THE CHRONICLES OF FINALGAMER
Darkness and Starlight

"Change yourself, and the world changes with you."
Terra Branford, Dissidia: Final Fantasy

A flower field somewhere far away, became blessed with the light of a beautiful midday sun, rising high above the sky with both admiration and dedication.  Sunflowers, daffodils, oxeye daisies, all spread out across the surrounding hills of pastel-coloured beauty.  Blue upon white, yellow upon green, colours of the softest strokes as the grass soon felt the rushing of boots through them.
Someone was hiking up their hill, a soft-footed cheerful stride that heartily stood fast upon the very top, gazing across the undulating green horizon.  Soft-peaked hills as far as the eye could see, flowers painting them like watercolour landscapes.  The clouds high above scuttled softly along, moving at a snail's pace with cottonbud hues.  The sun cast a shadow across the hill from the newcomer, glowing upon his warm yellow skin.  His green shell was hidden in his shadow, before it turned towards the sun as a cheerful voice called out to the bottom.
	"JAMES!  Come on!"
Another shuffling of feet came up the shaded rise of the hill, dark claws trudging out of darkness and into the soft summer light.  Brown scaly arms swung back and forth with a bare torso between them, bereft of belt and scabbard to wear nothing upon his body but smooth blue jeans.  An arm wrapped around the green shell, holding him close as they both witnessed the pure blue sky above.  This was the stuff that dreams were made of to James.  Children's dreams.
	"Isn't it beautiful?" said his lover.
	"It is...where did you find this place Koopin?"
	"...uhhh tour guide?"
	"Heh...right, sorry.  Kinda place that makes you wanna sing don't it?"
	"...you offering?"
	"Woah ho now, you know what happens to you on Karaoke night."
	"That was my mom, not me with the singing-in-public problem!"
	"Well maybe it's hereditary, I dunno!"
	"Hehehehee!  ...alright then...youuuu asked for it!"
Without another word spoken, Koopin ran down the hill before it rose up once more unto another, the sun clear upon his face as he began to sing a song.  It wasn't a good song, it wasn't even sung well.  But it was sung with the most simple of joys upon a sunny afternoon, to a tune in his head that James quickly bounced along with in step.  They sang for the next three minutes, not skipping nor hopping, but full-on sprinting straight to the very edge of the hills and back again.  They felt like explorers upon the edge of the world.

Even if Koopin already knew the great flower fields of the hills around his home like the back of his hand, he was still happy to be there.  Happy to explore them, to run through them, to rake his hands smoothly across the petalled tops of flowers all around him.  James was the same, for with every step he made, he felt another shred of negativity strip away from him.  Now there lied only joy and hope within his heart.  
Soon running out of verses to sing for their impromptu song, they spent the rest of the shared tune in their heads running full sprint and vocalising to each other.  They sounded terrible, neither of them were good singers, and they both knew this to be true.  But their eyes were bright, their bodies light and their heads floating while full of love and joy.  Soon James let his childish side take over, as he rolled himself down a hill, happily so.
Koopin followed soon after, laughing at how absurd his older lover looked in doing so, but nevertheless following him into the same silly rolling motion.  Down and down they tumbled, head over heels to throw grass shoots and flower petals into the air above, green shell and brown scales spinning together.  The dizziness began to sink in halfway down the hill, leaving both of them cross-eyed and loopy with mirth.  They managed to sit themselves up somehow, leaning against each other to catch their breath.  Koopin sighed peacefully.
	"Hhhmmmmm...wow the sun's already past noon."
	"Yeah," said James.  "How long were we out?"
	"I dunno...mmmm...I gotta go to work in two days."
	"Yeaaah I know.  You have your class tonight?"
	"Tomorrow."
	"Right......shit!"
The raptor quickly stood up, realising something.
	"I just remembered, I gotta go to Kammy's class!"
	"That was today?!"
	"Y-yeah!  Aw man I thought I had time!"
	"You got time, just sit down!"
	"...you sure?"
	"Yeaaaah it doesn't start until like evening doesn't it?"
	"...yeah...kinda around dinnertime isn't it?"

