The Dry Dry Desert had a slight breeze running through it today, creating the slightest of dust storms and the barest of Tweesters, strange living whirlwinds glaring with glee from afar.  For the most part however, the various creatures of the desert stayed away from the main path through the drylands, allowing Koopin and Nokata to take it easy while he spoke.  The large ostrich-like creatures continued to pull the wagon forwards, chirruping to each other as their reins kept taut at a smooth steady speed over the desert dunes.
	"Dry Dry Desert has been the home of many an ancient civilisation," said Koopin, "not just that of the Weston Kingdom.  There's also Dry Dry Ruins, guarded by the great Moustafa and all of his ancestors in protecting a great treasure there."
	"What sort of treasure?" asked Noki.
	"The treasures of Tutankoopa, but it's all been cleared out after Mario's escapades during the rescue of the Star Spirits."
	"Ahhhh yes, the legendary Mario!  A kind man with strong eyes."
	"Hehe, yeah...so what's your home like?"
	"All desert I must say, it pleases me greatly to come first to the desert land of the Mushroom Kingdom, it allows me to receive less culture shock than I normally would."
	"Why, is it that different back home?"
	"You know as well as I do that all lands are different.  For starters I have never seen such creatures as the ones here!  Moving cacti, living tornadoes, strange mask-wearing midgets trying to sell me watermelons!  I am agasp at such fascinating sights."
	"Well you'll sure love Toad Town then, it's a much more busy-looking place than the desert."
	"Heads up!" said FG from the back.  "We got company coming up!"
The wagon started to slow to a halt, cautious in the travellers who started to come closer.  It was a good thing it did, when Noki Nokata noticed something odd further ahead of the path.
	"...there is a pitfall in the middle of the road!"
	"What?!"
	"That's very dangerous to leave lying around, who would do that?!"
	"...bandits."

James quickly stepped off the cart, staring towards said expectant gang of bandits.  Four of them who came rushing forwards with venomous little eyes, their masks shining bright in the desert sun.  Only two of them were blue, the others being red and green.  One of the blue bandits gasped and tightened his fingers.
	"Well well well...look who it is."
	"You know me?" asked FG.
	"Yeaaaaah...Final Gamer...right?"
	"...ohhhh you're the little shit head who tried to steal from the grocery store last year, right?  The one I beat the everloving shit out of with my hammer sticks?"
	"Yeah.  That guy.  And he's got friends now, just like he said he would."
	"Oh...that's good."
James quickly whipped out his hammer handles from his satchel, chuckling as he readied himself for a fight.
	"Cuz I haven't had a chance to beat anyone's ass for a loooooong time."
	"Hey-ey-ey...let's make a deal.  You let us have that carriage...and we forget we ever saw ya."
	"No deal."
	"Now don't be an idiot, we got you surrounded."
	"Uhhh no ya don't."
A sudden gust of wind flurried around all of them, the three bandits now gone and on opposite directional sides of the cart, literally surrounding it.
	"Now we do," said the bandit smugly.
	"So?  I'll still beat your ass."
	"Think you can get us all without losin' yer stock?"
	"You will NOT touch my stock, villains!"
Noki Nokata glared from above the cart, glaring down at the thieves defiantly as the Ostros obediently stayed.
	"Oh yeah?!  That what you think weirdo?!"
	"That is what I KNOW, and my good bodyguard here shall teach you a lesson!  If he does not...then I will!"
	"And me!"
Koopin hopped down off the carriage to face off against one of the bandits, much to James' dismay.
	"Koopin, get back on the cart!"
	"You're not touching anything on this wagon here!"
	"Koopin, stay out of this!"
	"If you want it, you'll have to go through me!"
	"KOOPIN!"
	"WHAT?!"
	"...LOOK OUT!"
The moment Koopin turned to face James, the red bandit rushed towards Koopin's back, ready to charge through him.  But the koopa quickly ducked in order to make a spin-kick attack, aided further by a sudden blast of fire from James' palm smacking the bandit back hard.  As if on cue, the bandits soon began their assault in full force, racing towards the carriage to steal anything and everything.

