The entire place had been trashed and turned over.  The sofa had been turned over, pictures had been knocked down.  Small droplets of spit laid alongside deep grooves in the wall, signs that someone had been beaten against the wall or the fireplace.  Someone harder than what he had done an hour ago.  There was no sign of Koopin anywhere.
	"No...n-n-n-no no, no please god no!"
His eyes widened in fear for himself, and in fear for Koopin as he looked over every single part of his home, but nobody was to be found.  The bed and kitchen were left strangely untouched other than some items left out of place or moved around somewhat.   He began to hyperventilate, panicking intensely, rubbing his claws all over his head, feeling as if he'd lose it.
	"No, no please god not again, don't do this to me!  Don't do this!"
Running out to the neighbour's house, he pounded on their door frantically regardless of the time, to be met with a koopa who was startled by the raptor on his doorstep.
	"Gah-uh-what do you want!?"
	"Did you see Koopin?"
	"What?"
	"DID YOU SEE KOOPIN!?!?"
	"I...I-i-i...yes, we heard a ruckus from next door, but we-"
	"Did you call the police or something?!?!  Go see what was happening, anything!"
	"I...I..."
He grabbed the koopa and shook him furiously.
	"TELL ME!  FOR GOD'S SAKE TELL ME, PLEASE!"
Anger was not here this time.  This time it was fear, soon reflected by James within the koopa's face.
	"I'm sorry!  I didn't know what to do!"
	"What happened!?!?"
	"The...the...the koopas in the...th-th-the black robes, they broke into his house and beat him up, they dragged him away!  We were all scared, we didn't want any trouble!"
	"You...didn't want any trouble?  You...let them break into a koopa's home, let them KIDNAP someone AND YOU LET THEM WALK OUT?!!?"
He had the sudden furious urge to beat the shit out of the frightened koopa, but instead opted to punch his window hard, breaking it with stiff muscled rage and making the neighbour gasp in fright.
	"If Koopin...if something happens to him...I will hold YOU responsible for it."
	"Wh-what are you saying!?!"
	"SHUT UP!  I love him too much for this, and I can not lose him, I WILL NOT lose him!  Now unless you want me to beat you into the ground, you tell me where they went!"
	"Bu-but what if they come here?!!?"
	"I don't even fucking live here!  UNLIKE YOU, I AM NOT A FUCKING COWARD!  NOW TELL ME WHERE THE FUCK THEY WENT, OR I'LL RIP YOUR SHELL APART!"
	"THEY WENT WEST TOWARDS TOAD TOWN, PLEASE DON'T HURT ME I'M SORRY!"
	"Alright, alright!"
James tried to calm down, now that he had the chance of some info.  Struggling to contain his anger, he tried to speak more softly.
	"I...I don't wanna hurt you, and I'm really sorry about what I said before.  I'm just very VERY concerned for Koopin right now.  So they went into the town?"
	"No, they'd never do that, they always go around it, the Mushroom Kingdom would never approve of their stuff!"
	"And...the Koopa Kingdom does?"
	"NO, NEVER!"
	"So...where would they go?"
	"I...I...I dunno, I'm sorry!"
	"...thank you.  I'll pay for the window, when I get back."
James walked away with a stern mission to save Koopin, running off in the direction of Toad Town to find out more on the group of kidnappers.
	"Koopin, please be okay.  I didn't mean what I said, I'm sorry...please, just, please be okay, I'm sorry!  I'm sorry I didn't mean this to happen!  It's all my fault, it's all my FAULT!"
He struggled to keep running, his fear and sorrow weighing him down as he realised his true fear.
	"I knew this was gonna happen I KNEW it was!  It's all the same thing, all because of me, if I just hadn't met you none of this would have happened!  ...I...it's...always...going to be the same.  I could never love you Koopin...I-i could never love you!  Someone was gonna hurt you just to get to me, just to make me suffer for what I did!"

He started to slow down, his heart heavy with anguish as he started to cry.  He looked up at the stars, remembering what this place believed in.  He made a moment of desperation to wish as he gazed upwards in the middle of the empty road at night.
