Chapter 32
The smell of salt was in the air. The sky was turning purple and the setting sun was turning the vast sea into an ocean of liquid fire. Drifting across it were the three of Foreman Spike, Guido, and Oglian, each of them riding the giant doll, Selkford.

"So then I told him, Fool! I'm right ALL the time! HA HA!" Foreman Spike boasted. "Funny stuff, huh, Guido?"

"Um, yes, sir," the smaller man replied. Unfortunately, this was not the response the foreman was looking for. He suddenly started glaring.

"What's the matter? Think I'm boring?!" he snapped.

"Um, uh, no, sir," Guido stammered. "I'm... I'm just getting tired." Foreman Spike calmed down a bit. He scoffed, folded his arms, and started looking at the ocean some more. Things hadn't picked up since the start of this journey. It was causing Foreman Spike to start getting a little impatient.

"Old woman," Foreman Spike said to Oglian, "how long is this gonna take? This ocean's driving me nuts."

"Oh, we're already there, dear," Oglian replied.

"What?!" Foreman Spike blurted. "What are you talking about? I don't see anything..."

The old woman chortled. "Oh, but of course," she said. "We're in the Light World right now. I'll fix that..." Foreman Spike and Guido watched curiously as this woman held up a fist, pointed it before her, and flicked it open. What happened next had taken her two passengers completely by surprise. A gigantic wave swept itself across the sky and across the ocean. The sky turned red and the entire ocean seemed to become completely black. Foreman Spike and Guido were impressed as they looked around this new world in wonder. "This is the Dark World," Oglian said. "Normal people can't see it... but it's everywhere."

Foreman Spike whistled. "That's some good stuff."

"Sir! Look!" Guido said, pointing past the foreman's shoulder. His attention having been grabbed, the foreman did so. Suddenly, he was even more amazed, for, right there, in the distance, was their long awaited destination: Castle Koopa. The whole thing looked like it was just floating on the water.

Foreman Spike laughed. "All right," he said. "Looks like we're finally getting somewhere..." The shades-wearing man kicked back and resumed enjoying the ride. His patience had been revived. It wouldn't be long until the next phase of their journey began...

"Lousy burn marks..."

Doppel was floating beside another one of his paintings. Behind him was a very large window of his mansion, but he had sore spots on his arms to rub ointment onto. They were getting on his nerves.

"Lousy, lousy, lousy..." he grumbled, beginning to massage the damp rag into the affected areas more furiously. At one point, he stopped the rubbing. He could hear something outside. Immediately, the ghostly man turned around and looked out the window. The source of the sound was right in front of him. It was three brats screaming very loudly. With a little help from Kamek and his Toadies, they were flying to the mansion. "Oh, how splendid!" Doppel stated. "I must go tell everyone..." The man dropped the rag and began hovering quickly away from the painting and the window, yelling for the other members of the Koopa Klan...

They finally made it. The Three Boombateers had finally made it to Clubba Road, a path of white tiles between two fields of grass, lined with grey statues of Clubbas on pedestals, all of them valiantly holding clubs in their right hands. On one end of it were Ren, Razule, and Goomba Prince. Their Boomba's Shoe was parked nearby and two of them were about to hear from their leader.

"So, what now?" Goomba Prince asked.

Razule smirked. "We go in," he said. The dubious trio looked ahead of them. There, they saw the very thing at the end of this road: a gigantic fortress, built directly on the thin line between the edge of the Clover Kingdom and the ocean behind it.

"Hm," Goomba Prince said. "Sounds good."

Leaving their Boomba's Shoe behind, the Three Boombateers walked past two particularly large Clubba statues and commenced ascending the stone steps leading to the inside. Before long, the Three Boombateers had entered the double doors of Clubba Fortress...

Gorroh, Helga, Arris, the Koopa Troopa, and Doppel were walking towards the entrance of the mansion. All of them had gotten themselves very excited about the news, and none of them were too shy to express it.

"Oh, I can't wait to see them!" Helga squealed, her hands clasping together. "They must be so adorable!"

"Pretty soon, there'll be twice as much love in this family!" Gorroh commented. Their spirits certainly had been lifted. At this point, the group had reached the middle of the foyer. As if on cue, the front doors burst open. With Bowser sulking and the baby-holding Toadies floating behind him, Kamek strut in. His face was sagging as though he hadn't gotten any sleep in days. "Kamek, old boy! How'd it go?" Gorroh said. In response, the Magikoopa just grumbled something about a bunch of screaming hyenas. Gorroh chuckled. "Wonderful! And Bowser? How's my son?"

