//------------------------------//
// Chapter 63: Beginning Of A Night Of Horrors 
// Story: Harmony of Heroes: Ultimate Multiverse Explorers 
// by Lucar 
//------------------------------//



In the middle of an ocean was an island that was part of an archipelago. This island was the typical tropical one, with a luxuriant jungle, clean beaches, water that reflected the sky, and a volcano that was semi-active, as in there was lava in the chimney but it wasn't overflowing to go down the side of the mountain to ravage the areas below. However, this island had an unique landmark: part of the mountain was sculpted to look like the head of a gorilla, which was just behind the jungle area of the island.

In the jungle was a wooden cabin perched on top of a tree trunk. This cabin served as the home of a gorilla who was known all over the island as its savior, fending off invaders and other threats several times (but it must be noted that most times, he did that simply because said threats had caused him prejudice first, mainly by stealing his banana hoard).

This gorilla was Donkey Kong, recognizable by his red tie with DK in yellow letters on it.

And as the sun was rising beyond the horizon, said gorilla was currently sleeping on a barrel beside the entrance, slumped on the wall, while a monkey who looked like a chimp with a tail, with a red shirt with yellow stars and a red hat was sleeping in a tire turned into a swing beside the barrel. This monkey was known as Diddy Kong.

Their rest was disturbed however when dark clouds suddenly covered the sky. Wondering why the light of the warm rising sun had suddenly disappeared, Diddy opened his eyes and looked at the clouds with annoyance.

"Ugh... There wasn't a cloud not long ago. Where did they come fr... Uh?"

Diddy stopped complaining as he then saw a whole army of ghosts coming from the clouds and moving toward the island.

"Uh oh... Dk. Hey, DK!" Diddy shouted as he gave a small kick at his friend from his position in the tire-swing, waking him up.

The gorilla glared at his friend. "I heard you the first time, you didn't have to kick me!"

"Stop whining, it's not like it hurt you! Anyway, look up!" the small monkey said as he pointed a finger toward the sky.

Donkey Kong looked up and saw the ghosts just as the first ones reached the island and began to spread all over it.

He observed as the ghosts were taking possession of nearby animals and when one came toward him, he punched it, causing it to poof. Diddy jumped out of the tire, took two wooden guns, and fired two peanuts from them at another ghost approaching, eliminating it.

"I don't know about you DK, but I think that this time, there's a little too much that we can chew..." the little monkey said as he eyed how more and more ghosts were coming from the clouds and the ocean. Far too many to have an idea of their number. "Not even the Snowmads were that many, and these things can fly."

"Just gotta find their leader and punch it to next week like we always do, and the rest should go away."

"And where is that leader, if they even have one?" Diddy asked with a raised eyebrow.

DK scratched his head as he looked at the ghosts, trying to identify one that could be the leader. "Uhh... No idea..."

More ghosts then came to attempt to take possession of them, and the two quickly jumped down to the ground to have more space to fight. However, by doing so, they not only had to deal with the ghosts but also with the nearby possessed animals. Seeing that they were being swarmed, Diddy got an idea. Barrels with reactors then came out from under his shirt on his back, forming a jetpack. With them, he flew up.

"DK! Jump!" he then shouted as he extended his arms.

DK understood, jumped, and grabbed Diddy's hands. With his weight, the rockets had difficulty as Diddy began to lose altitude, but the monkey was able to use the momentum of DK's jump to throw him further up in the air. The gorilla then dropped back to the ground and smashed it with all his weight and all his strength, creating a earthquake as well as a shockwave that destabilised and hurt any grounded animal, the shockwave also hurting the ghosts that were too close to the ground, eliminating a small number of them.

"Time to go!" Diddy shouted as he landed beside his friend.

DK nodded, and the two ran away, chased by dozens of ghosts and birds.

By now, already, pretty much the whole jungle was their enemy, if not the whole island. It wasn't the first time this happened. Back when the Tiki Tak Tribe had invaded, they had hypnotised all the animals of the island too to serve them, so the Kongs were already used to this. But back then, the hypnotised animals hadn't been that aggressive unless the Tikis directly gave the order to attack, and the Tikis themselves had just been a few hundreds spread all over the island where there seemed to be thousands of these ghosts here. Also, some of these ghosts revealed to have powers making them more dangerous. Powers that were transferred to the animals they possessed to make it worse.