He sat back down bashfully, wrapping an arm around Koopin and letting the day wash over him.  The sounds of birds and buzzing bees across the hills soothed their souls.  Thinking on the days ahead made James think on other important dates.
	"When's our anniversary again?"
	"Next month," said Koopin.
	"Cool.  I need to pay you back for an awesome birthday."
	"Hehehehe, awww it wasn't THAT awesome."
	"You kiddin', your mum made the BEST chocolate cake ever!  God I love her, she's so awesome."
	"Awwww thanks James!  I'm so glad you like my mom and dad."
	"Oh your dad's cool, straight-headed, not too crazy, but not too serious.  Good with gifts too, I didn't expect that."
	"Heheh, well he DOES work in a grocery, he needs to know SOME kind of idea of gift-giving right?"
	"Right."
After a few more minutes basking in the silence of each other's company, they decided to head back home.  James however escorted Koopin only up to the front door, his own routine for the day lying much further away.  Heading towards Toad Town, he took the warp pipe down towards an undisclosed area of the deep long catacombs.  A special key he had been given, entrusted to him by the one he was to meet tonight.
As he made his way towards this special area, he softly reflected on how prosperous a year it had been for him since arriving in the Mushroom Kingdom.  Being with Koopin, their first year anniversary coming up next month, a wonderful birthday party two weeks ago and finding employment on certain weekdays at Roy's Place as an assistant bartender.
Due to the unusual calendar of this world however, his birthday was probably not celebrated on September 9th any longer, but was now celebrated on the day he first arrived into this world.  Koopin suggested the idea for the sake of not leaving him out of such festivities, without a proper guide.

Koopin also was the one who suggested that James name himself from a specific area in the world's geography to allay suspicion.  Thankfully, due to his knowledge as a tour guide, he had found the perfect place to name James from.  The raptor could almost chuckle to himself at how odd this whole scenario was.  Creating a false identity to pass through undisturbed in one of the most strange yet innocent lands he had been through.
Then he had his training regime to go to.  A training regime of a different matter entirely.
The pipe of his destination was hidden beyond a strange portal, that only activated itself when he came near with his key.  It was a small red key, shaped with the head of Bowser as the handle, as he placed the key into a difficult-to-see keyhole within a brick wall.  Beyond it was an orange warp pipe reminiscent of the colour of lava.  He barely realised how long it had been since he last wore his scabbard and the pair of scissors, carrying only his satchel and pendant around with him.
	"Let'sa go," said FG confidently as he jumped in.
No matter how often he came to King Bowser's Castle, it was always a most terrifying sight to behold.  It got easier over time for him to handle, but the fiery hellish wasteland of magma and cragged mountains circling around a dark brooding castle was never an easy sight to digest.  He strided up towards the castle entrance, the drawbridge laid down when he proved his purpose for being here, heading inside.