The young Koopaling snorted. "Tewwible. Smart guy here wuined evewything!!" Bowser pointed to Kamek accusingly. The Magikoopa just grumbled some more.

Gorroh gasped. "Kamek? Is this true?"

"Not now, Sire," the sorceror replied.

"Oohh..." Helga cooed. Immediately, she had been infatuated by the babies the Toadies were carrying, Mario and Luigi, even though both were clearly upset. They just sat there atop the Toadies, looking worried and whimpering. "Look at them! Aren't they just precious?"

"Son, meet your new brothers: Mario and Luigi!" Gorroh said this while gesturing to both of them respectively.

"I can tell we're gonna get along juuuust fine," Bowser said. He snickered and smacked his fist into his palm like a punching bag. Mario and Luigi gulped.

"Heh heh! That's the spirit, Son!" Gorroh encouraged. He rubbed his son's head, causing his ponytail to become a bit ruffled up and his new hair tie to glimmer a little. Helga wasn't entirely approving of this action of her husband, however.

"Dear, don't put any ideas into his head!" she objected. "They're our new sons. You should treat them with the same dignity and respect as our own!"

"Come on, dear," Gorroh said, "a little roughhousing with MY siblings didn't hurt, and look how I turned out!"

Helga just grumbled and folded her arms. "The men I live with..." Quickly, Helga lightened up and picked up the two babies, one for each arm. "Come on, boys, time for your nap," she said as she began to walk away. "You, too, Bowser," she added.

"Aw, geez," the Koopaling grumbled. He began to follow his mother up the stairs. Only Gorroh, Kamek, Arris, the Koopa Troopa, and Doppel were still left.

"So, Doppel, what are your plans for the day?" Gorroh asked.

"Oh, nothing much," the ghostly man replied, as he rubbed his arms. "I'll just be getting some painting done is all." Gorroh nodded, but then he caught a glimpse of exactly what Doppel was rubbing. He started looking inquisitive.

"Doppel," he said, "where'd you get those burn marks?"

Doppel took a deep breath. It came out in a long sigh. "I'll tell you about it later," he said.

"Hm. All right then," Gorroh replied. He began to walk away and up the stairs as his family had just done earlier. Meanwhile, Kamek was busy massaging his temples while his Toadies remained floating around. Arris and the Koopa Troopa were talking amongst themselves. Doppel was just lost in thought.

Crazy things happen in these woods, he thought. I should know...

SHING! Shards of melted ice could be seen flying upward from an opening in the Clattagin Woods somewhere. Inside of it were nine evil clowns, the majority of them very happy to finally be free from the frigid prisons that had been confining them for so long. They were brushing the frosty stuff off of them, save for Har-Harlequin. Still, it was quite the moment of triumph for this small group.

"Ahh," Taffy Kong said. "Back in the real world. Back in the land of money and women. Heh heh heh..."

"At last, we can get back to trying to revive our mistress," Jester celebrated. "The magic will return; I can feel it!"

"Oh, merciful heavens!" Night Guy said. "It feels so good to be back!"

"It's been a long time, and I'm feelin' fine!" Groove Guy stated.

"We're full of bliss, and back in business!" Groovum replied. The two of him and Groove Guy laughed and high-fived each other. Rudy stood back and watched his crew with a smirk on his face. They all seemed very glad to finally be up and moving around again. Even Katunk was marching around with his trademark toothy grin. Rudy smiled back. Sitting next to him, Har-Harlequin just looked disgusted, as usual. This all seemed to be too noisy for her.

"Rats," she grumbled. "I guess I should have savored the peace and quiet a bit more."

"Now now, don't be that way, Har-Harlequin," Rudy chided. "This is a glorious day!" The gigantic clown suddenly raised his voice, having one defiant arm sticking in the air. "RUDY AND THE EIGHT GOOFALINGS ARE BACK!" The humungous clown's teammates let out an enthused cheer. Rudy swung his arm in one direction, motioning for them to follow him. "This way, everyone! The music box awaits!"

