Barbie, Pipi, Gigi, and Old Man Booty stayed behind to repair the airship after the battle with Edge. Don, Bones, Stella, and Sky went after The Maad Doctor.

Apart from The Founding Families' castle, the rest of Virtue City burned. Smoke filled the air while corpses littered the ground. It was like a sick, adult version of Sin City Dumpsite.

Don saw the back of the giant robot. It was staring at something below it. As they neared the castle, a piano's music became louder. They entered the open gate and saw three groups of corpses forming an arrow, directing them where to go.

Guards dressed in blue suits and white bow ties stood on each side. They held rayguns while blood covered their clothes and faces. It was easy to tell the blood didn't belong to them. The guards watched the group pass between them.

Don and the others arrived at the wedding venue and realized The Maad Doctor was the one playing the piano. Neither he nor the giant robot behind him looked acknowledged them. The two looked lost in the music. The decapitated heads of the Founding Families' leaders were on top of the piano.

Lady Camilla knelt beside The Maad Doctor, her face stained with blood. Don glanced at Stella and noticed she had clenched her hands. When she tried to go to her mother, Ono held her arm in front of her. Stella stopped.

"You shouldn't have come here, Stella," Lady Camilla said. "He used me to lure you in."

"I don't care. For once, let me save you, Mother," Stella said.

The Maad Doctor stopped playing the piano and turned to the group. "Welcome, everyone." He spread his arms as if he was about to hug them. "Apologies for the mess," he referred to the corpses. "I had to make a statement." He pressed his hands together as though he was about to pray and said, "Thank you for bringing Sky and Don... and Stella too. Sadly, there won't be a reward for bringing the fugitives. Lady Camilla wasn't planning on paying; that's why she hired Edge to capture them."

He got up from the bench and stood beside Lady Camilla. "Seeing as there's no reward, I suggest you leave now." He aimed his revolver at Ono. "But leave Stella behind."

Ono smiled. "We didn't come here for the reward. We came here for a fight."

The Maad Doctor grinned then pulled out another revolver tucked in his waistband. "That's what I wanted to hear."

o-o-o-o

Pipi couldn't get the thought of Don and Gigi looking alike out of his head. It bothered him ever since Jojo pointed it out. "Could it just be the hair color?"

"What?" Barbie asked, covered in oil and grease after returning from the engine room. She had informed Pipi she couldn't enter the engine room as there was too much smoke in there. Old Man Booty said he could get rid of the smoke, and now they were waiting for him to finish.

"Gigi and Don look alike," Pipi said. "Pipi can't help but think..."

"What if she's his mother?"

"Yes."

"Only way to know is to ask her." Barbie pointed at Gigi, who sat at the end of the control room. She was staring at the dark energy around her arms, regenerating her wrists. It wouldn't be long before she had hands again.

"Gigi," he called. The woman looked at him. "Why do you look like Don?" He didn't know how else to phrase the question. Asking her outright if she was his mother seemed rude. Don had said he grew up in an orphanage. And if Gigi was his mother, then she had abandoned him when he was a child.

"Donatello is my son," she said with a smile. Then it faded, and a frown took over. "Sadly, he will destroy the world someday."

Pipi knew it. They looked too similar not to be related. "He already has," Pipi said, referring to the situation they were in. "Wait, Don stands for Donatello?"

"Yes." Gigi nodded.

That's a cool name, Pipi thought.

"Pipi and Don are best friends," Barbie blurted out.

Gigi smiled. "Good to know he can still make a friend." She gazed at the floor and sighed.

"Why did you abandon him?" Pipi asked, sensing the woman was hiding something.

"It is complicated."

"Explain to Pipi."

"Have you heard of The Wicked Witch and The Dark Warlock?"

"Yes." It could be a coincidence, but Pipi had discussed them when he went to Mine City. Reed had informed him of things he didn't know about the two.

"I am The Wicked Witch."

"What?" Pipi didn't believe her. It couldn't be. But then, he remembered Reed had said The Wicked Witch and The Dark Warlock were immortal and couldn't use magic. "If you're who you say you are, then how are you using magic?"

"I cannot use magic," Gigi said. "This," she referred to the dark magic healing her arms, "is the curse. I cannot die. And every time I get hurt, the dark magic inside me heals me."

How does Pipi know she's not lying to him? "Can you prove you are The Wicked Witch?" Even with the dark magic healing her, he couldn't take her word for it. Most people knew the story of The Wicked Witch and The Dark Warlock, and some had tried to claim they were them. It always ended horribly for those people.

"The only way for me to do so is by dying." She chuckled. "When I die or turn one-hundred years old, I de-age back to an infant, but with my memories still there."

"How many times have ya died?" Barbie asked after there was silence for a few seconds.

"Too many times to count."

"Does Don have magic too?" Pipi asked. It would be fantastic if his best friend had it. Then he wouldn't have to hide his from him.

"Yes," Gigi said. "I was pregnant when they cursed me. But only my husband knew. The dark magic transferred to Donatello, and it created an artificial womb for him after my body died. It protected him in Magnus Opus for nine months before a miner found him. Donatello is cursed too. Though it works differently with him."

"How?" Pipi asked.

"When Donatello dies, he is reborn into another family in a different country and city. But he always looks the same. He once caused the fall of an empire because the fair-skinned Empress birthed a dark-skinned child with ashy hair."

Pipi chuckled. Pipi would have loved to see that. "Does he keep his memories too?" he asked.

"No. If Donatello did, then he would remember me," she said. "Whenever he comes back to life, he is either good or evil. The last time Donatello was alive, he was a good person. He worked as a scientist and used his magic to co-create Traction City. But his partners betrayed him."

"Wasn't a founder of Traction City pushed off a building?" Pipi gasped. "That was Don?"

Gigi nodded.

When Pipi was a child, his parents tried steering him into becoming a doctor like them. They would tell him of their time in Traction City and everything that had happened. That was how he knew of the founder's death. They caught the killer and sent him to the Land Of The Dead.

"If he was a doctor last time, then that explains why he's a thief now," Pipi said, smiling.

Barbie laughed. "Some people call that karma," she said.

For a moment, Pipi had forgotten Barbie was there. She was so quiet.

"You two do not understand. Being a thief is not what makes Donatello bad. It is the dark magic in him. When he accepts it, it takes over him. And his goal becomes destroying the world and everyone in it."

"How many times has he tried to destroy the world?" Pipi asked.

"I would say... ten times. But The Elders always kill him before he does so."

"Who are these Elders? Are they some old men and women who tell others what to do?" Barbie asked.

"The Elders look like you and me–they can change their appearance too. They lead The Magic Council and have been around before I was born," Gigi said.

"How many of them are there?" Pipi asked.

"Twelve," Gigi said.

"And where can Pipi find them?"

"They are everywhere–a few of them live in Magic City. But from what I have learned, one of them is always monitoring Donatello in case he tries to destroy the world."

"Do you know who that is?" Pipi asked.

"Yes." Gigi nodded.

"That would be me, pa'ner," a voice said from behind them. They turned and saw Old Man Booty standing by the door, leaning on its frame. "Humans call me Old Man Booty. But Gods call me Damon."