What felt like only minutes of darkness to him soon passed, as he heard the world soon come back to him.  The sounds of a soft tidal sea came from nearby, along with the cries of goonies from above.  His eyes blinked open, murmuring automatically:
	"Koopin...come back Koopin..."
	"He's alive!"
	"Oh thank the stars."
Several faces gazed down before him.  Klair and Shelldon he recognised, as well as Yoshitaka and a blue yoshi with red hair he faintly remembered, currently pressing his hands onto FG's chest.
	"Wha...Klair...Shelldon...what happened?"
	"You were found near the shore," said Shelldon.  "Mister Muuv here spent the last five minutes trying to revive you."
	"Huh?"
	"Are you alright?" asked the blue yoshi.
	"Y-yeah...um...thanks."
	"Come on, lemme help you up."
The raptor slowly sat up, finding himself upon a sandy shore surrounded by rocks, within a natural cove of various rocky outcroppings dotted around the shore in a half-circle.  A small jungle was further off in the distance, as well as an immense crowd of survivors from the ship all recuperating from their survival.  He dreaded asking the next question.
	"How many survived?"
	"Most if not all," said Muuv with relief, "we're still finding more people floating back to shore.  The ship itself's wrecked but thank the stars it managed to crash onto the low tide of these islands.  I think everyone made it, certainly got almost everybody ticked off on the register here."
	"Koopin?"
	"...we haven't found Mr. Kennidon yet."
James' heart sank.  He feared the worst and huddled his knees.  He started to panic, but he knew he had to resist.  He focused his hope upon what he last remembered, while Yoshitaka looked around the place curiously to say:
	"Hopefully we're on an uninhabited island and not one of those places full of crazy natives."
	"What do you mean?" asked Shelldon.
	"Some of these islands have been so isolated that they've taken to...developing their own ways of life.  My grandfather told me that he had seen tribes out here worshipping one single giant palm tree that just happened to be bigger than the rest.  And there were even rumours of the more infamous ones, like worshipping deep ones."
	"D-deep ones?"
	"Like, ancient creatures beneath the waves and such."
	"...I saw him," murmured James.
	"Huh?"
	"I saw Koopin."
He slowly stood up once more.
	"He was in the dining hall down below, and this...huge sea monster came out of nowhere and it burst through the wall.  It had these...huge white tentacles and just grabbed Koopin and took him away.  ...I tried to stop him.  But he wanted to go.  He didn't even try to get away."
	"White...tentacles?"
Klair's soft voice was filled with an awful realisation.  She closed her mouth with her hands to try and stifle her fear, as Shelldon held her closely.
	"N-no...oh stars no."
	"What?  What's this about?"
	"He...that stupid dream of his, it wasn't a dream...oh Shelldon."