"YEAH!" the other evil clowns yelled. Rudy hopped in the Clown Copter, started it up, and began hovering off with his peers following him. In the next second, all nine of them had gotten to marching out of that opening in the woods and into the woods itself... or so they thought...

Everyone stopped once they heard a hacking noise. They turned around and saw what the meaning of this was: they're ninth member, Badoyng, was still lying on the grass. The ice had melted off his body, but it was limp, and his eyes were barely opening. Not to mention, there was a bloody stump where his left leg used to be. It was soaking into the grass. The group gasped at the sight and rushed back into the opening, murmuring in worry as they did so. The other seven gathered around their fallen comrade while Rudy got out of the Clown Copter and got to holding the fallen Bashful's head up. The evil clowns had seen better days. They were all looking pretty grim.

"Badoyng!" Rudy said. "Speak to me!"

The Bashful said nothing. Only the raspy sound of his breathing could be heard. The last thing he saw through his blurry eyes was the sad look on Katunk's face. The Bashful's eyes slowly closed, and his breathing began to gradually fade away. Everyone was deathfully silent as they listened intently to this. At last, it was gone. The unthinkable had occurred. Badoyng was dead.

Rudy shook his head. The others began to look glumly down at the ground. "Boys," he said, "I'm afraid Tondariya will have to wait..."

"Goodnight, my little angels..."

Helga smiled as she closed the door. Mario, Luigi, and Bowser were behind it, resting their weary heads, supposedly. She noticed how the Mario Bros. were looking a bit worried and how her son was looking mischievous, but she merely shrugged it off. After walking down the hallway a bit, she was able to stumble upon her husband. The two lovers walked up to each other.

"They getting along?" Gorroh asked.

"You'd be surprised," Helga giggled.

"You've still got it!" Gorroh complimented. The two Koopas smiled at each other. Both began to close in on their significant other. Soon enough, they had themselves in each other's arms again. Another round of hugging and kissing had arisen from them. This, Doppel noticed after floating his way to the top of the stairs. Gorroh noticed him and the awkward look on his face. Slowly, he and Helga broke away from one another. "Ah, Doppel, there you are," the king said. "Now then, is there something you wanted to tell me?"

Doppel began floating closer to the couple. "As a matter of fact, yes," the ghostly man said. He floated past them and began heading down the hallway. "Let's go into the other room first..."

Gorroh and Helga nodded. They commenced walking after this mysterious friend of theirs...

The evil clowns had gotten a lot done during the last few minutes. During that time, they had managed to replace the body of their departed friend with a mound of dirt with a bouquet of flowers on top. At that moment, they had formed a circle around the grave. Their heads were all hung in melancholy. The area was as silent as a ghost. At last, the silence was broken. Rudy began reciting the eulogy.

"Badoyng's services will not be forgotten," he said. "Without his help, we would not have been able to have gotten so much money. Without his help, we would not have been able to conquer Gana Village..." Everyone listened attentively to Rudy's words. All of them had heavy hearts and weren't afraid to show it. Katunk looked to be the most depressed out of all of them. "He made every contribution he possibly could to the group, and we all thank him for this. His skill with the guitar was second to none..." Some of the clowns were shaking their heads. Others had their hands covering their eyes. Katunk's lip was starting to quiver. "He was a friend to all of us. Rain or shine, he was always there for us. But none of us were as close to him as Katunk." Katunk could feel his heart sink lower into his stomach. "The two of them were quite the duo. We'll never forget the many things they've done together. They were like twins. Their strong sense of comradery was always enough to make us smile. They were inseparable. But now, they have been separated forever..." Everyone took a moment to reminisce about the brother-like bond between Badoyng and Katunk. They understood how painful this must have been for him. Their guesses couldn't have been closer to the truth. "Without him, our group will never be the same. We used to be Rudy and the Eight Goofalings; now, we're just Rudy and the Seven Goofalings..." A tear rolled down Katunk's steel face. Then the next part of Rudy's speech came. This time, his voice was less solemn and more uplifting. "But life, as they say, goes on. Though his body may be gone, his memory will always be with us. Together, we'll bring Tondariya back. With her, we'll be able to create the ideal world he always wanted." The other clowns, including Katunk, all began to nod their heads and murmur in agreement. "And," Rudy added, "we'll get back at the Madscikoopa who did this to him..."