James focused on the two blue bandits, wanting to knock them out as quickly as possible so he could assist Koopin.  One blue boy charged in low for his legs, the raptor leaping over him in order to slam both sticks down onto his back, smacking him hard into the sand.  The other blue boy slammed into his side, pummelling him into the ground with furious fists.  James quickly blocked his face with both sticks, jabbing for the throat and eyes rapid-fire to force him off soon enough.
Koopin steadied himself into combat with the red bandit, who swiftly came straight in to attack by a charging shoulderblow.  Koopin however was ready, and ducked low to make a roundhouse kick across the desert soil, tripping his foe up to fall onto the ground.  The bandit however sneakily grabbed the koopa's leg and pulled him hard, but Koopin's practiced stance had solidified his balance.  The thief immediately got a good kick in the face, tumbling backwards before getting up again for another charge.
James was having a hard enough time trying to fight two bandits at once, roaring as he swung out wih a rapid combo of left, right, down onto one bandit's face, blackening some and bruising the rest.  The other bandit however took this chance to sneak up behind him, throttling him with an arm around his neck.  This time however, the raptor had an idea, putting both sticks into one hand and blasting a fireball straight into the bandit's face.  He shrieked with painful surprise and backed off immediately, rubbing his face hard to put out any potential flames.
	"O-OW, YOU CHEATIN' JERK!  NOW YER DEAD!"
Seeing two bandits charge towards him from opposite directions made him chuckle at the perfect opportunity.  Something he had been wanting to do for a long time with his own scissors, but never getting a chance to do so.  Striking a pose by twisting his hips, he summoned the wind to come around his body, sending up a sudden furore of a sandstorm around his body, shouting:
	"RAPTORNADO!"
Before the bandits could stop themselves, he spun himself with arms outstretched, spinning furiously enough within a small cyclone to repeatedly smack the bandits across their faces.  Even worse was the fact that the wind was sucking both of them in, dragging their bodies towards him for an extra-hard beatdown.  Eventually the force was powerful enough to propel them both back out of the cyclone, the wind soon stopping around James as he twirled his sticks, taunting them both.
	"Hah, now what shitheads?"

The bandits looked to each other before swinging themselves around in a pincer formation towards James, who despite being ready, was still surprised by a rather devious tactic.  One bandit grabbed the other to make a full body-swing, striking up a large volley of sand to pour across James.  In his own self-defence, his sticks held up before him, one bandit charged forwards and grabbed him violently, kicking him in the gut while grabbing at his hammer handles.
By the time James opened his eyes, wheezing with sand and coughing some up, he saw one bandit now had his weapons, grinning smugly.
	"Now what, shell-head?"
Koopin was also keeping his face covered with his hands, as the red bandit kept trying to swing or charge at him again and again, the koopa keeping a sturdy defence in not letting him get through to the cart.  Now and again the thief would dive in for a few blows before backing out again, trying to wear down his resistance.  But Koopin kept strong, even managing to block some of the swings with an unrestrained slam of his fist into the bandit's arms, weakening them with a throbbing soreness.  At one point, Koopin managed to grab one straight jab before smashing his elbow straight into the red foe's jaw, cracking it neatly so enough to make him back off.
The bandit, while swift, was not exactly durable, and was tiring out soon enough to rely on more devious tactics.  With one charge forwards, he dragged his heels, kicking up a mighty wave of sand to blind Koopin with.  But a desert koopa knew all the tricks of the outback, shielding himself with a dodging spin before coming in close to attack, kicking upwards into the bandit's chest from the side.

