Everyone composed themselves and they turned to Jimmy. His eyes were shimmering with determination and he nodded back. "We're so close...let's not get scared now..." Jimmy ran up the stairs first and everyone followed him up to the very top of the castle. They saw that there was a bridge to another platform and there was Kammy. Everyone ran to the platform and they sized her up.

Kammy looked at them with disgust. "So you've made it past my apprentices... and my monsters... and the Koopa troops. You've saved Mario, Luigi and Peach... and nearly destroyed my divine plan..."

Goombario looked at her strangely. "What do you mean? Divine plan!?"

"Where's Bowser?" Jimmy asked.

"My divine plan was to destroy this world of life and create a new one full of evil, death and weapons. Wishes would go first and then hopes and dreams and soon the land will die and so will it's inhabitants... Kammy sneered. "Bowser's a weak leader so I did everyone a favor and got rid of him! Now I am the only target left for you. Your quest ends here with me! Kammy Koopa...or am I?"

Jimmy, Lakilester, Bow, Parakarry and Goombario all jumped ahead and turned back to the rest. "We'll handle her! You stay behind if we need backup." Jimmy saw Kammy swoop down on them and they ducked out of the way. Kammy turned back and summoned several lightning bolts and Jimmy whipped out his feather and transformed it into a mirror and shot back the lightning bolts. Kammy ducked out of the way of them and leered back at them.

"You know how to use the feather...that means..." Kammy mumbled.

"I'll show you what it means!" Jimmy winked and he went into meditation. Suddenly his back bulged out and his magnificent wings tore free of his back. He flapped them and took to the air after her. Lakilester, Bow and Parakarry followed him. Jimmy took his arm back and released a yellow force ball from it. It flew into Kammy and knocked her back quite a ways. She summoned another lightning bolt and Jimmy shielded himself from it. Lakilester shot a spiny and Parakarry rushed at her. Bow also approached Kammy and she received her slappage medicine. Parakarry shell shot her in the back and it knocked her down some. The spiny connected with Kammy's shoulder, knocking her into Bow who slapped her four times. Jimmy took the chance to launch another Drakonian Force ball at Kammy and it knocked her off her broomstick. She fell down to the platform and landed hard on the ground.

Jimmy and his flyers flew back to the platform and surveyed Kammy who was downed on the platform. Jimmy's took out a feather and transformed it. He ate a honey syrup he created from his feather. "That was easy!"

Goombario looked at Kammy who started to move. "...A little too easy..."

Kammy slowly got up and she growled at the victors. "We're not done yet..." They all looked at her, all bruised and cut. Jimmy approached her and she continued. "Well...I guess I'm no match for you...when I'm in this form. I guess I'll take my disguise off." Kammy smiled and her eyes turned red. She floated up from her broom and she turned completely black. She suddenly exploded in a blast of black, sinister power and the mist that's her true form flew up into the sky. There was a huge shock wave that knocked everyone to the ground and what formed above them was a ebony looking castle that floated high above Bowser's. It was above the clouds in height. Goombario ran over to Jimmy and asked. "Well...what do we do now?"

"We fly to that fortress and..." Everyone noticed that Bowser's Castle was starting to sink back to the earth. They saw Mario, Watt, Bombette and Kooper run out of the doors and up to them.

"We've got a serious problem!!" Kooper shouted at them. "The castle is starting to sink!! We're falling!!"

Jimmy sighed and said. "Don't worry about it...I'll fly everyone to safety. Just climb onto me, Mario Luigi and Peach. We've really got no time to debate." Peach, Mario and Luigi all grabbed hold of Jimmy and he groaned. "I only hope that I'll be able to fly you guys down safely. Parakarry and Bow...You take Goombario and the rest of you turn into badges. Kooper and Bombette turned into badges and they jumped onto Jimmy's arm. Jimmy's spread his wings and jumped off the platform, he flew with all his might and slowed the fall back down to the ground. "UGH! CAN'T...HOLD...WEIGHT...AGH!" Jimmy started sweating. "OH WELL...IT'S... GOOD... TRAINING..."

"Your face is turning red!" Bow commented from below Goombario. "Are you going to be okay?"