Yeah, it was quite the surprise to face a sparrow that could send purple bolts of electricity from its claws. Or a freaking elephant that could teleport so it could appear without warning right above the ape and the monkey to fall on them. At least, DK was strong enough to lift it. And the ghost that came out of it once it was knocked out, which looked like the small ones but purple colored, was easy to kill, a single punch from Diddy doing the job.

And of course, they had no idea of where to go. Did they have to go to the volcano like in their two previous adventures where the villains' leaders had been?

Thankfully, they received their answer when a big explosion happened somewhere at the bottom of the sculpted gorilla head. If it wasn't the leader, then it was at least somebody or something powerful, and so, important.

So the primates didn't lose time traversing the jungle to reach where the explosion happened.

Donkey Kong had explored the totality of the island several times throughout his adventures and in his spare time, so when he reached the area where the explosion happened, he was surprised to find a cavern where, previously, there had been nothing. Judging by the boulders littering the area, the explosion was responsible of it, having blown up the wall to reveal the cavern.

And the primates' suspicion that the ghosts' leader was in here was confirmed as the entrance of the cavern was guarded by a pair of ghosts that were different from the others.

They were much taller than all the other ghosts encountered until now, easily the size of a human from Metro Kingdom. They were also purple like the ghosts that could teleport and had a pyramid head like the ones that could shout lightning, and they had a dark hooded cloak covering most of their body. Finally, they were armed with spears which had for pointy end a pyramid too.

Whatever these ghosts were, they meant business, and were certainly guards to protect the leader inside the cavern.

So, obviously, DK ran before them and pounded his chest, ready to show his dominance over these cloaked freaks, quickly joined by Diddy. And as soon as the primates showed themselves, the two ghosts readied their spears, purple electricity sparkling at their tip.

The guards revealed to have the same ability to teleport than the small purple ghosts and used it to try to take the primates off guard. The primates, however, had suspected that the two ghosts could teleport thanks to their purple color so they were ready.

The two ghosts teleported right behind the primates to spear them, and the primates quickly turned around to attack them in return, DK using his left arm to deflect the spear while he punched the ghost in the eye with his right fist and Diddy dodging the spear before jumping toward his target's head to cling to it and pummel it.

Despite the heavy hit, the ghost that DK attacked put the tip of his spear on the gorilla's skin, and DK was electrified. Seeing this, Diddy jumped from the head of the other ghost and clung to the head of the first one and pummeled it to force him to stop. The second ghost, quickly recovering from the little monkey's assault, tried to take the occasion to attack him while he was busy attacking, but DK grabbed the spear and yanked it before he punched the ghost on the eye, leaving his spear in DK's hand. Before the ghost could recover, DK then did a dropkick that sent the ghost on his back, and the gorilla finished him by planting the spear in his eye. Meanwhile, the other ghost managed to grab Diddy and to throw him away from his face only for the monkey's jetpack to appear before he did a U-turn and charged at the ghost. The ghost teleported out of the way, pointed his spear at Diddy, and unleashed purple electricity from its tip, but the monkey flew out of the way. Dk suddenly came and grabbed the spear to make it point at the ghost's head, causing him to be electrified by his own weapon before the gorilla finished him with a rapid series of punches.

Without a word, DK and Diddy then entered the cavern to hunt the ghosts' leader, and they found themselves having to fight more of these guards along with other ghosts and possessed animals. Along the way, the walls of the cavern were replaced by sculpted ones with statues of apes and banana decorations, indicating that they were now in some kind of temple like there were a little everywhere on the island.

Thankfully, this one wasn't full of deathtraps and bottomless pits like the others, and it wasn't actually that big because they rapidly reached the end where they encountered two figures before an altar with a red star made of crystal embedded in a slot.

Upon hearing the primates approaching, the figures turned around, revealing themselves to be none other than Wario and Waluigi, with black eyes.

DK and Diddy recognized them, and were very surprised to see them here. Obviously, the two were possessed.

Waluigi gave an uncharacteristic growl. "We have company..."

Wario huffed. "Deal with these animals, Tukaral."

"With pleasure," Waluigi replied before he advanced threateningly toward the primates, and stopped a few feet in front of them. "You two must be strong if you managed to pass through all the Sentikens we left in the cavern. This promises to be a good fight."

"Don't take too long with them," Wario said behind him as he took the red crystal star.

