The struggling rogue tried to pull away, which in turn caused Shelldon to roll on top of him, grabbing more sand and viciously grazing it into the shogun's face before pinning his arms down, his hands planted just beneath the ant's shoulders. Koopin waited until the spear-axe was close enough before dodging left and slamming his arm across the backside of the axe's handle, knocking it inwards to send the thief off-balance putting his face right in front of Koopin's turning kick. The scraping heel of the boot shrieked across the ant's face like a cheese grater as he screamed, clutching at his face before falling to the dirt. Koopin took his chance and swiftly piled on top of him, spreadlegged and planting his hands just below the ant's shoulders. "HAD ENOUGH?!" "NNNNNGH!" "I SAID YOU HAD ENOUGH?!" "Y-YES, FINE FINE WHATEVER ALRIGHT!" "I DON'T HEAR YOU PUNK!" "GAAARGH!" Grabbing the thief's helmet he slammed his face down into the sand sending billowing dust from around them, pulling his head back a second time to slam harder. "ALRIGHT ALRIGHT, I HAD ENOUGH!" "GOOD! Now...here's the deal, I'm gonna let you get up, and my dad'll let your friend up too, if you come at us again I am going to kick your face into that sandpool over there and give you the worst swirly of your life, YOU GOT IT?!" "A-alright...alright...fine, we'll let you through." He nodded over towards his father as both Shelldon and Koopin stood up off of the thieves, their promptly-ruined dignity and wounded faces showing quite the disgrace as Shelldon added: "You can do better than this, not waste your talents on thievery." "Don't lecture us old fart." "HEY!" Koopin rushed forwards with a vicious backfist across the shogun's face. "DON'T you ever insult my dad again or I'll BREAK YOUR FACE!" "A-ALRIGHT, JEEZ YOU fffffreakin' shellboy. Fine, get out of here." "Gladly." Walking off with a few bruises on both of them, the Kennidons managed to make their way back towards the flower fields right on the edge of the cliff, a quiet place to relax as they watched the sea further beyond the horizon. A gorgeous promontory point, they sat down gently nursing each other's wounds in full view of the gorgeous ocean view, a soft warm wind glistening through the flowers spread around them. "Lemme jus-" "O-ow!" "Sorry sorry!" "I-it's fine, just...th-there, a bit higher-nnngh!" "Jeez...how did you fight that guy dad?" "Did you forget I did wrestling in high school? The trick is that no matter how big the enemy is, you can always their weight against them...you just have to find the right poi-oi-OINTS!" "Sorry." "And...nnnngh...hhhhhh...alright. Now you." Shelldon brought out his own bottle of ointment and cotton wool to carefully rub across Koopin's bruises, sterilising the wound as his son flinched with facial spasms trying not to yelp. He took it well, the father smiling with a bated chuckle. "Hhhhmhmhmhmhmhm..." "Wh-what?" "I knew you would keep me safe. That's why I had you come along." "R-really? You knew this would happen?" "Land's End is not the safest place, plus it's out of the kingdoms' jurisdictions so...if I wanted to come down here I would need someone to protect me. And well, there's nobody I could trust more than you to keep me safe." "I...th-thanks dad. Can I ask you something?" "Of course." "Did you really need to meet your supplier here? Or did you make all of it up just to have me leave the house?" "Does it matter?" "...I just want to know." "I didn't need to meet him no." The older koopa smiled as he cleaned up the last welts from his son's blinkered face. "But I had wanted to speak to him, he's an old school friend of mine that and...well, I haven't been back in our ancestral home for a good long time." "Do you miss it?" "No. I didn't like Monstro Town very much, and I see why my father left it. It's too small, too isolated...it doesn't do anyone good to live so apart from the world." "It seems to suit them fine...but I guess that's just us." "Indeed. And I will tell you this." The two stared towards the bluest sky they ever saw. "No matter what may happen, regardless of how the future may be for you or anyone you might know...I will always be proud of you as my son. You worked hard, you kept your head high and despite all you have been through in the past few years with all the strange adventures you've had, you never changed. You kept a certain tenderness that people love you for, regardless of what things may come. And I know that you can get through this, and I am behind you for whatever choice you make...as long as you are happy." Tears gently stung Koopin's cheek, mixing with the ointment as he gasped with clear smiling blue eyes before he pulled his daddy close, hugging him gently as they watched the long sea into the afternoon. It was on that day the noise inside his head became more muted, a drone of chaotic stress that went rampant through his mind with worries constantly evanescing and reappearing once again. But thanks to the words of his family and experienced ex-lover, Koopin felt as if he had been allowed to breathe for the first time in months, his head finally breaking through the waters of his troubled soul. Peace that he would relish for however brief it was, until his life would change once again towards the future. For better or worse.

---

Koopin stopped in his recollections, seeing seeing his husband finally close his eyes and settle down to sleep. The raptor laid back onto his pillows and snuggled into his sheets as the koopa rubbed his eyes seeing the clock at their bedside turning past midnight. He had gotten lost in his story around the time of the Shogun fight, and though he was surprised that James of all people would sleep off during it, he decided to head to the couch, leaving James the entirety of his bed to not disturb him for the extra room he needed for his restlessness. But not before he bent over to kiss him softly upon his cheek. "Goodnight James. Sleep well for me." Charlie had gone to sleep already and curled up next to the television as Koopin covered himself with his spare set of sheets. A brief reminiscence on his beginning troubles from today's story had him thinking. He could hardly believe it was that long ago and to him it was a dark chapter in his life that he did not expect James would even want to hear. He had his regrets, briefly but still had them nonetheless, things he wished he could have done different, things he wished he never did regardless of the outcome. There were some parts he couldn't bring himself to confess fully to James, knowing he had suffered enough guilt of his own from his own journey. What mattered most was that they were together again, and had been for several years with no intention of ever leaving each other. It was reassuring to think that, and in lieu of this knowledge Koopin found himself more excited to tell his story next time James wanted to hear. He knew one thing about his husband at the very least. In recent times at least, he would never leave a story unfinished.