"It's just a couple of...minutes to the...ground..." Jimmy replied weakly and glared to the three hanging onto him. "Man! You guys eat cement for breakfast this morning?!"  They looked over as Bowser's Castle started to really fall and it fell into the sea with a gargantuan splash. The splash sent out tidal waves in every direction. Jimmy cringed when the castle sank beneath the ocean's crest. Jimmy saw that he was over Goomba Village and he couldn't hold out any longer. "Sorry everyone!! I'm gonna drop you in that tree okay? They all dropped down into the tree and Peach landed on the highest branch followed by Mario and Luigi but Jimmy dropped down and fell through the branches, hitting them one by one before collapsing to the ground. "Ouch!"

Goombario ran over to him. "Jimmy!! Are you okay?!"

"I-I don't know..." Jimmy groaned and tried to get up. "I...I think so."

"That's great! I saw you fall...it hurt me so much to see you get hurt like that." Goombario said softly. "Can you walk?"

Jimmy slowly got up and walked around. "Yeah... I feel kind of weak..."

"Put those wings away! They're draining your energy!" Parakarry commanded. "It's our responsibility to make sure you're all right! Let's get everyone in the house."

Mario jumped down from the Tree with Peach in his arms. He let her off and Luigi jumped down from the tree also. "We'll stay in the Toad house."

Goomma, Goompa and Goombaria all ran up to them upon entry into the house saying. "Oh my! Are you all right?!"

"Goombario!" Goombaria frowned. "What's happened?"

"I took a bad fall but everything still works, thank goodness." Jimmy said while on the couch. "I'm really weak...too weak to use magic right now so I think we should take a rest if that's okay..."

"Of course it's okay!" Goomma said. "You just catch a nice sleep and I'll make you some dinner for later."

"Thank you..." Jimmy said and closed his eyes and began to dream. He dreamt that he was in star haven, in the chamber of the stars and standing in front of the seven star spirits in his full Drakonian attire. They all hovered over him and began to speak.

"Jimmy...You must help us get free of the curse that Gelnishia has cast upon star haven, stopping the wishes from coming true. You must come here and perform your magic. Only you can stop the curse..." They smiled gently at him. "We believe in you. You have the ability to stop Gelnishia from destroying the world...but only you and your friends can pull it off. We...will be waiting for you..." Jimmy woke up at that and looked around. It wasn't even nightfall yet. He smelled the food and walked into the Kitchen. "Um..."

"Welcome back, Jimmy." Goombaria nodded. "You feel better?"

"Oh yes! Very much so!" Jimmy replied politely. "Where is everybody?"

"They're outside...it's gotten dreadful out there...what happened?" Goomma asked. "There seems to be darkness everywhere but it's only about 3 in the afternoon."

"Well, we'll fix that." Jimmy replied and ran out of the house. He saw the rest of his friends and he frowned when they saw the concern and somber of their faces. "Hi Guys...what's happening now?"

"We were just talking about some things." Parakarry mumbled. "We were talking about what's going to happen after this mission is over?"

"Well...what you you mean?" Jimmy asked.

"We...don't want you to leave us..." Goombario muttered. "Well...we were wondering if you would...stay here with us?"

"There's only one problem with that..." Bow then said. "If you stay, then you'll have to stay here...forever."

Jimmy frowned and turned away. "I've got a lot to think about... I know. I just had a dream and it was of the star spirits. They want us to go to star haven to break the curse that Gelnishia set on them."

"Gelnishia!!" Goombario suddenly shouted. "I know about her! She's the evil monster that your parents perished battling against! They sealed her in the void between worlds."

"They'll probably tell me more about the whole Gelnishia thing. So...are you going with me to star haven?" Jimmy asked.

"We'd go with you anywhere." Goombario replied flatly. "I for one trust you implicitly and I'll do whatever you want. I'm your protector after all."

"We all are Jimmy's protectors!" Lakilester said loudly. "We'll help you out, Kid!"

"Wait! Eat these!" Goomma said, running out with a tray of food. "You'll keep your energy up!" They ate the food and now were open to suggestions.

"Right...let's go to Shooting Star Point. It's likely we could go up to star haven from there." Parakarry said. "We don't have too much time either, look around!"

Jimmy looked around and saw the sky was black with clouds. There was an ill wind that could bite into you and the ground was turning an odd color. Jimmy nodded and they began their walk to Toad town when they noticed the oddest thing. There seemed to be a lot more bogs and swamps around them, carrying disgusting odors. They saw that the graves in a grave yard seemed to be disturbed and there were grimy footprints about. They noticed that there were no Goombas and Troopas around but lots of bones and blood around. Goombario commented to everyone. "Whoa...this is creepy, no?"

"What in the world is happening?!" Bow wondered.

