Iggy Koopa lunged at Ludwig and punched him in the face. The two scrapped, throwing fists at each other and pushing each other aside, but no dirty tricks were used. This was a fair fight.

Ludwig pinned Iggy to the ground and laughed. “Kakaka, what’re you gonna do now?”

“This!” Iggy shouted. With the full weight of his growing muscles he pushed Ludwig off of him and then kicked him in the stomach. As he stumbled backwards, Iggy headbutted him in the face and knocked him to the ground.

The other Koopalings broke out into a cheer, except for Morton Jr’s wife Holly, who only politely clapped for some reason. She still hadn’t been fully inducted into the clan, probably.

“With this victory, I take control of the Koopalings as its ultimate leader,” Iggy said. “I am no longer a Koopaling. I am a Royal Koopa! I have come of age!”

The cheering stopped and was replaced by groans and moans.

Even the youngest of the bunch, Bowser Jr., shook his head. “Dude, you don’t get to decide that stuff yourself,” he said. “Only Mama Bowsette gets to say who’s come of age.”

“She still hasn’t even told ME I’m a Royal Koopa,” whined Morton Jr.

“Well, when I unveil her my new Magnetic Propulsion Castle design, she’s going to promote me for sure!” Iggy proclaimed. “We can have a whole airship fleet and floating castle deployed and launched to a new country in just two hours! We’ll be invincible!”

“Did you Mario-proof it yet?” Wendy asked. “She ain’t accepting any new designs that ain’t been Mario-proofed.”

“Well... I‘m still working on it...”

Iggy had been one of the heroes of the war, one of the Seven Generals of the Grand Unity Army. But he knew he still had a long way to go before he could become a true Royal Koopa and take his rightful place as the leader of a Dark Land domain. But he was going to keep trying for sure, because now that he had tasted what power and leadership were really like, he needed to get the full experience. It was in his very blood.