	"Now class," began Kammy Koopa, "let's review what we learned last time shall we?"
	"Yes Miss Kammy," said the class of thirteen.
	"Let us see how well you learnt over the last week.  Raise your pots gently, and then lower them down again, WITHOUT touching them or breaking them.  Begin."
The classroom was more a well-carpeted room of stone walls and long green rugs laid strewn around the place in straight vertical and horizontal lines.  Two doors to James' right were the exit, with Kammy Koopa standing before him at a teacher's desk, a blackboard behind her.  Each student also had their own square table, not a desk like he would have expected.  Other than the infernal realm outside the windows to his left, as well as the castle architecture, it could have been like any other classroom of eight koopas, two shy guys, one pirahna plant, two boos and a raptor.
Sitting upon James' table was a simple ceramic pot, his other students having the same dilemma.  He was allowed to use any "magic" whatsoever to raise the pot and lower it down again, gently and intact.  He had been struggling with this puzzle for a good while now, thinking of wind power to do so but never succeeding.  He always made the wind too strong that it would shoot the pot against the wall, or too weak that it would just lightly knock itself over.
However, he had recently been trying another route of elemental "magic", one he understood better.  He barely had the chance to use it in the previous lesson, but was now ready to show himself off.  Focusing his nanos carefully, he began to feel the thickening moisture rise around him throughout the air, permeating from the cool stone walls.  Sighing with a deep exhale, he cautiously swirled the molecules of water all around his hands, before extending them out towards the pot.
The water flowed through the air, snaking coolly with an amorphous blue sheen as it began to envelop the ceramic jar.  With his subject now completely encased in cushioning water, he carefully raised it above his head, focusing with his claws out of reach.  The other students were a mix of good and bad.  Most of them were trying out with wind, but a few of them still failed to control the force of it.  One exceptional koopa student became extremely clever with both fire and wind in order to create a steady weak rhythmic energy, raising his jar high.
James however was finally learning to control his own abilities.  Ever since that first night in Bowser's Castle, he began to accept Kammy's offer in being tutored in the ways of magic.  Even if his own nanos were not strictly magic, Kammy proved that the basic theory was nevertheless the same.  He knew that it would prove vital to him in future, that and he was appreciative of Kammy's attention towards him as a unique student.

While he was most certainly not a quick learner, he was at the very least learning at an average rate, having already achieved the most strenuous part of magic training.  The actual summoning of one's will.  This was what intrigued Kammy to the raptor.  His ability to spontaneously summon any sort of energy without incantation or preparation.  But she did note however that his skill was suspect, and that what he lacked in control, he more than made up for with sheer power.  Naturally, this had to be corrected, as the class finished their show of skill.
	"Well done everyone!" said Kammy.  "Excellent work to Kooposawa for his ingenious fire technique.  Shyla, you FINALLY managed to handle your wind power and for that you pass.  James, I am QUITE impressed with your water technique, far more smooth than last time.  Alright now!  Those who I congratulated shall come forwards for their preparatory magic duel, as a tester of their abilities.  James, Kooposawa, Shyla, come with me.  The rest of you, go home and learn harder.  I'd hate to see you break any MORE pots, ho ho ho ho!"
With defeat upon their faces, the remaining students departed for home, frustrated in their own failings of trying to learn harder to become better mages.  For the three who remained however, they strided up towards Kammy with confident steps.  Kooposawa was merely a red-shelled koopa with a strange symbol upon his shell, which was oddly reminiscent of a Japanese character to James.  Shyla was simply a red shy guy, her demeanour somewhat coquettish in the way she rubbed the side of her masked face, bashfully so.
	"Kooposawa, stand before me."
The koopa did so, trying not to be nervous as he stood before his master.  Soon as he was close enough, both of them disappeared with a puff of purple smoke, leaving both James and Shyla alone in the room.  He took the time to converse with his fellow student.
	"Nervous?"
	"U-um, yes.  I've never been picked before, wh-what happened to them?!"
	"Ohh Kammy just teleports you away with her to somewhere secret so the two of you can practice magic undisturbed, no biggie."
	"Oh...h-have you been here long?"
	"About a year.  Hey, don't be nervous, you'll be fine, just be calm and focus and you'll be fine."
	"I'll try.  Are you from far away uh..."
	"James."
	"Sorry."
	"Heh, s'alright, yeah I'm from Dinosaur Land, yanno where Yoshi's Island is."
	"Ohhhh, my grandparents came from there!  That's great!"
	"Heh, yeah...so how long you been living in the Mushroom Kingdom?"
	"Ten years, I live in Rose Town down by the coast.  How about you?"
	"Been here a year, still kinda getting used to the place."
As the two chatted away amicably, Kammy returned with Kooposawa looking rather black-beaked with smoke.  A single cough and a stumble away was enough for him as he sat down to recuperate.  Kammy merely chortled and twirled her magic wand, a golden sceptre with a red ruby sphere on top.
	"Now then.  James, stand before me."