"Of course. Just the time to have a little fun. It has been too long since I had a good fight."

Diddy pointed a finger at Waluigi. "Hey! Whoever you are! If you think you scare us, you have another thing coming! We fought adversaries that would put you to shame!"

Waluigi tilted his head. "Sorry, I don't understand the monkey."

DK smirked. "Oh, I know a language that he must understand," he said before he ran toward Waluigi and readied a punch.

At the last moment, Waluigi jumped, avoiding the punch, and immediately countered with a kick that DK barely managed to parry with his arm, the kick sending him sliding backward a few meters.

DK understood right then and there that whoever was in possession of Waluigi was terrifyingly strong.

And the worst part was that he was actually an underling of the thing possessing Wario, behind him, and that meant that said thing must be even stronger.

Too bad for them, DK was known to be terrifyingly strong too, and with Diddy helping him, he was certain of his victory, especially with the thing possessing Wario seemingly deciding to not intervene for now.

So DK charged back toward Waluigi, jumping above a bolt of electricity sent at him from one of the man's hands. He smashed his fists on Waluigi's head, but it was not enough to knock him out as he immediately grabbed DK by an arm and slammed him on the ground.

Two peanuts hit him on the face, diverting his attention from the ape to his monkey friend who fired more peanuts with his guns. Waluigi used DK as a shield against the projectiles, but ended punched in the face as DK recovered his senses at this moment. Waluigi dropped DK as a result, and he found himself at the end of a series of fast punches. But then, Waluigi teleported behind DK and elbowed him on the back, electricity briefly spreading from the hit. Waluigi then saw Diddy jumping toward his head and placed his palm between him and the monkey before he shot from it a big fireball that burned and propelled the little one. DK used this to turn around and grab Waluigi by the head before he slammed him on the ground. Then, the gorilla followed this by smashing him repeatedly all over the body until Waluigi managed to place a palm in front of his face before he shot another fireball, sending DK on his back.

Waluigi got up and began to self-levitate as he made his hands face the dazed DK only to be hit on the back by peanuts again, and again, and again. When he looked, annoyed, at their origin, he saw Diddy flying around with his jetpack, continuously firing with his guns at him. Waluigi countered with lightning and fireballs, and even broke the altar into pieces that he levitated to throw them, but the monkey easily dodged them while firing without stopping with his guns.

Growling in annoyance, Waluigi suddenly grabbed something from one of his pockets, a Bob-Omb, and threw it toward Diddy. Again, the monkey avoided it, but just as the bomb passed beside him, Waluigi sent a fireball at it, making it explode. Diddy was caught in the blast and was propelled into wall, stunned.

Waluigi then saw DK get up, and he landed before him before a big black hammer materialized in his hand. The hammer looked really heavy, and had a single eye at the top which DK wasn't sure if it was a real one or a decoration. Waluigi then hit the ground with it, sending a shockwave toward DK. The gorilla jumped above it before he went to punch Waluigi, only for him to put the hammer in the way. So DK ended up punching the hammer instead, which actually hurt his hand. Waluigi suddenly threw the hammer at him, and DK quickly ducked before he punched Waluigi in the gut. But then, the hammer returned from behind and hit DK on the back of the head, making him see stars. Waluigi caught the hammer and finally hit DK on the head with it.

The hit made DK spin a bit, and the gorilla used the momentum to kick Waluigi from the side, sending him crashing into a wall. Before he could recover, Diddy then jumped in front of him and hit him several times on the face with punches and kicks and even with his tail, giving no respite. Waluigi eventually swung his hammer, and Diddy dodged it with a backflip before DK caught him and began to spin. Diddy's jetpack appeared again as his friend spun more and more rapidly until he threw him right at Waluigi as he was getting up with some difficulty. Diddy rammed him with the force of a cannonball, and he was pretty much crushed against the wall by the monkey.

Waluigi fell on his knees, using his hammer as a cane as he took heave breaths.

"Ho-how can I lose to two animals?"

Near what remained of the altar, Wario laughed. "It looks like you are a little rusty Tukaral."

"More like I underestimated them," Waluigi, or Tukaral, growled.

DK thought that it was time to finish him off, so he jumped toward Tukaral to give him the final beat down.

Only for chains seemingly made of solidified purple energy to come and wrap the ape entirely, and he fell on the ground entirely trapped, unable to free himself.

The chains came out of thin air around Wario who looked at DK with interest.