The red bandit was soon winded, wheezing as he tried to charge forwards for a good few punches more.  He managed to score one or two hits with lumbering swings that were unsuccessfully dodged, but in the end he was losing.  Koopin helped remind him of this fact with a solid thrusting knee into the gut, pushing out the last of the thief's endurance as he laid crumpled on the sand.  He turned towards James, who was in retrospect having less of a good time.
Trying to block an opponent with sticks while unarmed was a painful chore for the raptor.  It was even more hard for a raptor unused to disarming a foe with such speed.  The bandit, while not experienced with such weapons, was swinging them fast and singular enough to keep FG on the ropes, smacking him backwards more and more, each blow striking across his now-wounded face.  Stinging cuts pulsed with a bruise, eyes clenched to keep them safe, the raptor not even able to shoot with any fire at the dangerously swift bandit.
	"Come on!" taunted the blue thief, "where's yer attitude now, freak?!  Huh!?  Ya wan' me to stop hittin' ya?!  Come on, beg fer it, BEG!"
James was panting hard now, more out of frustration than he was from exhaustion, trying to think of some way of getting his sticks back.  This however came in the form of some unexpected help, in the form of a ball-shaped blast that struck the ground next to one of the bandits.
	"Wh-what the-UUF!"
Another one came straight onto his chest.  Crying out as he fell back onto the ground, he gazed up towards the sun.  A silhouette could be seen standing tall upon the carriage.  Nokata stood with a proclamation, a strange black flower in one hand with a black ball in the other.
	"That is QUITE enough, thief."
	"Wh-what the heck-"
	"SILENCE!"

He threw the black ball hard towards the bandit, smacking it hard into his gut whereupon it exploded with the force of a firecracker, burning the blue-clothed chest somewhat.  He brought out another one from the flower's pollinating aura, in a way not unlike that of a Fire Flower.
	"You had your chance to steal, and you have lost, just as your green friend has done so."
The nokobon pointed towards the green bandit, who was dazed and wounded from several burn marks upon him.
	"Now leave my carriage untouched or suffer my wrath!"
	"Y-you don't scare me!"
Another black ball came smashing straight into the bandit, who tried to dodge, only to get smacked in the back when the ball rebounded off a nearby palm tree to hit him.
	"Had enough, thief?  Or shall I make you eat the sand more?"
	"N-n-no no, we're going we're going!  G-guys, time to cut losses an' dash!"
	"Wh-what?!"
	"YOU HEARD ME!  Guy's packin'...balls!"
	"GO!" roared Nokata, "and never come near this path again!"
The bandits soon dispersed, dropping James' sticks which he soon recovered, with Noki Nokata chuckling as he put down the strange flower back into his personal supplies.  Sitting back onto his seat, he smiled politely at his two fellow travellers.
	"Well, that was an interesting taste of the local flavour, now!  Shall we go?"
	"Wh-what?" asked Koopin.  "Wh-what WAS that you just did?!"
	"Superball my good friend, a local produce of Sarasaland!  I have noticed your Fire Flowers are rather similar, but whereas you wield the power of fire, I wield the power to throw explosives.  Proximity explosives."
	"...h-how does that even work?!"
	"It's nature, some things cannot be explained!  Ooooor it's something along the lines of the flower's spores clustering together into a tightly-concentrated ball of explosive residue that only ignites upon contact with a living body.  Either way, it's a handy weapon!  I appreciate your efforts though, it makes me feel safe knowing I have two strong guards to protect my wares.  NOW!  Let us go."
With the carriage safely secure, the two hopped back on, James looking a little bruised with Koopin in tow as they smiled to each other.  The raptor felt somewhat ashamed that Koopin even received a few bruises, but seeing that he was no worse for wear, he let it be.  Koopin however noticed the look, and said nothing, his own mind now even more concerned for his problems.
Even after I show I can fight off a bandit he still hates seeing me hurt, thought the koopa.  If I can't prove it to him here...I'll prove it to him in the dojo.