She started to weep, but James only became more concerned with one other thing that had been bothering him.
	"Why are you two always...odd about Koopin and the water?"
	"I supposed he never told you," said Shelldon quietly.
	"Well...no, I dunno what you mean.  I mean he always dreams about swimming and oceans and those blooper guys but thassit."
	"I can explain that...surprised Koopin hasn't already trusted you with it.  He guards it rather close to his heart so promise me you won't tell him."
	"I...I promise Shelldon.  What's this all about?"
	"...when Koopin was young...maybe five or six years old, we were out here on vacation.  Klair had managed to gather some of her earnings from the orchestra and took us all out together.  Koopin loved the sea, he took to paddling and swimming like a natural.  ...then one day came a rather big tide."
	"Wait, what?"
	"It took him by surprise.  Dragged him out to sea, away from shore.  ...we didn't notice until ten minutes later."
Shelldon looked crestfallen, sighing with regret as he tried to continue further.
	"We couldn't find him for two hours.  We were frightened, we were in tears, we wished everything we had to the stars just for him to come back to us alive.  We were so scared of what happened to him...until we found him further down the shore.  The tide brought him back."
	"Hoh god," murmured James fearfully.
	"He was okay.  Somehow he was still alive, no water in his lungs, no nothing.  We hugged him for so long until our arms went numb, holding him tight as if we'd never let go of him again.  ...but he was never afraid of the sea.  You know why?"
	"No."
	"He said...he said that he would always be safe in the sea.  He said before we found him...that...some strange white thing had embraced him...and brought him back to shore.  Must have been a big blooper that was kind enough to save him.  But ever since then, Koopin's never feared the sea.  No matter how much we tried to."
	"...you think it was some giant blooper that...wanted him?"
	"What else could it be?"
	"Well I don't care why it wants him, I'm gonna find him."
	"W-wait, you can't-"
	"No!"
James got up a little shakily, feeling his balance reorient itself before making sure his scissors were still on him, which thankfully they were, as he headed off towards the shore.  Shelldon's protests however were added by Klair.
	"Don't go!"
	"I have to save him!"
	"Don't do it James, you don't even know where he is!"
	"Koopin is out there in the water somewhere and I have to find him!  I just need to know where to start, if this thing is a blooper then someone better help me out!"
	"Bloopers are territorial," said Yoshitaka, "if this is a big one that got him, it's gonna be around in this area, maybe hiding in some underwater cave.  They love those places."
	"...how do you know that?"
	"I...got a problem with bloopers, they kinda...freak me out so I thought it a good idea to look up some of 'em to find out how to avoid 'em."
	"...alright.  So I'm looking for a cave around here underwater.  ...anyone got a scuba tank?"
	"Yes!"
Muuv hurried off towards where the passengers were, before coming back a few minutes later with a blue wetsuit and an appropriate blue airtank with a breather attached.  It even had a handy belt to attach to one's body.
	"We tend to use these in calmer waters, usually for our Isle Delfino cruise.  You can use this."
	"Heh, thanks man.  ...wait, why are you helping me?"
	"A young guy daring to brave the sea to find his lost lover?!  It's the stuff that dreams are made of."
The dreamy eyes of the yoshi tour guide made James smirk as he slowly put on the breathing equipment.
	"Heh...well I was expecting you of all people to stop me, I mean...I dunno how to use this."
	"With the look in your eyes, I don't think you're letting anyone stop you, hehehe."
	"...I like you.  Alright, show me how to use this."
In the time it took for James to put on the wetsuit, he was given a rudimentary crash course on how to use the airtank.  Despite wanting to desperately go look for Koopin, he was made to learn repeatedly the right procedure over at least half an hour.  And even then he was cutting it fine.  He chose not to wear flippers due to them being uncomfortable on his raptor feet, as he readied himself to head out to sea.
	"Alright, if I'm not back in an hour, then I'm lost, don't bother finding me."
	"But James!" protested Klair.
	"I WILL find him.  I found him once before, and I can do it again."
	"...please...be careful."
Torn between their natural sense of wanting others to be safe and their own desires to see Koopin safe and sound, Klair and Shelldon eventually conceded to let James go without further interruptions.  He descended into the sea, and entered the blue abyss beneath.

James had never gone swimming deeper than that of a swimming pool before.  And even then he had done so rarely.  His body, while strong, was not used to such conditions, and he took his time in navigating the deeper reaches of the sea.  An endless ocean of a dark blue, the kind that brought fear and paranoia to one's eyes.  All he could see were shadows of rocks, shadows that could easily become giant behemoths of ungodly terrors.  He tried to focus on one thing, swimming deeper down.
He had nothing to go on to help in his search for Koopin.  But he had to find something, anything.  The creature that had taken him was enormous, big enough that it had to leave some sort of trace behind.  Thankfully he was in a not-so-deep area of the sea, the cove area helping matters somewhat in giving him less fear and hopelessness than the ocean beyond would have.  He started by checking the actual shipwreck itself.
The only clue he had was the hole the creature had made, showing the dining room now sunken beneath the waves as well as half the ship itself, moored uncomfortably against the rocks of the small isle.  Wood and metal debris had sunk towards the bottom, yet there was no trace of either Koopin or the creature.  James at least expected a piece of a limb or some of its fluids.  Instead however, he noticed something better.  Pieces of debris, lined up across the ocean floor.
That thing must have had some of the ship parts fall off of it when it took Koopin away, thought James.  It was as good as he was going to get, as he swam down towards the trail of debris.  Thankfully being so near an island allowed him to be free of any interruptions from nearby unfriendly creatures, encountering only the odd cheep-cheep or so.  The cove was deceptive large, large enough that James was almost certain he would be leaving it after swimming cautiously for ten minutes.  His arms and legs were getting tired.
Then he noticed something rather unusual at the bottom of the sea.  A strange rock, as if balanced upon a pinnacle of another rock.  Shaped like a star with four points.  His mind hurriedly flicked something on in his head.
Four-star rock...?

