Junior was sitting in her room. Most of her torture devices had been removed by a stern Peach... but then again, Junior found herself to be preferring playing with other toys ever since her change.

The Koopa prince turned princess was holding a stuffed Goomba to her chest. Sighing, she looked at her other toys. She really didn't feel like playing at all.

The door opened, and Peach came storming inside. A big grin was on her reptilian face, and her long tail enthusiastically whipped around, nearly knocking over a stack of wooden blocks. "Junior! Did you hear the good news?" she shouted. "Mario has returned from outer space!"

"Whoop-dee-doo..." the Koopaling murmured, leaning against her oversized plush Goomba. She just couldn't bring up any sort of enthusiasm.

Peach knelt down next to her. "But don't you realize what that means?" she asked. "Prof. E. Gadd might be able to make a new brush. We can turn your father back to normal... you can become a little boy again... and I will be back to normal, too! Whoohoo, no more impotent minions to boss around, no more spiky thrones and lava pits..."

She stopped herself when she saw how in the eyes of the Koopa girl, she saw some tears. "But... sweetie, aren't you glad? Aren't you happy that you and your Daddy can return back to normal?"

"Being a girl isn't that bad..." Junior sniffled. "And... AND I DON'T WANNA LOSE YOU! WHAAAAAAHH!"

Niagara Falls were pouring out of Junior's eyes. Peach was aghast. She never had predicted this kind of reaction. Over the past few days, she had been feared that this position in the Koopa army might become permanent... that she would remain the new Koopa Queen for all eternity... she even had begun to LIKE it...

She shook her head. If it wasn't for that dreadful dream she had a couple of nights ago, she probably wouldn't have come back to her senses. To never wear elegant robes and dresses again? To never feel the softness of human skin? To never have the marvelous balls and festivals back in her old castle?

Never... to be with Mario again?

"Listen, honey," she softly said, stroking Junior's red pigtails. "I know this is going to be hard for you. You and your siblings never really had a mother... and now I have to leave you all behind again. But, don't you see... I can't stay forever. I'm not part of this world... what will my friends, my subjects do in case I don't return?"

"What do I care?" Junior sniffled. "They're just a bunch of lousy Toads!"

"Now, now, what have I told you about looking down on others?" Peach said sternly, wagging her claw. "Be good. It's not like I'm gone forever." She smiled. "I think your father finally has realized that the constant battle between our two nations doesn't do us any good. I will come as often as I can and visit you, I promise!"

"But... but it won't be the same!" Junior bawled. "I want you to be with me all the time. And... and I want you to stay like this!"

Peach was shocked. "How could you even suggest things like that?" she murmured.

"Because... because... otherwise... YOU WOULDN'T BE MY MOMMY ANYMORE!"

And with tears flowing freely from her eyes, the youngest Koopaling ran from her room, leaving a baffled Peach behind.

She sadly looked down at her scaly hands. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "But I can't... I can't go on like this..."

Suddenly, Bowsie came in. "There you are, Peachy!" she smiled. "I've just found the CUTEST dress in Wendy's wardrobe... and I believe it's my size. You wanna help me try it on?"

Peach sighed as she stood up from the ground. "Bowser," she said, catching the red-headed princess off-guard by using her original name. "We've got to talk... about your son... I mean daughter..." She groaned. "About Junior! It's important!"

---

"The nerve of Daddy..." Wendy grumbled while carefully putting back her clothes into her wardrobe. "He may be a female human now, but he could at least ask before digging through my things." She then giggled. "Although, I must admit, she'd probably look too cute in this sundress..."

"SIIIIIISS!" came the wailing cry of the youngest Koopaling, as she came barging into her sister's room, clinging to her tightly.

"Wha...? Junior, calm down! What's the matter with you?" Wendy asked with surprise.

"It's Mommy..." Junior whimpered. "She wants to leave us... she doesn't like me anymore... WAAAAAAAAHH!!"

'Oh boy,' Wendy mentally sighed.

"Oh, Junior," she said, sitting down on her bed with her little sibling. "Don't you get it yet? Peach may be a sweet and kind person, and Daddy may have certain... feelings for her, I dunno... but you must remember, she isn't really our mother."

"Yes, she is," Junior muttered, pressing her face against her sister's shell. "She's a Koopa, and she's my Mommy..."

"Oh dear..." Wendy murmured. She never had to play the consoling role of an older sister before... all of her other siblings were immature, annoying boys, and before his change... well, Junior had pretty much been the same.

But ever since the magic of the damaged brush had turned him into a girl... the little Koopa tot had become quite emotional. Also, Wendy had begun to feel a certain attachment to her. She felt protective, like most older sisters felt towards their younger sisters.

"Listen, sweetie," she said. "I can't promise you that Peach will be staying her. We can't do anything about it, you know? But what I can do is that I will, whether you will turn back to normal or not, I will look out for you. Whenever you've got trouble, you can come to me, and we'll talk about everything."