	"Stars...whoever you are...I know I'm not a good guy, I know I'm not even from this world.  I know I made a lot of bad mistakes...really bad mistakes.  But...please, don't take this out on Koopin, please!  He doesn't deserve this!  I don't even deserve him, he's...he's...he's the sweetest guy I've ever known!  He tolerated me, he showed me around, he made friends with me!  Every time I'm around him I-i-i-i feel better because he's there, it's like he...he completes me somehow.  I wanna save him...I wish I can, no I KNOW I can, I just need a chance, I wish for a chance to save him!  I don't even care if he won't love me, BUT DON'T LET HIM DIE BECAUSE OF WHAT I DID!"
He slowly kneeled onto the ground, weeping like a widow, overcome with fear and sorrow for the fate that might await the one he loved.
	"I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY KOOPIN, PLEASE STARS DON'T LET HIM DIE!  I CAN'T LIVE THROUGH THAT AGAIN!"
He stopped to make his most heartfelt wish to the skies, bunching his claws into fists.
	"I'll give anything, ANYTHING to let him live!  I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU WANT FROM ME, I'LL GIVE MY OWN LIFE FOR HIM, TAKE MY CLAWS, MY EYES, MY GOD DAMN SOUL, ANYTHING!  I DON'T CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO ME ANYMORE!  YOU WANNA TAKE MY LIFE THEN KILL ME NOW BUT PLEASE SPARE MY KOOPIN!"
He was drowning in his own anguish, screaming to the stars as if trying to shoot out his own tears up towards them.  Sobbing with a wretched soul, he felt something throb deep inside of him.  He knew what it was, another struggle for him to overcome as it pulsated hard.
	"NO!"
He felt the fear creep into his veins harder than before, falling onto the ground on all fours as he screamed louder.
	"NOOO!  GET OUT OF MY HEAD!  GET OUT OF MY HEAD YOU FUCKER!"
The pain throbbed harder, as his eyes twitched and darkened out, his screams furious as he gazed blearily up towards the stars.  He could feel their light, see them shining down upon him as he cried out with a violent anguish.  It felt like he was being burned alive from the inside out.
	"PLEASE!  HELP ME!  I NEED YOU, I NEED THIS, I WISH!  I WISH I CAN SAVE KOOPIN!  PLEAAAASE!"

The raptor squeezed his eyes as he choked back tears of heartfelt agony, his heart beating harder as he fought back against his darkness.  He could hear it inside of him, a growing howl of fury and temptation.
Let me save him please...I want to save him, I wish for him to be okay, please let me save him!  I just...I just want to be free.  What...what was I thinking of?  I want the power...he doesn't have to die...I can save him with more power-
	"NO!  I KNOW WHAT YOU WANT, I'VE SEEN WHAT YOU DO TO OTHERS YOU FUCKING MONSTER!  I DON'T NEED YOU!  I DON'T NEED YOU!"
Eventually he started to calm down, feeling the darkness inside start to slink away.  Whether it was the faith he had in himself, or the fact that he was fighting his fear hard enough, it still burned inside of him.  But not as strong as it used to back in the Himuro Mansion.
	"I...am not...weak."
James slowly got up, forcing himself up with a renewed vigour.  Shuddering with a realisation of greater things to fear, he turned his sorrow away to replace it with determination, swallowing back his tears.
	"I thought...if I loved again...something would happen like with Daisy...b-but it's happening anyway.  I'll stop them...I don't care how.  I'll stop them.  On my own."
He walked onwards, sniffling his tears back, running in the direction of Toad Town to try and catch them.  He soon saw the lights shine above him, tenderly glinting more and more strongly.  The shining stars seemed to be signalling him, as he kept running while looking up above occasionally.
He saw them create a shaft of light, piercing through the night towards some undisclosed region northwest of Toad Town, further beyond anywhere he had been to before.  He followed the light, knowing he had no other option other than to ask occasionally for the black cloaks.  The few witnesses he met confirmed the stars' direction, that a group of them had carried something in a sack towards the northwest.

It took some time before he caught up with a group of them, slowly trudging off along an undisclosed road.  He stalked them carefully, cautiously moving through the bushes with all of his raptor skills and sight.  He saw that they did not carry a sack, but were instead just a small group, who no doubt had the right direction to go.  One of them however left the group quickly, saying:
	"Uh g-guys, I need to pull over, I uh...need to go."