"You know what? He will make a perfect body for you."

"Hey!" an enraged Diddy shouted, gaining his attention. "Let DK go or I will... I will..." Diddy quickly lost his bravado as he understood that he was now alone against two very powerful beings.

Wario smirked before he sent more chains toward the monkey.

"Run!" DK yelled.

Shouting in panic, Diddy managed to avoid the chains with a series of jumps and acrobatics before he used his jetpack to reluctantly fly away, knowing that he had no chance. He will have to ask for help.

"I'll come back to save you DK, I promise!"

Diddy flew out of the cavern, not stopping when ghosts came in his way to stop him. Once outside, however, he wondered where to go and what to do as he flew above the jungle. Thankfully, there were now much less ghosts in the sky, most of them having either taken possession of an animal or having gone elsewhere.

Diddy then spotted a familiar plane in the distance taking off from the jungle, and he quickly flew toward it. The plane's pilot seemed to spot him before the plane then turned toward him while a big part of the side opened. A female chimp (without a tail this time, so she was an ape) with a blond banana-shaped ponytail, a pink beret, and a pink shirt tied into a knot at the bottom then showed herself and extended her hand at Diddy.

"Diddy! Catch!"

At this moment, a ghost attempted to possess her, but he was bonked repeatedly on the head by a cane before he could as an old ape with a long bird shouted, "Don't! Dare! Touching! Her!"

By the time Diddy caught the girl's hand and was hauled into the plane, the ghost had poofed out of existence under the old ape's assault. The side of the plane then closed before more ghosts could come.

"Dixie! Cranky! You escaped!"

Diddy found himself lightly bonked on the head by the cane. "Of course we escaped! What do you take us for? It's not some one-eyed ghost-freaks that will get us!"

"And don't forget us, man!" someone shouted from the pilot sit as another ape with sunglasses and a red bandanna with white dots on the head looked back. Beside him, on the co-pilot sit, another girl ape, taller than Dixie, with two blond ponytails and a multi-colored beanie hat, waved at Diddy.

Diddy looked around, saddened. "Nobody else?"

Dixie sadly shook her head before she asked, "Do you know where DK is?"

Diddy looked down dejectedly. "He was captured. We were confronting the leader of these things but he took us by surprise as we were about to finish one of his lieutenants and..." He punched the floor in anger. "What even are these things?! They seemed to be after some kind of red crystal star!"

Cranky frowned as he scratched his head in thought. "I don't know what are these things, but I think that I heard about a red crystal star once... Yes, I remember. The Ancient Kongs found on the beach a red crystal shaped like a star that emitted a strong power. It was said that anybody possessing it had total power over fire. The star was hidden somewhere in the island to keep it away from wrong hands."

"Well, now, the leader of these ghost-things has this star! And DK!" Diddy shouted. "What do we do?!"

"What do you think? We obviously can't deal with these things by ourselves, especially now that we are so few to have escaped and that Donkey Kong has been captured and certainly possessed! We have to ask for help."

"Uh? Aren't you the one who usually says that a Kong's problem is a Kong's problem and we don't need outside help?" Dixie asked.

"I may be a stubborn old fool, but even I know that this situation is beyond our control!"

"Woah! Did I hear it right? The old crook being reasonable? Either I'm dreaming, or I somehow ended up in a parallel universe!" the ape piloting the plane said, making the girl beside him laugh.

"Shut up Funky, unless you want to taste my cane!" the old ape shouted before he calmed down. "At least, we all know who to ask help from."

Diddy grinned. "Aww yeah! Mario! Of course!"

Dixie looked at Cranky in worry. "I know that you don't mind when Diddy and DK see him, but are you sure? It's the first time you will see him since..."

Cranky frowned before giving a big sigh. "Water has flowed under the bridge since these days. I don't know how to feel at the idea of meeting him again, but the past is the past. Why do you think I let DK see him despite everything? Beside, saving everyone is more important than some old grudges."



Back in the Mushroom Kingdom, the heroes were gathered beside a yellow plane with a single propeller at the front and "SKY" and "POP" written on the wings. Mario, Luigi, and Stuffwell were now joined by the green Yoshi who wanted to help and have some revenge on the Cankens.

The sky was still covered by the clouds, but it was clear that, by now, night had pretty much fallen.