Koopin's head had only become clear ever since the fire had smouldered around him in the luxury ship's dining hall.  He regretted having to leave James so suddenly in the midst of the sinking ship, but he had to trust himself.  He knew that the white tentacles would not let him come to harm, or anyone else on the ship for that matter.  He watched the ship slowly move away from him as he was dragged through the waters of the cove.  Already he could see a strange force, like that of an underwater wind, pushing the ship towards land.
The tentacles slowly moved from his body, releasing him as wood and metal showered softly all around him.  The creature's form, like that of a ghost the size of a ship's sails, began to swim away from him.
	"Come...we are almost there."
He heard it ring in his head, and he would not disobey.  This time he was awake.  He had no idea why he had found himself in the dining hall before, remembering only that he had been lying in bed.  He also realised in that moment that his wounds were completely healed, his body floating beneath the waves with utmost rejuvenation.  So many questions ran through his mind.
How did I get here?  ...why am I even here, following this thing?  ...why did I leave James and mom and dad behind?  ...what am I doing, why am I not back on the ship helping people!?  ...no.  You know you have to do this Koopin.  You've dreamed of this moment, James will understand when you meet up with him again.
He nodded to himself before swimming towards the shadow beyond.  The debris helped make a suitable path for him to follow, even if he already knew this area intimately so.  Yet it was the first time he had truly been here.  The moment he saw that four-pointed rock, shaped like a star, he knew precisely where to go.  The looming mountain-sized rock before him invited him in.

An underwater cave.  It was a risky chance for James, but the debris lead him to it, and the four-pointed rock was close enough to it.  His adventurous spirit lit him up, as he began swimming towards it.  The air was comfortably full in his oxygen tank, but the feeling of it against his scissors trapped between wetsuit and tank was rather ungainly.  But he needed to keep it with him.  He wanted to keep an eye on it.  The underwater cave was nothing more than a little bend of a passage upwards, ending within a rocky pool inside the rocky mountain.
Climbing out, he found himself within a large cavernous hallway, the walls illuminated by the cyan streaks of sunlit water behind him.  Yet a different sort of light was further down the end of the tunnel.  Two torches, lighting up an entrance into a larger room that beckoned James so.  He cautiously took off his wetsuit as he felt the torchlight reach him with every step he took, putting the airtank to one side as he slowly brought out his scissors.  He could hear a voice from beyond the boundary of the light.  A voice he knew.

The moment Koopin had stepped beyond the two torches, he knew his dream had been a vision all along.  But it had never reached beyond the light itself until he stood here and now within this room.  A beautiful golden-yellow throne room, red royal carpet beneath his feet and elaborate totems carved beautifully so from precious ores that laid at the very end of it.  They framed themselves behind a magnificently large shrine-like throne.
The shrine itself had been converted into a bizarrely elaborate aquarium, water eternally pouring from all eight corners of the compass towards a central font in the centre, shaped like a lotus flower.  Yellow silk covered the throne itself in grand draping sweeps, as it did with everything else to give the illusion of gold unless one looked close enough.  Two totems on either side of the throne were shaped like giant yellow flutes, the wind whistling through them with an eerie call from the cracked holes of the rocky interior farther above them.
On either side of Koopin, were rows of shy guys, tribal in nature, all with spears, draped in red and blue dyes upon their leaf-clad bodies.  Their faces were marked with various phases of the moon, as well as the odd red spot beneath their mouths.  They all bowed the moment Koopin walked between them, towards the creature who sat upon the water-filled throne.  A blooper, gargantuan in size, easily reaching 40 feet high and 15 feet wide in body alone.  Its many tentacles draped themselves all around the throne itself, as Koopin soon stopped wordlessly in front of it.
There were no words he could speak.  No thoughts he could comprehend.  Shock and awe had claimed his senses, as he heard the creature speak at last with the voice of an ancient.
	"Welcome, Koopin Kennidon.  Long have I waited to see you once again."