Having done this before, he stood before the somewhat-hunched magikoopa firmly before both of them were spirited away by her magic.  A strong swirling sensation rose within FG, taking him further and further away from his surroundings as he closed his eyes.  At first it felt as if the world was melting all around him, like a shield of ice in the desert before the sandstorms would blow away whatever moisture remained.
The moment he opened his eyes again however, he found himself within a large hollow stone room.  Pure solid granite, dark grey and perfectly impenetrable with only a large purple carpet covering the room floor.  Various gemstones lined the walls high above in a variety of colours, a glimmering fragmented rainbow of diamond-shaped crystals.  He knew what they were from the last time he had been here, part of a magical dampening field in order to render any spells harmlessly non-lethal.
	"Now," began Kammy, "we must again go over the basic elements of one's magical capacity, like before.  I will say the name of a spell, and I want you to show me it as quick as you possibly can.  No delays, just shoot it out, you can even use your keywords if it makes it easier."
	"Alright."
	"Fire."
	"FIRE!"
James quickly shot out a fireball from his hand, the easiest of his abilities to perform as well as his most-used.
	"Not bad.  Now, water."
	"AQUA!"
A quick slicing arc of water streaked across the ground between them as James performed a backhand slapping motion, wettening the stone.
	"Now wind."
	"WULD!"
A small but strong gust of wind soon flared across the room towards Kammy, the raptor extending his arms forth to bring through a surging gale.  Kammy merely stood her ground and diffused it with her own magic.
	"Good!  I felt that one better than last time dear."
	"Hehehe, yeah I been practicing with the trees out back with this one."
	"Now I want you to practice your non-elemental skills.  Do you remember what we performed last time?"
	"The blocks, yeah."
	"Right.  Simple, small, easy to make but difficult to break is that correct?"
	"Eeyup."
	"Good!  Now making several of those at the same time, I would like to see you wield them as a defensive skill, somewhat like a shield.  You're a very offence-based fighter, that I know of, but it is good always to have some sort of defensive maneuver as backup.  Would you mind making a shield?"
	"No problem."
James soon bringed forth a new skill he had learnt in his time spent with Kammy's tutelage.  She was curious about his non-elemental-based skills and how he could wield them in both offence and defence, moreso on defence.  He had to admit, other than blocking with his seemingly-impenetrable scissors, he had no real defence for his whole body.  The shoulder guard merely covered a weak point of his.

He soon found the right image in his mind, a strange image he had come across in his magical learning.  Strange blocky shapes, each one formed of four smaller blocks into the most basic-looking patterns somewhat reminiscent of letters.  He could feel snow whenever summoning them.  The cold.  The tundra.  He was never sure why, but somehow he could form them into being.
When he first summoned these strange blocks out of thin air, he could only do so with one at a time.  Now however after many lessons, he had finally found a way to focus on many of them, the blocky shapes twitching into existence as they began to float all around him, a dozen or so of the little things.  He could fit at least three in the palm of his hand, yet while they were rather miniscule, they could become impenetrable when combined together.
The problem with these strange blocks was the fact he actually had to focus in connecting them up into a single shield-like wall, twisting and clicking them into place.  After at least five minutes of single-minded focus, James had managed to form a perfect shield made entirely of tiny squares.  With the exception of various holes in each single "row" of squares, which Kammy noted on.
	"Very good work James!  I'm rather impressed you were able to form a shield so well!  ...but...why are there so many holes in it?!"
	"I...I dunno," said FG.  "I tried putting them all in a line like this before, but they just kept disappearing on me!  Like, poof!  I found out though, that if you leave an empty space in each line, the line stays and the shield stays up."
	"Hmmmmm...must be some sort of prerogative within this spell, that's the problem with magic see.  Every single spell has its own rules and boundaries.  Have you found any offensive use for these blocks yet?"
	"Not really...I can kinda shoot them at people but they just tend to annoy people rather than actually hurt anyone, kinda just pings off them like a pebble."
	"Oh well, at least it makes a good shield!  I daresay unless you faced someone who was a good shot they most certainly won't get through your shield, ho ho ho!"
	"Hehehe...right.  You think you can get past it Miss Kammy?"
	"Why don't we find out?  Time for the last part of your little lesson today."
	"Awww yeah, I love this part."
He stood back and readied himself in preparation for what was to come next.  Kammy spun her wand deftly within her old wrinkled but surprisingly lithe fingers, grinning with a small tip of her steepled hat and a flash of her glasses.
	"Are you ready, boy?"
James merely grinned and taunted her with his fingers, waving them closer as the magikoopa pointed her wand towards FG.
	"DRAW!"

