As Harvey and Haruki crested the hill overlooking Toad Town, several of the bombs Vader hadn't caught hitting the ground and causing audible explosions, they both felt taps of their shoulders. A quick glance of their shoulders, and they would find a little over two dozen Koopa Troopas standing right behind them. They looked Harvey and Haruki up and down with baited interest, knowing their orders to capture any and all odd persons for questioning. Could easily be mercenaries the Toads were looking the recruit. They needed someone after Mario went away, after all. "Hey there," the one up front said slowly "how'd you two like to come back to the castle with us? It'll probably be a lot safer than it is out here, and you'll get to meet Lord Bowser and his kids! Doesn't that sound like a good time?" [@clanjos] [@Scrapula] -------------------------------- "Ahhhhhhh, that was easy enough, eh stiff neck?" Morton asked casually as the bombs fell from his ships and on to the town below. The Hammer Bro below him shrugged and looked on at destruction, a few early bombs already hitting the pavement around town and throwing up pavement (and occasionally Toads). It was all, however, things they had seen before. What they did notice that was off however was when the bombs hit the portal, they did explode, but it held firmly upright. "Huh. Ah well, guess we'll need some heavy duty stuff to get rid of that," Morton commented casually, smirking a little "get the Bull-" "I hate to interrupt sir," The Hammer Bro said, his voice rising in tone but otherwise sounding calm "but I don't believe Bob-Bombs are supposed to fly back at us. Evasive maneuvers!" Morton only dared glance at the flying back at them bombs for a moment before hitting the deck, feeling his entire personal ship lurch backwards and rock as some bombs hit the underbelly of said ship. It was durable, meaning it could take a hit like this and not be particularly bothered by it if it didn't fly for a while longer. With the castle right behind them, that wasn't really an issue. Morton stood back up, groaning a bit as he checked on the rest of his fleet. Two more less durable ships had been effected-one had managed to stay in the air, smoking noticeably and missing a spots of wood and a canon. The other was on a downward trajectory towards the wooded area behind Toad Town, the propeller atop the ship having been knocked off in Vader's attack. Several Koopas and Goombas were abandoning ship, their para cousins being their saving grace in that. Morton didn't particularly care about those in the crash, but those who escaped could be useful-they'd end up in Toad Town after all. The survivors would be able to tell him just what the fresh Hell caused that to happen. It was at that moment something bright orange flew past the observation window of Morton's battleship, heading for one of the ships that hadn't been effected by Darth Vader's bombing barrage (which was supposed to be his own, something Morton would be sore about for ages to come). To say it would stay in pristine condition would be a bold faced lie. Morton clenched his fist, growling audibly. "Prepare the canons! Shoot down that UFO!" Hammer Bro commanded, a few underlings running around to prepare his orders as the other two surviving ships outside did the same, the damaged one far slower than the other two. The ship Samus had been attacking didn't crash into the ground, instead exploding into a fire ball and sending debris flying everywhere. "Get the Paras ready! I want to know who or what the Toads have that could cause this! And someone fetch me my clown cart!" Morton barked out after the Hammer Bro, eyeing Samus' ship from the observation window before turning tail, stomping off to retrieve his personal vehicle. ---------------------------- The Toads above ground (mainly the ones that had been engaged by Jasper) weren't quite sure what they had just witnessed. First, someone had managed to stop the bombs in mid air and send them back at one of Morton's ships, causing one of them to crash. Shif T. made a mental note to loot that ship later, when things had calmed down. Then [i]something[/i] had flown out of the portal in front of them and gunned down another, unfortunately not leaving much to actually retrieve from it in the process. Still, beggers couldn't be choosers. Nearby, several of Bowser's underlings from the first crashed ship hit the ground with a thud, the only thing keeping them from going splat like several others that had jumped ship being their Para brethren. They groaned still, shaking their head as they looked around. "Er...The heck are those guys?" One of the Goombas asked after a moment of looking. They didn't have long to contemplate this before they were under attack. In hindsight, the ships weren't as impressive as they were large. Jasper had seen more impressive machines piloted and owned by Pearls, and what the ships had inside were absolutely pathetic excuses for soldiers. She had rolled straight into them, knocking them down like bowling pins, before headbutting a few into submission. the Koopa's shells were durable enough to take some hits, but the Goombas were outright squashed by her helmet and head. After a moment, the ships had started to turn back around, heading for the sanctuary of the castle. But not without one more surprise. The back of their hulls opened, and out spilled out several winged Paragoombas and Paratroopas, perhaps a little less than a hundred in total, as they descended upon the town. If anyone were to look closely, they'd also see something else emerge from the back hull, but whatever that was, it was heading towards Samus' ship, not them, so they need not concern themselves wit it.