Minutes seemed to stretch into eternity, as his mind struggled to form a sentence, a question, even a simple word of acknowledgement.  But he was far too concerned with trying to comprehend the strange otherwordly place he had entered, within this creature's holy domain.
	"You are speechless.  Do not force yourself, we have time.  I can wait a few more minutes of eternity just to speak with you."
	"...how...long...have you waited?"
	"Long as you have.  It has been...eighteen years, has it not?"
	"Seventeen."
	"Yes.  Seventeen...to see you now grown into a strong youthful spirit brings warmth to my heart."
	"I never forgot you...the day that you saved me, when I was so young...I've never stopped thinking about you, never stopped dreaming about you."
	"I know of your dreams well, child.  Yet I am surprised you do not ask the obvious about my very nature, my very existence."
	"I...it's still taking me a bit of time to let this all sink in...sir."
	"Understandable.  When one's mind cannot comprehend complexity, it is best to resort to simplicity.  Start with a simple question, and your mind will soon accept."
	"...r-right.  ...alright, um...who ARE you?"
	"I am Blooshan.  The Opener of Ways, as is my title among these waters."
He extended a sweeping tentacle towards the humble shy guys, all of whom bowed before him with the greatest of reverence, chanting a soft prayer to themselves with perfect synchronisation.  Koopin was still unnerved, yet he was also strangely at peace.  As if a great weight had been lifted off of him, before turning back towards Blooshan to ask:
	"What happened to the ship?  Is everyone okay?"
	"Your friends and fellow passengers will all survive.  They may not realise it, but the waters here are kind to travellers, and within my domain, they shall not come to harm.  Once we have finished with our business, they will leave along with you upon their ship."
	"But...you destroyed the ship."
	"Which I will repair after we have finished.  It was unfortunately the only way to bring you here whilst giving you a way off of this island safely.  Had I taken you from the ship alone, they would have left without you, and you would be alone upon this island."
	"A-alone?!  No way, they'd never do that, James would never do that or my parents!"
	"I am sure they would not.  But they do not steer the ship, Koopin.  I can bring you here, but not take you back home, for my reach can only go so far.  It was better this way to force everyone to remain together.  Though I already know that your lover will soon find us regardless of our wishes."
	"He will?!"

The creature nodded as hope surged within Koopin's heart, allowing him to feel more upright in speaking to the mysterious blooper before him.  Despite wanting to be here with the mysterious force that had guided his dreams since youth, he also wished James was here with him, wanting familiar company within a strange world.
	"You may ask more to learn of me before we begin."
	"Begin what?"
	"The very reason you are here.  That which I have foreseen, child of the stars."
	"S-stars?  ...wait, you think I'm a star child?!  Um...m-mister Blooshan, I'm just a koopa."
	"I know what you are, and no, I did not mean those of the Starborn Valley.  All shall be explained in time.  Ask me more."
	"Okay, who are these people?  Why do they worship you?"
	"When I settled here, within the cove that I was born in, I found myself surrounded by these creatures, lost without a totem.  They saw their prayers answered within me, a guardian.  A protector.  In return for their servitude and company, I have found ways to protect them from the storms of the sea, as well as other natural dangers that might occur upon an island such as this."
	"They all LIVE here?  In this...rock?"
	"Yes.  Strange creatures, separated from other tribes across the seas, weaving their own tapestries to comprehend the world that they create.  This mountain of the sea holds many secrets, none of which are of concern to both you and I.  Now ask me more."
Koopin breathed deep for what would be his most pressing question of all.
	"...what ARE you, exactly?  I've heard of bloopers growing as big as you but...none of them could TALK like you, or have the kind of powers you seem to have."
	"I am glad your thirst for knowledge remains strong, for I do wish to explain this to you."
At this point, James had arrived wordlessly into the chamber, stopping just beyond the boundary of the torch flames while keeping out of sight of the shy guys.
	"Many years ago, long before you were born, I was but a simple creature.  Like any other of my kind, I swam beneath the waves, playfully with little want in life.  The tropical waters warmed my heart, and the creatures around me danced with the blessings of life.  But one day, something approached.  A storm, within the sea itself, had opened up to me.
	"It was a curious thing for something as small as I was to investigate.  A twisting circular torment of dark energy and spiral strikes of lightning, that remained perfectly still within the tides of the sea, far beneath the skies themselves.  I was foolish, or perhaps I was merely following fate.  For the moment I touched it, everything ignited within my mind."