The sadness of the group had been replaced by a sense of hope. Everyone, including Katunk, had begun to focus on avenging the Bashful's death and making the dream live on. The sun had set and stars were beginning to emerge from the sky. Badoyng had died, but the clowns still had a goal to strive for. With their beloved teammate on their minds, they had officially become Rudy and the Seven Goofalings...

Gorroh, Helga, and Doppel had seated themselves around a table they had been to earlier. Statues and paintings in process surrounded them as they drank tea and got the discussion going.

"So Doppel," Gorroh said after sipping some of his tea, "you seem to always get the strangest injuries without explanation. Are you ready to tell us why this is?"

"All right, I'll tell you," Doppel said grimly. He took another deep breath and sighed. "Being able to make duplicates of yourself isn't all fine and dandy, you know," he began. "Pretty soon, people will start wondering how you do it. Then they start coveting it. Then they start hunting you down..."

Helga drank some more of her tea. Both her and Gorroh were giving Doppel a consistent amount of eye-contact. "Go on," the husband encouraged.

"As you can guess, it can get pretty dangerous sometimes," the ghost man said. "Sometimes, you just gotta bite back..."

"So," Helga said, "you have an enemy?"

"Not just one; I've got two," Doppel replied. Gorroh and Helga looked a bit surprised by this news. "The Bangarang Bros. are wonderful. They really are," Doppel went on. "But one time, they couldn't do it. Two people--two women--came by one day. They beat them up and started turning my lovely mansion upside-down, looking for me. Well, they found me and then..." Doppel started punching the air in front of him. After about three seconds of this, he stopped and started pretending to pant. He got a hold of himself and continued. "Well," he said, "now I keep them locked up in the basement." Doppel stopped for a second and took a long swig of his tea. He set his cup down and leaned forward. "Wanna see them?" he asked.

Gorroh and Helga looked at each other. Then they looked at Doppel. "Okay, why not?" Gorroh said.

"Great!" Doppel drank the last bit of his tea and floated out of his seat. "Follow me," he said. Gorroh and Helga finished up their tea as well. Once again, they began walking after the floating Doppel. Perhaps soon they'd get to the bottom of this...

"No."

"WHAT?!"

"No. Now, are you gonna take the test, or are you just going to waste my time?"

Ren, Razule, and Goomba Prince were in the large, stone room behind the entrance to the Clubba Fortress. Like in an airport, its walls were lined with seats and there was a desk in the center of it. Behind it was a female Clubba with a bad hairdo. Goomba Prince was nowhere near happy by her response to their question. Razule decided to take care of it.

"That's okay," he said to the woman. "We'll just wait here until they do get here."

"Fine by me," the Clubba woman said. She continued reading her magazine.

Ren and Goomba Prince watched perplexed as their leader strut up to one of the seats, jumped onto it, and sat down. They exchanged some confused looks and walked up to Razule, who was humming an annoying tune. "Razule," Ren said, "are we really just going to wait here until they get here?"

"It'll just be a few days. What's the big deal?" Razule answered. Both Ren and Goomba Prince flipped out at this.

"A few days?! I can't wait that long!" Goomba Prince protested. "What are we supposed to do 'til then?!"

"He's got a point," Ren agreed. "We could go nuts."

"Pistachio nuts?" Razule said. Goomba Prince cocked an eyebrow at the strange creature. Razule sighed and hopped off the seat, landing in front of his two partners. "Okay, if you're THAT scared the boredom monster's gonna eat you, I know what weasels we can whack until then."

"Yeah?" Goomba Prince said.

"People only come here to upgrade their weapons, correct?" Razule's two companions agreed. "I know where we can get some weapons," Razule continued. "There's a forest near here with three of 'em. Sound scrumptious?"

"Yes!" said the crowned Goomba.

"All right then. BOOMBATEERS AWAY!" Razule ran right past his two teammates and sped out the door. The Clubba woman watched as the other two guys soon gave chase. The next thing she knew, all three of them had slammed the doors behind them. The woman scoffed and turned to the next page of her magazine.

"I swear, the weirdest people come here..."

"... You'll never get him that way, I said. Quit holding back! Show him what you're made of! -- I'm trying! you said. Hmph. Last time I ever help YOU do anything..."

"I'm sorry..."