Sweetie Belle had by now sent Prof. E. Gadd to Apple Bloom's Equestria so he could study the Kenny he had captured in hope of finding a way to easily get rid of the Cankens with the help of Smart Spirit.

Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi climbed in the plane, Stuffwell in Mario's pocket.

"Be careful Master Mario and Master Luigi!" Toadsworth shouted at them.

"And don't worry about us! We will hold the fort if the Cankens decide to attack again!... Somehow," Toadbert said.

Mario gave them a wave before he started the plane and took off, direction Sarasaland.

Behind, Sweetie Belle looked at the Toads. "Time for us to go too." Then, she looked at Starlow. "Lead us to Starven."

Starlow nodded. "Follow me."

The Star Sprite then flew toward the sky, followed by the fillies, Apple Bloom having to take her ghost form to fly.

"Ah wonder what Bowser's doing," the Earth Pony filly wondered to herself. "Ah hope he's alright."

"Bowser is a tough guy," Starlow said. "We don't need to worry about him. As we speak, he's probably readying his army to attack the Cankens."



A little earlier.

Bowser, still on his airship, reached his castle.

Which was in pretty bad shape. There were holes here and there, smoke escaping, and a few Cankens could be seen flying around with all kinds of flying troops fighting each others.

"Mmh. Seems like our guys managed to hold them off," Roy commented.

"But we have no idea if they are losing or not," Bowser Junior added.

"One thing is sure, the castle will need a lot of repair, again," Roy said.

"We're close enough!" bowser suddenly shouted. "Time to land and to fight off these invaders!"

"How do we know which of our guys are possessed?" Roy asked.

"Easy, they have black eyes," Junior answered.

"Which many of our troops have covered!" Roy reminded. "The Magikoopas have their glasses, and the Shy Guys have their masks! and the Dry Bones don't even have eyes! How will we do for them?"

"Then, if you have doubts, you punch them. They're used to it," Junior said.

"What Junior said. If you aren't sure someone is in our side, punch them in the face," Bowser said.

"Very well."

"Same for all of you!" Bowser shouted to all the minions on the ship, and they nodded, some with hesitation. "Also, non-possessed Magikoopas, Shy Guys, and Dry bones must remain near non-possessed Koopas and other troops! Spread the order to anyone who we can't tell if they are possessed or not by their eyes!" Again, they nodded.

The airship landed not long after not far of the entrance of the castle, and everyone charged.

Without surprise, Bowser crushed all opposition he encountered as his minions spread to help the defenders. Junior, however, remained close to his dad as they eventually reached the throne room where they encountered a big group of defenders led by a Goomba with a red flag on the head.

The Goomba approached Bowser.

"My Lord! You are back! I'm so sorry we couldn't welcome you properly, but as you can see, we have a situation."

"Yes. I know. I was attacked too, and the Koopalings have gone rogue. I only have Roy with me," Bowser informed. "What can you tell me about the situation in the castle?"

"It's very hard to keep track of what's going on, your Greatness. Last I heard, about half of our troops have been possessed by these ghost things. Captain Koopa Troopa is in the East Wing to retake it while Captain Shy Guy is pushing back the enemies on the walls. Captain Boo had gone to the West Wing, but he was possessed. King Bob-Omb is defending your quarters, but he's facing Petey Piranha. And worst of all, Kamek has now joined our enemies and is firing electricity from his wand like a trigger happy maniac. Because of him, we're losing ground."

"What about you? What are you doing here?"

"I-I'm gathering a huge force in order to launch a general assault on the enemies, Sir! I hoped to overwhelm them with number at least for a time and recuperate some ground! Maybe even defeating Kamek with it!"

"Good! Good! Then I will join this assault!" Bowser said. "With me, we will not just retake some ground, but the whole castle! Everybody gets ready! Follow me!"

Bowser then charged back out of the throne room, immediately followed by his son, then by Captain Goomba and all the other minions. And of course, nothing resisted long against them.

It wasn't long before they reached the place where Kamek was, in a random hallway. Flying on his broom, he was constantly sending electricity from his wand at the minions facing him, allowing his allies to advance in the castle.

"Leave him to me!" Bowser said. "You guys take care of the others!"

Kamek saw Bowser and, understanding that he was the major threat, pointed his wand toward him and fired bolts of electricity. Bowser entered his shell and began to spin. While the electricity was still hurting him, he didn't stop until he eventually launched himself forward, striking everything on the way. However, Kamek simply flew up out of the way, letting the shell pass under him before he continued to fire.