	"Jeez kid that cider went right through you."
	"I'll be fine, I'll catch up in a minute!"
	"Alright but be quick, we got a special meeting an' you don't wanna miss that, hehehe!"
The perfect opportunity.  James began stalking the young black-cloaked being towards a shaded part near a river.  Thankfully he did not urinate in the river itself but rather against a tree, sighing softly with relief.  He waited until his next victim was done before grabbing him hard and shoving him up against the tree.
	"Okay fucker, let's get this sorted."
	"WH-WHAT THE-"
	"Shut up or you die with my dick in your throat."
FG soon pulled off the robe to reveal it was a young green koopa, barely an adult now left alone with his group heading further on.
	"Now listen.  I hear you have a special meeting happening, right?"
	"Y-y-yeah...wh-what of it?"
	"Why is it special?"
	"I-i-i ain't telling you!"
	"That's what I thought."
He twisted one of the koopa's arms and stifled his scream with his other hand.
	"Now you're gonna have one less arm reaaaal quick, so tell me, what's so special about the meeting?"
	"H-h-how come you not gonna kill me?"
	"I never said I wasn't.  Now the sooner you tell, the sooner you stop hurting, so TALK!"
	"We...w-w-we got someone, okay?  We're gonna improve him, tonight!"
	"You know his name?"
	"Who?!?"
	"The guy you kidnapped tonight, fuckface, tell me his name!"
	"I dunno, why should I care!?!?"
	"You DO know, I know that you know all about him, and I'm gonna find out NOW!"

This was soon followed by FG debating on two ideas.  At first he thumbed at his pants, a cruel smile coming to his snout as he felt his body twitch with anger.  But then he decided he had no time to fool around with torture, and instead looked over towards the river.
No not yet...just need to squeeze out a li'l more info from him with a li'l scare.
Turning the koopa around, he began to push a finger beneath the tail and prod hard at the hole.  He was desperate to save Koopin and he didn't care what he had to do, no matter how horrifying an act he had to commit, or at least pretend to.  In fact, the possibility of saving Koopin from death made him even more desperate and eager to go further.
	"Wh-what are you doing?!"
	"You won't tell me about the faggot, so I'm gonna make you a faggot."
	"N-N-NO!  PLEASE!"
	"Tell.  Me.  And I promise you won't be violated."
A teasing grind of his crotch against the koopa's tail gave enough convincing.  For once James was glad that he didn't have to go all the way, or at least a small part of him.
	"Alright alright, his name's Koopin!"
It was just as FG had feared.  He only wanted confirmation and to be cruel upon one of them personally.  Despite that warning in his mind saying how this was all turning scarily familiar, he needed to release his hatred upon someone, anyone like his victim.  Just to show his enemies how he could be even crueller to them.
	"Where are they meeting?!"
	"Th-the old castle at Route Three-Four!  J-j-just past here!"
	"You sure about that?  Cuz if you're lying and my friend dies..."
	"Wh...what?"
	"I'll make some NEW holes in your body to fuck."
	"H-h-h-hhhhh...you...you wouldn't dare."
	"Oh you have NO idea how much I dare."
	"N-NO I SWEAR, ROUTE THREE-FOUR, THE OLD CASTLE!"
	"Thank you.  A promise is a promise."
As promised, he did not violate the koopa, but instead dragged him towards the water.  Grabbing the head and centre of the shell, James plunged the koopa's head straight into the river, forcing him beneath the river's edge.  He already knew that koopas were no better at breathing underwater than any other denizen of this world, and judging from the choking muffled screams bubbling up from beneath, he was right.
	"I never said you'd live, just that you wouldn't bleed to death or that I'd fuck you.  S-stop struggling, come on!  Just lemme have a good clean kill for fuckin' once."

The koopa continued to scream nevertheless, trying desperately to be heard throughout the lonely stream but to no avail.  His arms flailed uselessly, his head forced in too deep to be able to push back, the spluttering splashes of desperation barely making the raptor wet.
	"I'd have more...fun with you, you little...NGH!  But I don't got time to make you suffer...not like with Bob when I had all the time in the fucking world.  Stop, STRUGGLING, god dammit!  I'm not gonna let Koopin end up like Daisy you hear me?!?  So hurry up and die, so it all...ends..."