Two women were standing around in the middle of four statues. All of them bore the likeness of a certain ghost-like man. Apparently, they were things these two witches had spent way too much time being near. Neither of them seemed to be liking a single bit of this. One of them was looking very angry and folding her arms. The other one just looked forlorn. Exactly what they were doing there was unclear, but they didn't look very happy. They sat around awkwardly for a few more seconds. Then, hearing something, they turned their heads and saw three people descending the stairs leading into the vast, dank room and approaching the space between two of the statues.

"Here they are," Doppel said, gesturing towards the two women in the middle of these four statues. They were both scowling at the artistic man, the green one especially. Between the two, she was the taller one and the uglier one. She was donned in a strange-looking purple robe. A frilly thing was around her neck and an odd garment topped off her head. Her eyes were wide, slanted, and pink.

The other woman was the shorter, more blue one. Strangely enough, she looked like a pile of transparent, light blue gelatin carved to look like a woman in an elegant dress. Unusual spots and bubbles seemed to be floating around inside of her. Her face donned two black, beady eyes and the back of her head was elongated, almost like a big, blue tentacle. It swayed behind her like a ponytail. Seeing Gorroh, Helga, and Doppel didn't seem to have much of an effect on her, but the other woman was an entirely different story. "You swine! I'LL KILL YOU!" The woman snarled and leapt through the air with her claws out like a tiger. Gorroh and Helga gasped and jumped back, but Doppel remained still. BDDZZTT! The green woman slammed face first into a force field of lightning bolts that suddenly materialized between the two statues. It fried her entire form and sent her sliding to the ground in a pile of smoke. Gorroh and Helga were surprised by this. The blue woman showed no emotion.

"Gorroh, Helga," Doppel said, "meet my prisoners, Ameba and Cackletta." The three of him and the Koopas watched as the one named Cackletta commenced prying herself off the ground. "Normally the magic-using type, I keep them trapped between these four statues. They drain people of their magic powers and give them an electrical shock if they try to leave, as you can see."

"You're dead, Doppel," Cackletta growled as she wiped the dust off of her. "You hear me?! DEAD!"

"Don't blow a gasket, dear," Doppel mocked. Cackletta just glared at him and snarled some more.

"These were the ones who did this to you?" Gorroh said. Doppel began to rub the burn spots on his arms again.

"There are some pretty bad people in this world, Gorroh," Doppel said. "They do things to you, they lay curses on you... They deserve to get locked up... like Cackletta and Ameba here..."

"We didn't do that, you lunkhead!" Cackletta yelled. "You probably just burned yourself on the stove, or something!"

"Don't listen to them," Doppel said. "Come on, let's go." He turned around and began floating up the stairs. Helga was the first to follow. Gorroh stayed behind, though. He continued to stare at Cackletta and Ameba.

"Don't believe a word that guy says," Cackletta growled. "He's scum!" Gorroh didn't answer. He just blinked at the two sorceresses. Then he turned around and began to go up the stairs as well. Cackletta watched this and let out a disgruntled sigh. She turned around and began striding towards Ameba. "Who are we kidding?" she said. "We're gonna die down here."

"I don't know about that," Ameba said quietly.

"Quiet, you!" Cackletta spat.

"Yes, ma'am."

The two sorceresses continued to rot in their magic-draining prison while Gorroh continued to follow Doppel and Helga up the stairs. Interesting, he thought. So they're the reason why Doppel is like this...

Doppel had something completely different on his mind, however. I'm sorry, Gorroh, he thought. Although it is true I hold a grudge against those two, they're not the reason why I possess this curse. The ghost man furled his brow as he began to think something darker. If anyone finds out the truth, Doppel thought, it could mean trouble...

Ren, Razule, and Goomba Prince were back in their Boomba's Shoe and were using it to stampede down the statue-filled Clubba Road. Numerous stone Clubbas whizzed past them, and Goomba Prince started wondering something.

"So, what exactly is this forest we're going to?" he asked Razule.

"Good question, Princy," Razule replied. "It's the Forest of Dheos, a spooky place near the Clover Kingdom's trademark, ring-shaped mountain, the RING of Dheos. 'Tis the heart and soul of the Clover Kingdom. Spine-tingling, huh?"

"Uh, I guess so," Goomba Prince responded. Then he returned to his thoughts.

First Clubba Road, now this, he speculated. This is turning out to be some journey... The journey of the Three Boombateers continued beneath the starry sky...

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