The moment she said this, a blasting fireball shot out from her staff powerfully so, forcing FG to dodge to one side as he shot back his own fireball at her.  She dodged in turn but not with her body, rather using her own magic to very briefly teleport out of the way, almost as if she were flash-stepping.  James tested her wits even more with a firing arc, shooting across the room with several more fireballs in turn.
Kammy dodged all of them, either by deflecting them, or by simply sidestepping with the use of illusory magic, until she fired back with her own spell once again.  Briefly confused at which fireball was his own, James barely had time to duck under the flames, swiftly slashing out across the room with a violent streak of water, slapping Kammy across the chest with it like paint.
Despite the force of the water stinging her chest, she shook it off easily with a warming wind spell, drying herself immediately before striking ahead with a unique attack.  Strange magical shapes of a cross, a circle, a square and a triangle, spun towards FG dangerously so.  He quickly dodged one only to await another series of four swirling shapes that struck him in the face, blinding him temporarily with daziness.
Quickly shaking it off, he waited for another attack before wanting to see if he could deflect the odd spell, striking back with a powerful firey backhand.  That did nothing at all, merely phazing through his firey strike to hit him in the shoulder, stunning him somewhat.
	"Not a good idea hatchling!" taunted Kammy, "what are you even trying to DO?"
	"Just a li'l magic tennis, come on, serve me!"

She indulged him with a shrug of her shoulders, swinging a powerful striking shot of the four simple shapes hurtling towards the raptor powerfully so.  Now he had an idea, wanting to test his newest capability, something a little non-elemental.  He charged up his fists, building up the idea of a strong shield in front of him.  He could see the blocks connecting in his mind, twitching and flipping, twisting and turning, clicking into place until he had a small enough size.
His hand quickly formed a whole new layer of blocks, quickly materialising into a square-shaped shield which, while full of holes, was thick enough to deflect Kammy's spell hard.  The shapes shattered into four, striking in all directions away from FG's hand as he wiggled his fingers teasingly.
	"Hhhhhehehehe...new ball please."
Taunting Kammy with another "come hither" gesture of his hand, he got his wish as Kammy fired off a whole volley of fireballs, shooting five of them at once.  But just when FG was about to use water, he found they were not so easily cooled off.  When they came closer, he realised they were not actually fireballs.  They were giant bullets, leering down on him with shark-like eyes and tiny fists of fury.
He had seen them once or twice before during test firings at Bowser's Castle, but he never understood them.  Were they alive, or were there faces painted on?  Was it magic, or was it some cruel short-spanned sentience of life that knew only to destroy?  He didn't care at the moment when he was hastily trying to dodge each of the bullet bills that came bearing down on him.

One or two he dodged fine with a last-minute roll to the side, before the bullets would explode like bomb shells onto the ground.  The third hit him square in the chest and blasted him backwards into a terrible roll, bruised all over from the explosion.  He didn't dare try to think what it would have done to him without the magical dampening field of the arena.  The fourth however he dared himself to try and deflect with his block-formed shield.
The blast did little to hurt him thankfully, at least on his hand.  But he still felt enough of the force overall splashing out from around the impact on his newly-formed impenetrable shield to still receive some burns.  He decided the fifth one didn't deserve such a treatment.  As the fifth and final bullet bill came screaming down towards him, he charged his right fist with a firey vengeance.  An old favourite of his he knew always worked as a good counter.
	"SHOOOOOOOORYUKEN!"
With a furious roar, he made a violently strong uppercut with a fist burning full of fire.  He loved this move, he never got tired of turning his body low and back, before springing it upwards like an unwound spring, ready to slam his fistful of flames straight into an opponent's jaw.  With a mighty leap, he plowed his burning arm straight into the underside of the bullet bill, knocking it high into the air as it spun wildly off-course.