Exactly the same, added FG to himself.  No...wait no, wait a minute, this isn't...this is all turning out...just like before.  But...nothing turned out better when I killed Bob, that just made things worse, didn't it?  ...what the fuck am I doing?
In a brief spark of clarity, he pulled the koopa's head from the water just when the bubbles of air started to falter.  The koopa sputtered and heaved in choking coughs, sobbing with relief at not drowning in the small river.  He looked up towards his would-be killer, the raptor somewhat conflicted.  All he needed to do right now was to find Koopin.  He rationalised to himself that he had wasted enough time, but he made sure his former hostage would not be a liability.
	"Alright, looks like someone's looking out for you because I decided you get to live."
	"H-hoh please, please don't, I'll do anything!  I only wanted to go along 'cuz my brother wanted me to join in, I-i-i don't wanna be in this group anymore, they're scary and I just wanted to make my big brother happy..."
The koopa started to sob, crying into his hands as FG smacked him.
	"SHUT UP, I got no time for this!  You said you'll do anything to live right?"
	"Y-y-yes yes, anything!  I'll leave the Koopa Knights, I'll do anything you want!"
Koopa Knights eh, thought FG.  Finally got a name to the cult.
	"...alright, I'll let you live IF you do me a favour."
	"A-a-anything, please, j-j-just let me go!"
	"You are gonna go find the biggest baddest fucker in the land, and get him to come down here.  I don't care who it is, so long as he's big, bad and built like a brick shithouse.  I want you to bring him to the castle, in ANY way you can, the one you told me about, and have him bust the place up.  If I don't see any muscle coming in within two hours...I will find you...and I will murder everyone you've ever known, before I kill you."
	"O-o-okay...okay I...I know the perfect guy."
	"You'll have him here?"
	"Y-y-yes, yes definitely, I know how I...I'll do it!"
	"And don't even THINK of running away because I will find you.  I've killed a lot of people for way less than the shit your friends pulled.  Now go.  GO!"
As the koopa ran free towards the dark night in the opposite direction, FG put on the robes, hurrying on to join the main group from a far enough distance, which he managed to catch up to.  Making sure his tail was not protruding despite the smaller-sized cloak showing off his clawed raptor feet, he slowly began to make his way in towards the castle.  He did not have to wait long for it to appear on the horizon.

The castle was huge and made of brown worn stone, reaching high above into the darkening sky where even the stars no longer shined.  James also noticed the ground was less fertile in the area, more solid and deadened grey.  The fort had to be at least 40 feet high, with each ten feet turning smaller and smaller in width until the very top was peaked by an empty flagpole.  He knew now he was truly alone, watching the group ahead of him slowly head on inside the guarded door.  The guard spoke first with:
	"You won't find adobe here in Nairobi."
	"But they do make some spectacular hotels," said the group.
	"Enter, dear brothers of the brigade."
They passed through inside of the fortress, before FG soon stepped up to the door with his new knowledge.  The cloaked hood was enough to cover his snout, waiting a short while to allow the other group to be deep enough within the castle.
	"You won't find adobe here in Nairobi."
	"But they do make some spectacular hotels," repeated FG.
	"Enter, dear brother of the brigade."
Nodding humbly, he passed through the door before quickly slamming the guard's face into the wall.  Knocking him unconscious and immediately disrobing his too-small disguise, he hurried off into the darkened castle halls to try and find Koopin.
The castle had clearly been long abandoned for unknown reasons, yet torches still remained well-lit and ensconced within walls to glare upon red tattered carpetry.  Many doors, staircases and bannisters stretched out before him on either side, yet the main hall itself was a strange mess of crumbled blocks and pitfalls.  Paintings of some unknown horned figure of firey red mane were completely destroyed, slashed and torn apart to be rendered indecipherable to the raptor's eye.
For now he headed along the main hall, quickly leaping onto the brick-built grey supports, avoiding the crumbling stone as he leapt across pitfalls, careful to keep his grip strong at all times.  The carpet offered little traction being in its state of ruin, and even worse still, the pitfalls were random in both size and content.  Some of them merely went into an endless abyss, while others were literally full of lava.