James listened with intent fascination, as did Koopin who began to sit down like a child being told a story.  The raptor however was even more fascinated by the very implications of what this creature had somehow discovered, seeing that it meant no harm to Koopin by its calm-minded aura.
	"A thousand songs resonated through my mind, each one louder and more agonising than the last.  But with each new one I felt, another eye seemed to open within my mind.  Another eye into another world.  There are worlds far beyond ours, countless beyond all recognition.  You already know this well, Koopin."
Koopin did not answer, turning rather shy with disbelief that he could possibly know that.  But he said nothing as Blooshan continued to speak, while James unseen became unnerved by what this creature was implying.
	"Where this anomaly had come from, I do not know.  What the nature of its purpose was, I do not know, even after I had reaped its knowledge so clearly within my mind.  And here is where I bring my story to you."
	"M-me?" said Koopin still seated.  "...what do you mean me?"
	"In the visions I have seen, there lies a thread throughout the many universes.  A small, yet very significant thread, that were it cut before its resolution, would bring about great and terrible destruction far beyond any that you can possibly imagine."
	"Wh-what?  What are you talking about, I-i don't KNOW any of this!"
	"Koopin-"
	"NO!"
He stood up defiantly, getting rather intimidated and frustrated by such grand designs and vague propositions.
	"All my life I've dreamed about you, you CREATED my life by saving me, and now you try to fill my head with all this insane babbling about threads and fate!  All these universes and warnings of great destruction, I am just ONE KOOPA!  What could I POSSIBLY do that you would want me to even HELP you with all this?!"
	"You are part of that thread."
	"...what?"
	"This thread binds many of us, across many worlds.  You are but a part of it, a significant part that I am able to guide...one that I must guide, for the sake of a future to exist."
	"...no...n-no I...I'm not, you're not saying I have to save a WORLD or something, are you?!"
	"No."
	"Huh?!"
	"All I have said is that you are part of a thread that must be allowed to continue."
	"And what IS this...thread?"
	"...I do not know."

For all of his wisdom, Blooshan spoke this with downwards gaze and a look of impotent shame.  Koopin turned his palms upwards with a shrug of disbelief.
	"You...don't KNOW?!"
	"I cannot see what this thread is, for whenever I try to reach beyond what I can see of this world, it becomes nothing but a blur."
	"W-wait wait, if you're able to see that I have some kind of great prophecy, or so you say, and be able to guide me through my dreams for years, how can you not see this mysterious thread?!"
	"You may think that prophecy is a power that spans wide across every single notion and every single possibility, that all of existence is open before me down to the smallest tremor of a pebble in a pond.  Were that the truth, I would have lost my mind to insanity.  Even I have my limits.  Such as my aura spreads throughout this island cove, so too does my mind's eye only expand across this thread of fate when it has entered our world.  Where it has been or where shall it go, I do not know."
	"I...I don't understand."
	"If you stand upon a lighthouse, can you see beyond the reach of its light upon a dark sea at night?  Or can you only see what the light wants you to see?"
Koopin slowly understood this metaphor, but shook his head and tried to refocus on what his purpose was for being here.
	"Well...what DO you see then?  What is my role in all this exactly, th-this is all too much for my head."
	"From the strange aberration that infected me with such knowledge, there came a message from a faraway time, beyond the stars themselves.  It said that a great demon would come to this world, and that it must be stopped.  All I could see was that of time, forever frozen upon a clock before it would be shattered by the sounds of bells."
	"...h-huh?"
	"Your role, in this thread, is to face the darkness within one's heart.  Once you have faced it, your part shall be over...beyond that, I saw nothing but mist."
	"My...part?  This is all so much to take in, I can't even begin to think-"
	"Do not think.  You will know when the time comes."
	"How do YOU know that?!  I don't even know how much you can SEE because you tell me you can't even see that much of your prophecy anyway!"
	"I saw enough that it gave me but a single purpose in life.  To rescue you from your fate, and to allow you to grow into the wandering youth you have become, to be a part of this tangled web the universes shall spin before us."
	"Yeah, but I-...wait...w-wait hold on...rescue me from my fate?"
	"Which I have done so, as you rememb-"
	"NO NO NO wait!  Rescue me from my fate?  ...i-if you hadn't...gotten all that prophecy and...such...oh stars...what if you weren't there?!"
	"Hmm?"
	"What if...no...no no no I don't wanna think about it!  I don't wanna think about it!"
	"Whatever your original fate would have been before my intervention does not matter."
	"YES IT DOES!  YOU SAID SO YOURSELF, PROPHECY, MY PLACE IN THIS EXISTENCE, YOU TALK LIKE I ONLY EXIST JUST TO DO ONE THING!  I'm not some piece on a board that the stars can just plant down anywhere and expect me to do something, I'm a living being!  I have dreams, I have a life, I have family and a boyfriend!"
	"Time is but a river," said Blooshan sagely, "and we are all but stones within it.  Some of us are so small that we are helplessly carried by the currents to our fate.  But some stones are greater than others, and they are the ones who will split the river in two.  Do you understand?"
	"...I...I don't know.  I don't wanna think that I exist just because I have to stop some awful demon."
	"You don't."