James wasn't done however, wanting to give Kammy a taste of her own magic as he summoned the wind to come forth around him.  Dust flew in a small cyclone around his feet, and when the bullet bill came spinning back down to earth, he fired it with a focused roar of:
	"FUS-RO-DAH!"
The bullet was sent shooting back to its master with a powerful hurricane force, careening straight towards her, the magikoopa barely able to put up her magical shield in order to resist the impact.  The blast was powerful, and no trace remained of the bullet itself, but her shield had just about managed to protect her, despite a few bruises and burns upon her person.
	"Reciprocation!" she cried.  "VERY devious of you."
	"Heh, thank you."
He made a smug little bow before she fired off another fireball straight for his head, a small one that would simply knock him back off his feet.  It did the trick as he felt the singe to his skull and yelped with a stumble backwards.  Seizing the opportunity, Kammy brought forth an icy gale home, striking it towards FG who tried desperately to combine fire and wind together.
He wasn't able to do it quickly enough to not suffer the horrible deep freeze, shivering instantly as he gasped tightly so.  Struggling to summon up the will from the sudden cold, he felt both fire and wind surge around him slowly, burning itself harder and harder around him into a most igneous shield.  Thankfully it managed to warm him up as well as stave off the effects of the frigid blizzard upon him, as he decided to show his teacher he meant business.
Feeling the power of the wind around him, he brought both blizzard and burning gale together into his hands, taking the air around him and absorbing it into his own aura of wind.  He allowed it to spiral around him, charging up as it were, into a furious cyclone that he was forced to resist.  Then he charged.
	"WULD!"
Another strange word he picked up from one of his past sessions, a new move he tested but was never able to implement into an offensive capability, until now.  Using the gale as an extra boost of force, he felt his body fling itself forwards with a savage squall behind him, screaming towards Kammy.  The magikoopa was most certainly shocked, but not terribly threatened as she quickly teleported out of the way, spinning around once to fade before FG's eyes.  He couldn't stop himself from crashing violently into the wall, groaning as his chest took most of the blow.

Falling back and clutching his ribs, he got up carefully and saw Kammy standing behind him, tutting to herself.
	"You always did have a problem with your wind James.  HO HO, wind, I made a joke!"
	"Yeah yeah-ungh, I got it, you said that the last time too."
	"I think this will do for now, don't you think?  I have enough of your skills for today to grade you but if you want to keep going..."
	"Uhhh...maybe just in case I broke a rib or something we should stop."
	"Very well."
Kammy waved her magic wand and swiftly teleported both her and James back to the classroom, popping into a small burst of existence before the other two students.  Kooposawa had just managed to clean off the last of his burns off his shell, while Shyla nervously squeaked at their arrival.  James smiled with a bow to his instructor, before sitting down to recover himself.
	"Now, Shyla, stand before me."
The shy guy, or girl rather, stood nervously in front of Kammy before being spirited away to the arena, leaving James and the koopa to recover and clean up.  After Shyla came back from her test, the three of them were allowed to leave their separate ways.  James however was given cause for concern for his bruised chest, and was sent to the infirmary within the castle.
After checking over to find he thankfully had not broken anything, he left the castle back towards the prestigious pipe passageway he came from.  He returned back home to Koopin around night time, a few hours before they would go to bed.
	"Hey there!" greeted Koopin.  "How was magic practice?"
	"Not bad...nnngh."
	"...you okay?"
	"Yeah I...heh, kinda hit a wall and bruised my ribs."
	"OH, h-hold on, lemme jus-"
	"Koopin, wait-"
Before he had time to stop him, James could feel small koopa hands slowly rubbing over his bare chest, testing each spot sensitively so for any damage that had occurred.  A barrage of questions came over him, while Koopin gently pushed his fingers around his boyfriend's waist.
	"Does it hurt when you breathe?"
	"Noooo."
	"Does it hurt when I do this?"
	"Noooo."
	"How about this?"
	"Nooo-OW!"
	"OH, s-sorry!"
	"That's the bruise, sheesh."
	"Did they check you at the castle?!"
	"Yeeeeeees, I'm fiiiiine, come on gimme some space."
	"B-but maybe they missed something, it's okay I've done first aid!"
	"I know Koopin, but I just walked all the way here without help, I'm fine.  They just said to get a good night's sleep, rubbed some stuff on my bruises and let me go."