Junior looked up at her with teary eyes. "Promise?" she sniffled.

The older Koopa princess smiled. "Yeah, I promise! Now, tell me: Do you still want to become a boy again?"

Junior shook her head and hugged her older sister. "Nu-uh, I wanna stay like this... 'cause, when I'm a boy again... I will think that hugging a girl is yucky."

Bowser's daughters looked at each other, then they broke out into fits of giggles.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

Junior and Wendy looked up when they heard the loud scream coming from the playroom of their brothers.

"Wasn't that Auntie Daisy?" Junior wondered.

---

In the Koopaling playroom, between Lemmy's rubber ball and Morton's punching ball, the brown-haired princess of Sarasaland stood, holding a ropey tail that was coming out of her dress, and twitching a short muzzle with whiskers.

"I THOUGHT I WAS RID OF THESE THINGS!" she yelled.

"Um, maybe it's a relapse," Larry suggested.

"Why are you complaining, I think you look funny," Lemmy snickered, ignoring the glares the partly-transformed princess was giving him.

"Oh my," Akari muttered. She then grinned weakly. "Um, if it helps, I think that muzzle looks very cute on you."

Peach, Bowsie, Kodachi and the two female Koopalings then entered the room.

"Daisy, what's wrong, why are you..." Peach gasped. "What? Why... why are you turning back?"

"We don't know," Akari explained. "I was just helping her tidy up the room... when suddenly, poof! She grew a rat's tail right in my face."

Daisy groaned despairingly. "The changes don't seem to continue, but... why did this happen?"

"Oh boy," Junior muttered. "Maybe there was a spot of magic paint left on you somewhere..."

"That can't be!" Daisy protested. "I've taken several baths since that day!"

"Well, the only explanation I can come up with is that Kamek's magic could have made the transformative powers of the paint so potent, that it even affects you after it's washed off your body... to a lesser extent, of course," Iggy said, looking very scholarly while speaking. Everyone looked at him. "What? Didn't you know I was studying magic theory? I wanted to become a Magikoopa, but Kamek never allowed me to be his student before."

"Well, we all know the reasons for that now, do we?" Kodachi grumbled. She recalled the offer her grandfather had made to her, about making her his new apprentice.

"Don't worry, Daisy!" Peach smiled. "I'm sure that the solvent the professor is making will be strong enough to get rid of the magic forever."

"I sure hope so..." Daisy sighed. "Because I don't really know if my subjects back at home would accept a rat princess..."

"That reminds me," Kodachi spoke up and reached back to her shell. She pulled out an envelope, which she gave Princess Bowsie. "This letter arrived via Parakoopa mail, about 20 minutes ago. It's a message from the Birabuto Desert in Sarasaland. Unfortunately, the messenger lost his mail on the way and he had to find it before he could deliver it."

"I think I know that mailman," Peach sighed. "Oh, Parakarry... you'll never change..."

"A letter?" Bowsie wondered. "Oh, it must be from Morton and Roy."

She opened the envelope and began to read. "No, it's from a Fire Bro, a member of their troop," she said. Her eyes widened. "And according to this... he helped them storm a pyramid... but then... they walked into a trap!"

Twins of flame then appeared in the eyes of the green-dressed princess. "Who did it?" she roared, and for a moment, everyone believed that she had turned back into a Koopa. "Who did that to my boys?"

"Damn, I should have warned them," Daisy groaned. "Inside the big pyramid, I sealed the evil King Totomesu... a villain who once worked for the alien Tatanga, who kidnapped me. They must have unsealed his chamber..."

"Daisy, you never told me about that," Peach said reproachfully, crossing her arms beneath her scaly bosom.

"Well, excuuuse me... but if you hadn't told those tykes to invade my kingdom, this wouldn't have happened!"

"My lord," Kodachi saluted in front of Bowsie. "I mean... my lady, with your permission, I will lead a new troop into the desert, to free your sons from this villain!"

"You'd do that?" Bowsie asked in surprise.

"Oh yes," Kodachi smirked. "After all, I'm a member of the Koopa Troop now... and that evil king will rue the day he decided to challenge the Koopa Kingdom, and the Black Rose! OHOHOHOHOH!"

Akari looked at her 'sister-in-law' with worry. "Is it a relapse?" she whispered, having heard about Kodachi's previous behavior from Peach.

"No, it's just the bottled-up feelings of a proud Koopa!" Bowsie smiled proudly.

Peach, on her part, was glad that the family curse of the Kunos finally seemed to be a part of history.

A young, human male in a purple hakama came running past the door, chasing a swarm of cackling Piranha Plants that were using their broad leaves as feet. He was wildly swinging around a bokken and yelled: "COME BACK, YOU FOUL WEEDS, AND FACE THE WRATH OF THE BLUE THUNDER! HAVE AT THEEEEEE!"

Well, at least partly.