James decided to make himself known, sick of the creature's rhetoric as he stood defiantly before the doorway.  The shy guys looked up with gasps of horror, some of them standing up in order to repel him back.  He dared not move forwards as he called out to Koopin, who had turned with his own surprise and joy beaming from his lost expression.
	"You exist because your family love you.  You exist because your mum and dad wanted to have you.  You exist so that you could help people, show them around the world, and make people like me, even someone like me who shouldn't even BE here, feel like they belong somewhere."
	"...J-james...I-"
	"So don't listen to this guy, no matter how much you care about him, because you KNOW that you exist because you WANT to.  There's no meaning of life, this could all be total bullshit he's saying, you exist because you were born.  And you exist because you made your own life, whatever way you wanted it to be.  Who cares about fate when so much else is going on?"
	"...you're right."
Koopin turned back towards Blooshan.
	"I'm here because of love.  And it is because of love that I will remain here, no matter what your thread of fate has to do with me.  ...if you brought me here just because of that, then fine.  Tell me what I have to do, so I can go back to my own life and live it the way I want to...with the people I love."
	"Very well."
He could tell the creature was smiling in its eyes, somewhat pleased for the interruption that helped to refocus Koopin for his objective.
	"I have prepared a ritual that shall allow you to prepare for what is to come.  It will not take long, and it will only test your spirit, not your body.  If you can pass this test, then your role in this tapestry of fate is set.  Once this thread has passed, I assure you that your life will return to the way it has always been."
	"...alright.  I'm ready."
	"Truly?  Are you certain?"
	"You brought me here for this.  And I came here because you told me to, because I sensed you always in my dreams.  I'm not leaving, and neither is anyone else until I do this, right?"
	"...you have grown so much Koopin.  To think you would have a heart so strong within you always...I would have saved you still, regardless of what I had foreseen."
	"...thank you...sir."
	"Prepare yourself Koopin.  I shall take you to a higher plane, if only but for a moment to us.  But for you, it will feel longer, for the passing of time changes from one to another.  But you will return.  And you shall succeed.  Now...kneel before me."

Koopin wordlessly went onto his knees, sighing with a sudden exhaustion at what was yet to come.  He looked back towards James briefly, smiling softly with a nod of reassurance.  James understood by the look in his eyes that he would be safe, waiting for the ritual to be over.  Blooshan raised his two largest tentacles above his head, as he began to utter a strange recitation.  His voice turned deep, guttural even as his eyes rolled upwards, which on a creature as large as him was terrifying to witness.
The chanting soon grew, louder and louder it became until it sounded like the earth itself was tearing apart beneath them.  The tribal worshippers went to their knees in reverence, while James felt himself turn weak from the immense power radiating from the shrine of Blooshan.  Koopin, being at the very epicenter of it, found himself blackening out within a white brilliant light that completely consumed his very being.  He felt as if one of his dreams were about to end, that very moment when his eyes would open, and reality would pour in.
But soon he would find himself at the very edge of his own reality.  As the deep soul-tearing chant began to render him blind from existence, Koopin felt a weightless sleep overcome him.  The moment his eyes would reopen, he would find himself within the stars above.