Chapter Four: Future Plans

Cheering erupted from everyone as they waylaid him. Jo grinned in relief as Red slapped him on the back. Koopuria hugged him, causing the youngster to blush furiously. Luckily only Kammy saw this and she wasn't going to say anything.

Koopuria now that he had a chance to study her without embarrassment was very unique for a Koopa. For one, her shell had multiple colors in a stripe pattern instead of the usual one. Reds, blues, purples and a dash of pink raced all over her shell. A yellow ribbon made its home on her head. She had kind eyes that were a healthy green color and he could tell that they laughed a lot.

He wondered briefly why she was here, but dropped it. If she had a story worth telling she would tell it in her own time. The hug seemed to last a long time and he relished the attention. It had to be a friendly hug and completely innocent.

She broke contact and Jo wondered if he would see the energetic Koopa. She smiled at him and warmth came over him. Was something wrong with him? "I am so happy for you Jo! Congratulations!"

Before she overwhelmed him any further, Blake wandered over for his own personal brand of celebration. "Way to go, little dude, I just knew you would pass." Koopuria and I learned a lot in our own training montage. Turns out the Koopa Bros are renowned for their genius. I have more good news; we're going to be working together in any and all future trials."

Kammy hung back enjoying the fruits of her labor. She was smirking at Jo a lot whenever Koopuria made contact with him. He had no idea what to do about this though, so he just pretended not to notice.

After a few more pleasantries, Kammy made her way to Jo. At first, he thought she was going to bring up his odd feelings around Koopuria, but it was something else entirely. "Jo, you have passed what ought to be your hatching day." Instantly, good mood vanished and he felt distinctly ill.

It, of course was well past the day he arrived in the world. But these were very painful memories for the young Yoshi. He was basically just an orphan now. No one wanted an ugly mutant.

His eyes closed in a wince. No, he had to be strong. He couldn't afford to be down on himself for the mistake his parents had made. He didn't know how he knew, but his new friends didn't pity him, so he mustn't pity himself. The very people he had surrounded himself around did not think him a freak. He had potential here, he was somebody here.

When this thought came into his mind, a weight shattered and a feeling of calm came over him. The citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom would forever regret the day they lost him as an ally. He then furiously strove to make all of Bowser's wishes come true. Death was not an option and neither would he allow failure into the picture.

He screamed mentally for revenge against the Mushroom Kingdom and his parents, but he wanted Mario in particular to suffer. Bowser's name would go down in history as a ruler. He will make sure that nothing would ever meddle including Mario who was only a man. Everyone had a weakness and he will find out Mario's even if it took his entire life to uncover.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts, he realized that silence had fallen and everyone was now staring at him causing the Yoshi to blush slightly, "Why the look of such passion Jo?" It was Red who addressed him, but Jo addressed everybody in the room.

"I was making a vow that I will see the side of Mario suffer for their treatment of myself and everyone here. I made a promise that I will see Bowser as the Mushroom Kingdom's rightful ruler. I will not accept my failure or death even going so far as denying the laws of mortality. Bowser will see the throne if I have any control over the matter."

"Those are very nicely spoken words son, but what makes you so certain that you will succeed where I have failed?" This new voice scared the stuffing out of everyone in the room. Kammy's reaction was the most violent out of all of them. She clutched at her chest and twitched violently.

Jo turned around once the shock of the violent scare settled down. Standing behind everyone was a very large Koopa. His shell had spikes littered all over it as well as being green in color. This must be Bowser. It was Kammy who spoke next and her words were livid.

"Your viciousness, to what do we owe this particularly frightening interruption?" Bowser laughed, but his mood was jovial. "Oh we roots of evil like to mingle where we are not welcome." He spoke confidently and was assuredly amused at having scared everyone. "I also wanted to meet the newest recruit and I only just arrived at his invigorating speech."

Jo had the heart stopping realization that he was being analyzed. He wondered how the Koopa King will react to his appearance. Everything in his life came down to this moment. He was a mutant, an outcast. He knew he was an ugly Yoshi, with a horrible color and distasteful to the eye. Why would anyone, let alone the Koopa King, have a need for the outcast?

Bowser seemed to take a long time in analyzing the timid Yoshi youngster and it was downright agony to wait in tortuous silence to see if the boss would accept him. He didn't dare look at Koopuria lest he see some kind of encouragement in those eyes. He already felt weird around the bundle of energy that had apparently befriended him.

"I have gone over many recruits, all of them saying that they will lead me to victory. All of them have been defeated by Mario. Every last, loyal minion defeated by that cocky jerk. I sense an unusual amount of energy and charm in you lad. The fact that you look like a Yoshi, despite your appearance can be very useful to me. I will enroll you in the spy program. I will send you in the mushroom kingdom and you will spy on what Mario plans to do. I want to know every aspect of what they plan to do. If you can also check on where the Princess is going to be."

Jo stared up at Bowser feeling some concern wash over him. How was he going to spy when he looked the way he did. He was about to bring this up, when Kammy beat him to the chase. "If you are concerned about your appearance that can easily be arranged. I have a few old hats left over from when I went to Glitzville with Bowser or rather when he was lost." When she had mentioned Glitzville, Bowser turned away looking grumpy all of a sudden. "Don't mention that place to me ever again. It was horrible what I had to go through to get there and I will never swim again if it is the last thing I do."

Kammy waved a dismissive hand and grinned. "Such sights though, the way it just floated and the colors and all those fights…" Bowser glowered and Kammy broke off but whispered to Jo. "It really is a lot of fun reminding him of it. If I was just a bit younger, I would take the risk of angering him over it, but he has quite a temper and I am not as young as I once was." She laughed silently for a little bit and Jo allowed a smirk to appear on his face. Fortunately Bowser wasn't paying attention.

"So we are in agreement, Jo will enter the Kingdom and try to find out everything he can. Wearing a hat to cover his horns, he will have a normal Yoshi appearance. I am a bit worried about how his color will be received, but no one will expect him to be working for me. Yoshis are not normally one to join me, so it is the perfect cover."

"Jo, you are still neglecting your hatching day! We need to throw you a proper party for all the hatching days that you have missed." Kammy did not allow Jo to even get a negative in. He didn't feel comfortable with being reminded that he had been unwanted by his own family and it would be worse having his friends basically making up for it.

He just craved companionship having received nothing his entire life. Kammy though, once in the mood was hard to convince otherwise. "We will space it out so it is close to an actual birthday. Don't want to overload you all at once."

Poor Jo forced to go to a party basically reminding him of being unwanted. All he wanted was a place in the world and in return, to give thanks, give Bowser the one thing he wanted in life. He will accomplish that. Bowser was giving him a home despite being a freak and all he wanted was to return the favor. Koopuria wasn't helping by smiling at him and standing way too close. He could smell her and it didn't help that she smelled of Lavender.

Seeing as how he was outvoted and with little say in the matter, he reluctantly allowed Kammy to lead him out of the classroom. He wondered what the party would be like and just how things will happen. Will he receive anything that he basically didn't need? Koopuria was by his constant side and he felt slightly better because of it. He was going to be a use to Bowser, and succeed where thousands before him failed. He will make sure of that.