Bowser quickly stopped and got out of his shell before he faced Kamek and sent several fireballs at him. Again, the Magikoopa dodged all of them. With an annoyed roar, Bowser then opened his mouth and and began to inhale, creating a powerful vortex. Kamek tried to resist it, but he eventually lose grip of his broom that was sucked up into Bowser's mouth. The Koopa King then crunched it into pieces and spat them at his feet before he began to run. Now that he didn't have his broom anymore, Kamek could only walk backward as he continued to fire electricity at the approaching Bowser, but it wasn't enough to stop him. Eventually, Bowser reached him and grabbed him before he slammed him several times on a wall until he was out.

When the Elecken possessing him came out, Bowser didn't let him escape and grabbed his head before he crushed it, killing the ghost-thing.

With Kamek out of the way, the troops had less problems fighting back the Cankens and taking back the castle. Things went even better when Roy managed to help King Bob-Omb in defeating Petey Piranha, allowing the big living bomb to help the troops elsewhere.

Before long, the Cankens were all eliminated, and the minions could start to heal the injured as Bowser thought of what to do next, sitting on his throne.

He had no idea of where Wario had brought Peach, and he had no idea of what to do against the Cankens. Yes, he could simply go from area to area to fight them off, but he wasn't sure if it was the right solution. It would take a really long time to explore the whole world to eliminate the ghost-things. It would be more effective to find the leader(s) and take care of them. With some luck, the underlings would disappear.

But again, he had no idea of where the leader(s) was (were), and searching the whole world would take too long.

He really didn't know what to do.

He hated that.

Suddenly, Morton barged into the room yelling, "Lord Bowser! Morton reporting for duty!"

Bowser was surprised to see him. "Morton? You are back? I expected you to be somewhere out there being possessed like the others."

"Morton possessed, but equines saved Morton. Now, Morton has letter for Lord Bowser. Important."

This picked Bowser's interest. "Give it to me."

Morton did so, and Bowser read it.

"Let's see... Cankens... Cankentriops... What are these weird names? Mmh... Elemenstars?......... I see. Morton!"

"What are orders, Lord Bowser?"

"Gather Junior, Roy, Kamek, and the Elite Captain Quartet here. I know what we will do now."



Before long, everyone was gathered in the throne room, facing Bowser. Some of them were still slightly bandaged, but most of their injuries were gone by now.

"What's going on, dad?" Junior asked.

Bowser showed the letter. "These pesky plumbers and their equine friends were able to find information on our enemies, and I know where to go. These... Cankens - really weird name - are apparently searching five stars of crystal called the Elemenstars to bring their god or whatever it is to our world. Wherever these stars are, if we find one, we have a chance of encountering these Cankens' leader, some weirdo wizard that I didn't bother to remember his freakish name."

Kamek raised a hand. "Can I have the letter, your vileness?"

"Very well. Take it," Bowser accepted as he extended his hand with the letter, letting the Magikoopa take it.

As Kamek read the letter to memorize all the important information, Bowser continued with a full toothed grin. "And it turns out that I know where to find one of these stars. I remember back when I went to Metro Kingdom reading a brochure stating that the New Donkers had found in the ocean a mysterious blue crystal star that they intended to use as decoration in the auditorium of the New Donk City Hall. They must have placed it by now."

"So we are going to New Donk City?!" Junior asked excitedly.

"Exactly, Junior!" Bowser answered before he looked at Kamek and at the two Koopalings. "Prepare troops to embark our airships! And I don't mean just one of two airships! I intend to bring the whole armada! If that Cankenwhatever is in New Donk City with his army, I want him to face the full might of the Koopa Troop!" He then looked at Captain Goomba, Captain Shy Guy, Captain Boo, and Captain Koopa Troopa (who had all a red flag on the head). "As for you four, I want you to gather a task force to go explore the Mushroom Kingdom and, hopefully, find our remaining soldiers still possessed, especially the Koopalings! If you find them, tell them where we are! They will know how to join us!"

"Yes, Lord Bowser!" everyone excepted Bowser Jr. shouted before they exited the room.

"I'm going to my room to prepare!" Junior shouted before he followed the others.

After a few seconds of silence, Bowser crossed his arms, still grinning. "These schmucks won't see the sun rise. Mark my words."