He took Koopin's hands gently into his, his large black claws tenderly folding over small yellow fingers.
	"Alright?"
	"Alright...you want anything for dinner tonight?"
	"Well I'm pretty hungry yeah, just cook up something simple with meat."
	"Mmmmm I think I got a steak in the fridge, want it with jelly?"
	"Ooooooh yes, maybe some fried mushrooms too if you have any."
	"Okay doke!"
Koopin headed to the kitchen to make dinner, with FG flopping down onto the couch to watch some late-night TV.  Halfway through a rather tedious drama about royal scripture, he began looking around the room to distract himself before seeing an opened letter.  Sitting out on the small tablestand to the right of the sofa, he picked it up curiously upon seeing the name Kolorado listed on it.  He shouted towards the kitchen to speak unseen with him from the couch.
	"...Koopin?!"
	"Yeah?!"
	"What's this letter from Kolorado?!"
	"OH, that was just him giving us an update on whether we could help out with his presentation!"
	"Ohhhh yeah, you mean with the Sarasan...salsaland thing?!"
	"Sarasaland yeah!  Since we were part of the group he wanted us to come along and be part of it!  Everyone else is there too!  Kooper and Karlos are going!"
	"Cool!  He got a date yet?!"
	"Nope, he's still getting the legal stuff sorted!  If all goes well, we might even get to have it at the palace!  Said he wanted to make it a real diplomatic thing between the Mushroom Kingdom and Sarasaland, he's talking it over with Princess Peach's counsellors right now!"
	"That's cool!  How's the food going?!"
	"Give it ten minutes!"
	"Kay!"
He read over the letter while he waited, seeing Kolorado wrote exactly like how he spoke, dithering on about his age as well as his excitement still over the entire expedition's past.  He also noted Karlos and Kooper were of course still with him.
Koopmar isn't though, thought FG to himself.  No surprise there...I wonder how Kolorado feels about him now, you think you know someone and then you find out they're a complete monster on the inside.  ...I better not say anything about it.
Around twelve minutes later, dinner was ready, as soon James and Koopin ate up a hearty meal together.  Medium-rare steak glazed in Jammin' Jelly, with a side of fried mushrooms.  Koopin was practically omnivorous and made the same for himself, but without the jelly glazing.  Normally FG would never consider such a strange condiment to his food, but the jelly was a miracle for him to keep up his focus.  Kammy had explained to him how certain foodstuffs in the world were beneficial in helping one's mental focus stay strong, and Jammin' Jelly was but one of the best foodstuffs for such.
The days would go by as nothing more than a pleasant working routine of their own individual paths around the world.  James would work at the bar three days a week, with magic lessons every weekend.  Koopin would work in turn as a tour guide, with his Toad-Kwon-Do lessons twice a week on afternoons.  If it was a busy week of tourism, he would work three days as a guide not including special contracts.  If it wasn't busy, he only worked two, with a third day he dedicated to paperwork.
All in all, it was a perfectly mundane existence that ran like clockwork, until there came a second letter from Kolorado.
An invitation to the royal palace.  Three months from now.