The journey to Toad Town was rather uneventful other than the bandit fight in the desert.  Mt. Rugged did offer some difficulty in crossing with the carriage, but Koopin managed to find a path perfectly suitable for such vehicles through the mountains for use, easily circumnavigating the majority of it.  He explained to great lengths about the geography of the Mushroom Kingdom, the arid region soon giving way towards scrubland the closer they reached the train station.  Always there stood one or two strange characters waiting for a ride home, or for someone to come.
The carriage was given its own car to ride in, Ostros and all to be taken to Toad Town.  The ride through the great southern expanse of the kingdom was fascinating to Noki, who simply gazed with wonderment as the land changed once more into smooth sweet grassland.  As they soon disembarked within the kingdom's capital, the locals would cast looks of intrigue and awe at the strange traveller.
With an address given to him by Shelldon, they made their way towards the home of the goomba chef Goomiver, somewhere along the northern district.  A goomba with a rather young look in his eyes gazed up at Nokata's carriage, his head covered mostly by a chef's toque.
	"Good afternoon!" said Nokata.  "Mr. Goomiver?"
	"Um...yeah?"
	"My name is Noki Nokata, Mister Kennidon spoke to you about me, the Sarasaland goods?"
	"OH!  You're the guy?!  Pleased to meet you sir, please come in come in!"
	"Pleasure to meet you too, but I would like to park my goods somewhere safe for you to sample them."
	"Just bring a crate inside, no worries, Toad Town's a very safe place."
	"Alright then."
	"I'll stand guard," offered James, "if you want me to."
	"I would appreciate that very much Mr. Campbell, thank you."
With the raptor standing guard, Koopin and Noki headed inside Goomiver's house, with a crate of goods from Sarasaland in tow.  James was oblivious to the world of cooking, and he wanted to stay that way.  He never had any inclination for it, nor did he have any knowledge of it despite Koopin's regular attempts to educate him as such.  The Ostros looked at him oddly, chirruping at the strange new world around them.

The idea of animals pulling carriages was still something James never got used to, an ancient way of life he had seen on several worlds that he had visited, all of which were somewhat archaic.  The Mushroom Kingdom however was modern enough that he felt not so out-of-place in terms of way of life, but still old enough a world that he could feel its quaintness touch him.
Eventually, after a long and fascinating discussion from within that FG did not care about, the three culinary students left, handshakes all round as Goomiver said:
	"These are going to make my restaurant top of the ladder I tell you!  No other chef in the land's ever TRIED to touch such cuisine."
	"And I do hope you take my recipes to heart," said Noki Nokata, "they are quite the rich delicacies back home, and I would be honoured if you taste them for your restaurant."
	"Oh I will, I already have some ideas in how to use them!  Two crates will be enough for me for now.  Pleasure doing business with you Mr. Nokata."
	"The same to you Mr. Goomiver!  You can always contact the Kennidon Groceries store for more.  Farewell!"
With business well and truly concluded, the raptor smiled back to them as they grinned with joy, Koopin especially so as he boosted Nokata's spirits.
	"That, went, GREAT!  Did you see the way his eyes just LIT UP at those lentils?!"
	"Indeed!  I expected the vegetables to be the prize but I am very glad he wanted them!  I can already tell that Sarasaland will make its mark soon enough within the Mushroom Kingdom!  And I must thank the both of you for assisting me."
	"N-no problem Noki!" said Koopin bashfully.
	"Heh just glad you got here safe!" said James.  "I might wanna try some of your stuff sometime, maybe even go to Goomiver's place sometime Koopin?"
	"OOOH yeah!  But later, sometime in future alright?"
	"Alright."
	"Well then!" said Noki.  "Shall we set up a stall and see what I can sell?"
	"Sure!  Lemme help you with that, I know the right office for it."
	"Oh no need, I already received my permit back during our first meet!  I will need help to set up the stall itself so if you two strong boys would not mind lending me a hand."
	"No problem!" said FG.  "I can handle inventory too if you want, I work at a bar so I'm pretty good at that."
	"I already have it well-stocked, but I would like someone to handle the money.  I am not familiar with this land's currency too well."
	"I'll handle the money if you want.  What about Koopin?"
	"A friendly face such as his would do good to help me sell my wares!"

