[center][hr] [img]https://i.imgur.com/O6MhssR.png[/img] [b][color=6ecff6]Level 1[/color][/b] - (10/10) EXP (Level Up!) [b]--->[/b] [b][color=6ecff6]Level 2:[/color][/b] (0/20) [b][color=6ecff6]Location:[/color][/b] 1-1, Second Area - Near Peach's Castle [b][color=6ecff6]Word Count:[/color][/b] 1,730 [sub][b][color=6ecff6]Journey to the Castle - Pt 2[/color][/b][/sub][/center] [hr] As Geno pasted the first area with ease, he would soon find himself in the next part of the dirt path. The terrain below him had changed from a simple flat road with long grasses and abrupt pipes and blocks, to a path that's far more windy and sported a more lush environment. Cliff-sides seemed to have erupted out of nowhere, with water becoming all the more plenty alongside jungle-esque vegetation and giant toy-blocks forming a massive tower in the distance. Beyond the green battlefield, he can even see a race track in the distance amongst a plenty of other places to explore. There were just so many things for him to take in! The flying doll stopped just by the edge of a curvy bridge as he took in the sight ahead. This still felt like the mushroom kingdom - with the random brick blocks and goombas all scattered about - but at the same time it felt significantly different. It was an environment that Geno had never encountered before in this Kingdom. The most blatant factor were the additional enemy types in the area. The doll glanced his eyes over to his right as he sees a multitude of strange anthropomorphic rabbits. These rabbits however weren't the cute and adorable kinds that required you to chase them around in order to pick-pocket their coins, items, and/or stars. Rather they were derpy and chaotic creatures, whose language was almost exclusively limited to "blahs", "bwahs", and most notably [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eggb31_s5uc]"BAAAAAAAHS"[/url]. These abominations came in all assortments of different shapes - with these guys in particular mostly sporting yellow mohawks - and they were indeed causing all manners of mischief wherever they went. Most of the rabbits were messing around with themselves or with the local wildlife, especially regarding the goombas. Most of them were shooting at them with their wooden paint-guns for fun or, when they caught them, they carelessly fiddled around with them and smeared them with paint from a giant paint tube. Why Geno saw two of these goombas forcedly becoming stuck together by their feet after the rabbits applied paint to their feet, before being rolled away by their laughing aggressors. It was a disheartening sight to be sure. The star warrior already knew how much abuse these little guys had to go through when working for Bowser against Mario during their usual antics, but this was just mindless cruelty, without any meaningful purpose other then to humor themselves. And regarding the other inhabitants, he can see how the koopas were being kicked around by the rabbits as if they were mere soccer balls, the swimming cheep-cheeps being fished out of the water and forced to kiss each other, the piranha plants having their mouths shut with paint, and even the few toad stragglers were continuously pelted by their paint shots. Geno was absolutely furious by their frantic behavior! However, as he glanced over ahead, he realized he found himself already very close to Peach's castle. The warrior also saw several new forms of enemy opponents, this time much more mechanical and humanoid-looking in proportion. The rabbit creatures were also by the castle, but surprisingly they were fighting these robots. Yet the bots were also not all created equal either. Geno could point out two major "species" of these mechanical monsters - one who's grey and blue in color while sporting human-like proportions and the other being purple and black while resembling more on the lines of mechs of some sort. The grey ones were made up of nine different body-types, each having different proportions, weapons, and even voices. The purple ones, on the other hand, had at least three or more types - small but fast bots wielding twin-shot blasters, taller bots wielding either small or large arm-cannons, and the largest bots sporting thick armor and more powerful cannons. It was clear that the flying wooden doll - alone and armed with only his hand cannon - is going to have to disperse these line-up of opponents all on his lonesome somehow. If he's not able to completely disperse them, he should at least cause enough damage to weaken them significantly before the rest of the group arrives. The more opponents he can take down the better. [center][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md_O41H_gJs]Chaotic Mayhem[/url][/center] But just as Geno was about to come up with a strategy to divide and conquer them off-guard, one of the rabbits was suddenly alerted to his presence. He issued a warning call as several of his companions as they took aim towards the flying puppet in the sky. Now thrusted into the battle, the star warrior took evasive maneuvers as he began to avoid the shots being fired at him. This time, he noticed how the shots weren't mere paint-blasters, but actually energy based lasers! Now he had to really be careful of their arsenal. He flies around in a large arc shape as he prepared to fire upon the rabbit creatures below. Their shots were mostly inaccurate, however they seemed to pack a punch