The bubbling orange liquid made him sweat as he went near it, a geothermal heat of unbearable magnitude that made his claws dangerously slippy.  He noted this as he cautiously leapt over the lava pools and bottomless pits, as well as two boarded up green warp pipes left abandoned long ago, before soon finding himself facing another terrible obstacle.  Three separate hallways.  One at the top, one in the middle, and one at the bottom.
	"Huh?"
Already being confused at finding no guards since his arrival, he took the middle passage first, a treacherous pathway filled with potholes that he swiftly leapt over.  The block-enclosed hallway seemed to be long, until he found himself facing two green warp pipes once again.
	"...the hell?  Were those the same ones?"

He shrugged it off and tried again, heading down on the lower passage instead to try and get some sense of direction.  While it was less treacherous a path, he still found himself feeling the strangest deja vu, as he yet again met with the two strange unused warp pipes.
	"...okay what the hell."
The only way left was the top passage, but unfortunately it was too high for him to reach.  He pondered on the idea of using his windpower through nanos in order to leap up and reach it, but he wasn't sure if it was enough boost for him to reach up to the height of the ceiling.  He did however remember that the middle passage had a higher platformed area he could use to reach over.
It was quite a long jump, but he managed to make it successfully from the middle hallway to the top hallway, reaching the next section without any threat of seeing green warp pipes.  But then he soon found himself with yet another obstacle to evade.  A spinning column of fireballs, somehow stacked onto each other like lego blocks.
	"Oh what the fuck," muttered James with disbelief.
Clearly he was dealing with terrible magic, as he watched the pillar of flame swing in a rotational arc, first swinging upwards towards him, before swinging downwards away from him.  Seeing the pattern, he hurriedly leapt through the column's blind spot, finding himself facing another column of fireballs to also run through before it rose up to meet him.  At this point, he heard voices from afar.  A large group of voices.
With hope in his heart rising high, he swiftly ran off towards the very end of the upper hall, reaching the end to find a grand congregation of black-cloaked beings.  They stood before a large wooden bridge, suspended over a grand lake of fire.  Truly, he had found the hell of this world.

The ceremony was one of the most frightening things he had ever seen in his life.  A throng of koopas clad in black robes, facing towards a grand wooden bridge, where a more elaborately robed koopa with sash and tassels stood before his audience.  On the other side of the bridge stood a single huge bronze axe standing precariously above the bridge support.
The lava bubbled audibly so beneath them, the bridge somehow not melting from the sheer heat of such.  On the right side of the bridge, hanging above said pool of lava, was a large koopa shell that seemed to be made of wood.  The leader's voice spoke loud and proud, hands spread apart like an actor beginning his play.
	"BROTHERS!  Our duty has come at last.  To strengthen both ourselves and this very land we stand upon.  You see them everyday as you walk through your innocent lives.  Our armies, our greatest strength, have been weakened by sloth!"
The crowd began to rise in one voice angrily, as FG watched with cautious eyes.  The feeling of such a rally made him shiver with memories of his days in anti-human rallies.  He thanked himself for maturing since then, having learnt some of the errors of his youth through Sarah.
	"Not just the koopas my dear friends, but ALL creatures have become weak and pathetic!  Squatting little lumps who DARE to walk unabated!  Masked little creatures who do not even show their true faces!  The unholy dead themselves even try to deny who they truly are, and their rightful place in this world.  And even when all of us obey the great Bowser, he has become slovenly in his inheritance!  Are the Goombas nothing but rotting fungus!?!"
	"YES!" roared the crowd.
	"Are the Shy Guys but masked savages with the minds of children?!"
	"YES!"
	"Do the Boos even TRY to accept their own spiritual reach!?!"
	"NO!"
	"And to think we have to join ourselves alongside them against the Mushroom Kingdom.  To think that we must accept our own imperfections, our flaws, our...weaknesses...to become one army.  And yet STILL!  That is not enough.  King Bowser may be king of us all, but even kings can have feeble minds!  And sadly...so do some of our own.  But we will improve beyond that my friends.  When we become masters, and they become our tools of conquest.  But even then, SOME weak-minded fools shall even try to stop us!  Like THIS poor fool."