"Everything that Kammy said is coming true." Jimmy replied. "Unless we stop her, everything's going to decay and rot away."

They finally made it to Toad Town and they saw that there were bodies in the street and others that started to hobble around, groaning and stirring. They saw that there were some fires about too. They walked around some houses and saw they were barricaded from the inside, despite the broken windows. They walked over to the gates to the palace which were now dirty and partly broken. They saw some ghosts fly from overhead. "This is no longer Toad Town...it's now Freakburg!" Lakilester commented as they pushed open the gates and saw that the palace had also been trashed. "Whoa! Everything's getting wrecked."

They turned the way to shooting star hill and they saw it was clearing up. They looked in wonder when they noticed it has remained unchanged. "What's with Shooting Star Hill?" Bow asked. "It's still pretty!"

"Well...maybe it's the one stronghold against this new, evil world." Goombario replied. "Look! The top of the hill has a portal onto the upper area, Star Road!"

They ran up the steps and they saw that the path to Star Road was right there in front of them. Jimmy heard the voices from the Star Spirits. "Jimmy...Long we have waited. Come to Star Haven Quickly! We can't keep the portal open forever!"

Jimmy ran into the portal and so did everyone else. They began to lift off the ground and they were surrounded with starry splendor as they flew up to the path in Star Road. They all looked around and saw the stars and the black clouds below. They also saw the black palace in the far distance. Jimmy began walking the path. "Wow...Star Road is so nice!"

"Star Road is the path that leads to Star Haven which is well...very pretty indeed!" Goombario replied. They walked to the path which led them to star Haven and they noticed a translucent, black barrier over it. Goombario hopped over to Jimmy and asked. "What do we do now? Star Haven's been shielded!"

They looked off in the distance to find a shooting star. "It's so pretty..." Bow breathed. "Wait! It's twink!"

Twink flew up to them and exclaimed. "Finally you guys have made it up here!"

"Star Haven's been blocked...how to I open it?" Jimmy asked.

"You need to wish for it to be opened. But you have to all wish for it...Jimmy...you have a pan flute right? You need to look inside your heart and you'll find a song that opens the barrier. You guys need to trust him." Twink said. "Please!"

Jimmy nodded and fell into meditation. "I shall look within myself to find the song that I've hidden inside myself..." Jimmy smiled brightly. "Wow! I remember!! It was a song that parents used to sing to me when I was really young!" He took the pan flute and brought it to his lips and he began to play it lively. "Okay! I'm relying on the rest of you to wish for me."

They all closed their eyes and wished along with Jimmy's playing. Jimmy continued to play the song and suddenly the Barrier started to glow. Jimmy continued playing and the barrier flashed faster and faster and finally with a bright flash, the barrier shattered and disappeared. "Wow! It worked...but how come you used my song in order to open it."

"In order to combat the powers of evil, you need the forces of good!" Twink replied. "You needed the power of wishes and love in order for it to work! You know that battle between the Crystal Queen and you guys? Jimmy used the power of love and friendship in order to calm her spirit!"

Jimmy smiled and his eyes glittered. "Right. Good always triumphs over evil because it's positive energy." Jimmy turned to everyone and brought out his badges. Kooper, Watt and Bombette jumped out and Jimmy prepared to speak. "Everyone...We ARE going to win against Gelnishia because we put our trust in one another in order to succeed. I believe in all of you and you believe in me...together, we can bring this chaos to an end."

"You know..." Kooper said and smiled. "At first...this was a quest to save Mario, Luigi and Peach..."

"...But I think that it was actually a quest to become stronger than before..." Bow replied.

"...We invest our courage in each other and we'll never fail..." Watt added.

"You know? Being a good guy is actually all it's cracked up to be! I'm glad I signed up for it...and you know?" Lakilester's eyes began to shine. "I think I grew up a little, on this journey...Lakilulu, wait for me! I'll commit to you!"

"...I've learned what it's like to have friends! They're special and I'll never let them just pass by..." Parakarry nodded and smiled at Goombario. "I've learned to be friends with anyone!"

"...I've learned so much from this journey. It's taught me how little I actually know about things...I'm glad I have good teachers..." Goombario added.

"Let's go talk to the star spirits. They'll give us a way of getting to that Black Palace. Let's go in there and find a way." Jimmy said earnestly and they all walked into the Star Haven.

That's the end of chapter 18. It sure was fun to write and there's only a little more to go until the book's finally finished!