behind them - something which Geno had no interest in finding out. Once he got close to a small group of them, the warrior readies his arm cannon as he fires two beam bursts at them. The first shot skidded across the middle, disorienting the enemy, as the second beam knocked away two of the rabbits. The rest of the survivors screamed as they fled for cover. Now more of the rabbits began to take notice about their newfound enemy as they too began to fire upon the dashing star warrior. Most of their shots also failed to miss their fast-moving target, however one got lucky and struck Geno's belly! However, this wasn't a laser that was shot at Geno - rather it was a toilet plunger of all things! And the rabbit holding onto the plunger gun was hanging on for dear life as it was pulled higher into the skies, with his cheeks flapping in the wind in absolute terror! The flying doll quickly grasped onto the plunger's wooden handle as he attempted to pull it's mighty suction off him. As he did so, he would dive down near the enemy rabbits, with several bystanders being completely obliterated by the flying rabbit like a wrecking ball towards concrete bricks! Only after some mighty heaves was Geno finally able to pull the plunger off him, as he dropped it and the poor screaming rabbit down into the river below. Yet free as he may be, Geno would soon encounter resistance in the air. Several small flocks of strange birds began to swoop down on him with their mighty talons at speeds even faster than his! The flying wooden doll had to struggle in avoiding them all, despite one being successful in tapping his beanie-covered head with it's powerful beak. Despite the minor disorientation, he quickly dispatched it with a beam to it's face. But the flock continued to keep on coming! With every bird that Geno dispatched, two would come out of nowhere to take it's place. He attempts to fly as fast as he could to disorient the birds that were quickly gaining on him, but they were just far too fixated on him to give up. And even they weren't the least of his problems as he heard a mechanical bellow coming from below. [center][url=https://youtu.be/vw-WJkJK210?t=37s]Robotic Intervention[/url][/center] [url=https://youtu.be/-yhOAM1IsSs?t=1m21s][b][color=778899]"HERE I COOOOOOME!"[/color][/b][/url] One of the grey robots - [url=https://wiki.teamfortress.com/w/images/thumb/1/1e/Heavybot_blu.png/300px-Heavybot_blu.png]a giant of a bot[/url] - took aim at Geno as he revved up his massive mini-gun. Quickly realizing the situation, Geno attempted to full throttle as it fired his huge gun at him. This robot was way more accurate in his shots, almost clipping through the wooden puppet as it struggled to keep away from his line of sight. He would zip up and down in an attempt to loose his sense of concentration, one much easier said then done due to the fact that he faced a robot who knew nothing of the concept of tiredness. Even the birds continued their pursuit, although several were caught within the spray of bullets and were immediately killed upon impact. If Geno continued flying at this rate, he'll run out of fuel and energy long before the battle can end. He had to continue flying low before hiding behind a large brick block, while being just inches away from being ripped apart by the giant bot's rapid-fire bullets. Geno quickly caught his breath as he hears the firing ceasing, followed by a bellowing laugh from the robo-heavy. [b][color=778899]"YOU CANNOT HIDE COWARD! FIGHT LIKE BIG BOT!"[/color][/b] Geno had to do something quickly if he wanted to get out of this sticky situation. He can attempt to fire at the massive bot with his hand-cannon, but compared to the star-gun he had prior before the flash this cannon would be worth little to pierce through its thick steel-exterior. And what's worse, it's heavy mechanical footsteps seemed to be getting slowly closer to where he is. He needs something with a bigger punch to even stand a chance against it. That's when he suddenly noticed one of the rabbits mindlessly playing with a yo-yo as if he had no idea of what's happening around him! The earphones he wore were probably the major culprit as well. And below him was an [url=https://i.imgur.com/Wjkw1LU.png]unusually large black and orange sniper-rifle like weapon[/url] just laying there. That weapon looked as if it sported a great amount of power behind it - maybe enough to take down that huge robot. Aiming his hand cannon, Geno blasted away the distracted rabbit as he grabbed the rifle. He quickly made sure to see if it was loaded (it was) and popped out of the brick cover to aim it straight at it's head. Before the Heavy could fire his minigun, he found himself getting headshot by the sniper rifle before exploding into a fireball of steel shrapnel falling everywhere. Geno would pause momentarily before looking down at the rifle. [color=6ecff6][b][i]"Not bad..."[/i][/b][/color] he thought to himself, [color=6ecff6][b][i]"This should help tremendously."[/i][/b][/color] Yet as the star warrior attempted to aim it at another group of bots, he noticed that the weapon wasn't firing. Upon further inspection, it appeared that the weapon was out of ammo. Geno must've used the last shot in it's arsenal. Lucky for him. Tossing it aside, Geno attempts to further scout the surrounding area while avoiding enemy fire. How long will he be able to last in these stressful conditions?