Koopin blushed bashfully at the compliment, but nevertheless accepted the task as they went to set up the stall.  Heading towards the more market district of the town, the three easily unveiled the Nokata Goods stall, already attracting a few curious customers with its far-eastern look.  Lentils, chickpeas, various odd grass-like stems and of course the oddly-coloured vegetables, were all on sale for the town to come and see.
Koopin and Nokata easily began running a trade together, bartering with various customers using their combined fiscal intelligence and social grace, while James handled the inventory and stock finances from behind.  Koopin already had a good head for trade due to working in his father's shop, as he explained such that he had done so when as a teenager.  Noki also shared his own stories of working in his father's shop, the two setting up a budding friendship all the more for having similar backgrounds.
James smiled at such a friendship, keeping away from the front of the stall for he feared that, despite having lived here for a year, he wasn't sure that the locals would entirely trust him.  In a bar however, this was different due to the more sallow atmosphere such places had.  For a fruit and vegetable stall in the open day however, he felt his disposition was not so appropriate.
The day ran by smooth, with as Goomiver said the town being perfectly safe without any sign of thievery as a market stall holder would expect anywhere.  This only pleased Noki even moreso to want to return for business, but as he explained, travel between Sarasaland and the Mushroom Kingdom was expensive.  Out of all the goods he had to sell, the most popular ones were lentils and leaves, as well as a surprising amount of green pumpkins.  The only products that were left untouched were figs, despite their juicy quantity.  Koopin also took a few himself, paying of course to try them at home.

Soon the afternoon came to a close, as Noki closed up his stall and packed everything away, checking James' notes on inventory for most popular foods and finances earned.  He was immensely pleased by the turnout, but wanted to stay longer in order to try and sell off more of his produce.
	"Would you suggest a place for me to stay?" asked Noki.
	"The Toad House near the castle's free," said James.  "Anyone can stay there for no charge, they got 'em all set up around the country."
	"Really?!  How marvellous!  Such a generous kingdom!  Now I only need to find a place to store my goods and Ostros, and I will be good for today.  You do not have to come help me tomorrow if you are busy elsewhere."
	"Iiiii am working tomorrow so I can't come, how about you Koopin?"
	"I'm good for tomorrow!" said the koopa cheerfully.  "Buuuuut not the day after cuz I got a tour coming up to do.  But I hope you're all settled in now Noki!"
	"I am indeed!" said Noki Nokata.  "Thank you both for helping me, I have never received such a warm welcome in all my life!  I feel I should pay you at least."
	"Awwww you don't have to, it's a courtesy from my dad!"
	"No no I insist!"
He offered both James and Koopin a bag of 20 coins each, a fair amount for a gift to the two of them.
	"W-wow thank you!  But really, you don't have to!"
	"Please, it is a gift from me to you, the profit I have made today is more than enough that I can give you such, as my fellow travellers."
	"Well thank you very much!" said FG eagerly.  "This is pretty awesome of you, you sure you don't need more help?"
	"No no I'm fine!  I can handle myself from here.  I will see you tomorrow Koopin.  Take care!"
The two shook hands before Noki shook James', as both raptor and koopa departed towards home.  Their coins jingled excitably in their bags, the raptor rather perky all of a sudden.
	"Oh ho maaaaaan what a cool guy!"
	"I know right?!  Such a nice guy, I'm so glad we became friends!"
	"And I'm glad that I'm getting me a bike sooner!  You just wait, I'm gonna get in those races and rip up the track!"
	"Hahaha, you STILL on that?"
	"Racing's in my blood Koopin!  It's like, you got your cooking and your tour guide stuff, and I got my racing!"
	"I understand...I get like that with DJ music."
	"You ever think of buying one of those turnsets?"
	"TurnTABLES, and yeah, sometimes.  But there's a difference being eager for something, and being actually GOOD at it."
	"Awwww I bet you're a good DJ, if you just tried."
	"Ahhh I tried once, if I really went for it I might be good but I'm more focused on being a tour guide now."
	"Heh, fair enough, you are a pretty adorable tour guide."
	"S-stop iiiit you're making me bluuuush."
	"But I love making you blush...you just get even cuter."
Koopin squeaked softly and bit his lip, rubbing the back of his head as he gazed up at James from the corner of his eye.  He was glad to have been able to assist the traveller from far away, and to see James so eager to assist in turn also soothed him.  Now all he had to do was wait for the next dojo appointment, in order to focus on being something more than just a tour guide.  One day, Lee would return to the dojo, ready to prove Koopin his worth.