The leader beckoned forth two strong-armed koopas, hulking six-foot beasts with cloaks and black helmets, who clasped a struggling younger koopa together.  James saw him being turned around to face the audience, seeing that it was Koopin.  He had been beaten quite strongly, far more than the last time James had seen him, a blackened eye and a swollen cheek.  He had to resist the urge to shout out his name and blow his cover when hearing his pleading voice.
	"Wh-what are you doing?!?"
	"Showing you a better place in this world," said the leader.  "Someone such as you is a speck of oil in our grand plan that needs a little extra scouring.  BUT LEADER, you ask me, what sets this koopa apart from the rest of us as masters and slaves!?  Well...THIS ONE...thinks we're fine the way we are!"
Angry cries came from the audience in disgust for Koopin.
	"This feeble-minded FOOL, who thinks that the body we are born with is perfectly acceptable!"
	"Wh-WHAT!?  I never said that, that's not-"
	"SILENCE!  You are a shell-staining smear who dares to waste his existence with normality, a clear sign of a weakened mind!  And to think someone like ourselves would do such a thing.  So pitiful.  But who to blame?!?  Do we blame the Boos, the Goombas, the Shy Guys, OUR OWN KING EVEN, FOR HIS DOWNFALL?!"
More cries came up and FG tried to keep silent.  But for every second he was silent, he felt anger and shame increase in his heart.
	"NO!" roared the leader.  "We cannot blame for what fate has cursed this poor koopa with!  We blame the stain for making the mess in the first place!  And for that we must improve him!  Purify him with our power, a broken machine that must be repaired to full power!"
	"STOP IT!  You're crazy, I've done nothing wrong, I got no problem with who you wanna be!"
	"QUIET!"
A backhand was given to Koopin for his outburst, his already-bruised face stinging from the slap.
	"Do not test my patience.  I could easily allow you to wither and rot with your diseased little mind in a cell, but instead I offer you an opportunity.  To cleanse your impurity...with our power.  BROTHERS!"
He turned back to the crowd dramatically.
	"It is time to cleanse our shells once again!  But with a stain so tragically dark as this, we must cleanse...with fire."
Cheers of urging came from the crowd as the two strong hammer brothers pulled Koopin's shell from his body, stripping him to bare nakedness.  His frightened pale orange-yellow body was soon pushed into the wooden shell, fitted into it with his limbs bound tight, despite his feeble struggles.
	"N-NO!  Please, stop!  I didn't say anything, I don't even know who you are!"
	"In the light of the ancient fire, by the power of our grand brigade, I summon the great powers of our past.  With both fire and ice combined, I cleanse thy soul with a burning cold, a freezing fire that shall forever blaze within you!"
The raptor then acted, right when the audience was at its most frantic and distracted.  As the leader had his back turned, he leapt from the upper ledge as high as he could, throwing himself forwards and kicking the head cultist down.  The crowd roared with disbelief as the raptor tried to attack, but he was soon grabbed and armlocked onto the floor by the two burly hammer brothers.  Their strength was unbelieveable, as if they could snap his spine like a twig, the raptor seeing a strange purple vein running through their arms.

	"JAMES!" cried out Koopin in fear.
	"Hmph," tsked the leader.  "...so, the outsider has come to interfere."
He got up slowly from his fall and peered down on the intruder.
	"No matter...we must never rest until we are certain that our new world order is safely within our grasp."
	"You...psychotic fuck..."
FG scrabbled on the ground as the two bodyguards sat on him, as he tried to ponder something to help him out of this situation.
	"Your insults merely bounce off me like bullet bills upon steel.  But the only thing stronger than a bullet is the one who wields it wherever he so desires."
	"Shut up with your fucking metaphors, you're just a coward!  A fucking bastard coward who hides behind his precious little hood!  You go on about shy guys, what about your mask, huh!?  You too chicken to show me beneath that robe!?"
	"...you want to see my face?  You've already seen it before, why show you again?"
	"H-huh?!"
	"This THING wishes to see the owner of the shell!  Shall I?"
A general approval was made from the crowd as the leader removed his mask and showed something quite frightening.  At first he did not recognise the koopa's face, before he opened his robe and swung himself around to reveal the three signature strikes across his shell.  Both James and Koopin gasped with shock.
	"Wh-wha...Koopmar!?!?"
	"I knew you would be trouble the moment I saw you," said the former linguist.