Holly Koopa fumbled with her key ring, hands shaking as she hurriedly tried to locate her house key and get inside. A car alarm went off behind her and spooked her, but when nobody showed up behind her she was able to regain her composure and find her key.

She went inside...

And her home was wrecked. Furniture overturned, glass covering the floor, her late husband’s shell cracked and ashes spilled out.

Spray painted on her TV was a simple message: “KOOPAS GET OUT.”

Holly couldn’t bear to look at it-- she ran back outside crying.

Shroom City wasn’t supposed to be like this! This was supposed to be for the bumpkins in the Toadwood Forest, not here! Why... why did they hate her so much?

She had no destination, but she kept on running. It was all she could do.

***

“...and effective immediately, I will depart from the Mushroom Kingdom, never to return,” Merlon said, looking down at the floor. “I apologize for any pain I have caused you or your families. It was only my intention to keep the governmental change stable and easy, not... not to hurt any of you. And that’s what happened.”

“Traitor!”

“Stay here and let us take care of you!”

“Merlon should stand trial with Bowser! They’re best buds!”

“Yeah! Justice for the Mushroom Kingdom!”

***

In a holding cell in an unmarked dungeon in an unmakred castle in an unknown location in Dark Land...

Boom Boom sat amongst a dozen other political prisoners, chained up and huddled in whispers. If the Koopatrols outside heard them, they’d be beaten. But they still spoke. It was their only way of staying sane.

He had heard whispers, literally, of what was going on outside. Not outside this building, per se; it was obvious what was going on in Bowser’s Kingdom, with the worst succession crisis he’d ever been witness to. The revolution against Morton Koopa was deadly and it was a half-decade struggle; Boom Boom had seen his own people suffer and his home destroyed, and for a while he never thought it would have an ending except in his own death. But that revolution was a noble cause fought by honorable comrades against a tyrannical evil. This succession struggle was nothing more than a sham. So many dead, so many imprisoned, so much destruction...

And it was all for naught, apparently. For those whispers Boom Boom heard... they were that Bowser was alive and well... but captured by the Mushroom Kingdom.

Boom Boom looked up at the ceiling and said a little prayer to himself. “Wherever you are, Bowser... Boom Boom is looking out for you, buddy. Be strong. Be the King you were meant to be.”

Boom Boom tried to say that, at least. His voice was too dry to make any sound come out of his throat. Instead, he said it in his mind. And that was enough.

***

They were coming by sea, just like Lumpy had said.

A vast armada of dozens of warships and hundreds of smaller boats approached the coast, Moustafa could see from his telescope. If they reached land, they would surely set a direct path to Dry Dry City, and with their meager militia and the vast desert before them, they could hardly wage an effective guerilla war. If they made landfall, the Republic was doomed.

The main standing in the boat next to him, though, stood tall and proud. He was Jonathan Jones, a captain recommended specifically by Lumpy himself. A proud pirate with decades of experience at sea, he seemed to look down the armada not with fear, but with anticipation.

“They’re using Pirate Guy ships,” Jonathan said, his sharky fins flapping in the wind. “That means they have low priority on this attack. The warships must be skeleton crews, too.”

“You mean they have an army of Dry Bones soldiers on-board?” Moustafa asked.

“No, I mean-- nevermind. If I am reading this formation right, it appears the Mushroom Kingdom has hired none other than Captain Syrup to lead the charge,” Jonathan continued. “My men have dealt with her before. Admiral Bobbery may be in command, but Captain Syrup is the real leader behind a force like this, surely. She won’t be a problem, as long as you have those Banzai Bill Cannons I asked for.”

“They were provided,” Moustafa said.

Provided with a heavy-interest loan from the Red Bob-omb Army...

If they won this war, he had no idea how they would pay for everything they were afforded. They may never be able to, with Dry Dry’s meager resources and isolated geography.

But freedom tasted too sweet just to give up. They had to fight.

***

“He must stand trial,” Toadsworth said.

“He had control of the Senate and the Courts. He’s too dangerous to be kept alive,” said Chancellor Toad. He had more overt control over the judicial process, even if Toadsworth had more direct access to the Princess herself, and the Chancellor was going to keep it that way, like some young squirt like Toadsworth was going to steal it all away from him. Bah.

“Can’t we just... exile him to Cool, Cool Mountain?” Toadsworth suggested. “Our dissident regions--”

“Our dissident regions are angry that the Mushroom Kingdom so readily transformed into a warmongering dictatorship just because of a change in leadership! If we show that we are at peace again, they will rejoin.”

“But...” Toadsworth tried collecting his words. “We have to LOOK fair. We can’t appear to be what Bowser already was.”

The Chancellor was disgusted. But he had to admit that Toadsworth was right in this, if only this. “But you know how the trial must end. We can’t place Bowser anywhere without considering that he may return. The Mr. Snowmans will riot if we place him anywhere near their territory, after what happened in Sherbet Land. He’s already shown he can escape from an island, and he knows the underground tunnels beneath the continent too well. We have to end this while we can.”

“I understand,” Toadsworth said. “But as far as this line of thought goes, Peach has the final word, you know.” Toadsworth stood up and began departing from the conference room. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go inform Prince Mallow about the fate of his parents.”

“Good luck on that,” the Chancellor said.

Peach having the final word... the Chancellor almost laughed. It hadn’t been a real monarchy in a decade. It wasn’t suddenly going to become one again overnight.

He knew who held the real power in the Mushroom Kingdom.