[center][img]https://www.mariowiki.com/images/thumb/b/b2/Koopa_Troop_artwork.png/658px-Koopa_Troop_artwork.png[/img]
[h2][color=FD0000]The Koopa Troop[/color][/h2]
[b][color=FD0000]wordcount:[/color][/b]  1,257(+3)
[b][color=FD0000]Bowser: Level 5 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=FD0000]///////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (54/50)
Stress: 45/100
[b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 4 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]////////////////////////[/color]////////////// (25/40)
Stress: 110/100
[b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Kamek: Level 4 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DeepSkyBlue]///////////////////////////////[/color]////////// (31/40)
Stress: 85/100
[b][color=FD0000]Location:[/color][/b] Ancestral Farmstead, the Land of Adventure 
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Working together Bowser, the Centurion and Mimikyu assailed the Thing from Beyond the Stars. Held in place by the tiny mouse mimicker and having shown little inclination to dodge before then it was a target ripe for receiving Bowser fatherly vengeance. Claws slashed, grabbed and shredded the thing’s horrid flesh even as it unleashed its mind blasting power against its attackers. The two warriors soldiered through the stress and continued to hack and slash until all at once a threshold was reached the Thing’s defenses suddenly broke.

The body began rapidly decaying as the power within abandoned flesh to gather itself together for one final act. Bowser backed away hurriedly as green energy pooled together, the king worrying that it might be about to explode, but instead it blasted upwards, fleeing from its ruined body and returning to the stars above.

With the passing of the Thing from Beyond the Stars the hilltop was returned back down to the land of adventure from whatever unnatural place it had been ripped into for a few brief moments. Yet despite the madding threat’s removal its minions had only increased in strength, variety and number while the king had been focused on the Thing.

Kamek’s dry bones, who had been stuck in a deadlock against the farmhands, began to be overwhelmed as the newly arrived foremen arrived to bolster the rabble. Hiding behind their minions they lashed out at Kemek with their whips that sailed over the heads of both the farmhands and the slowly contracting circle of skeletal minions. Only aid from Linkle prevented them from being completely overwhelmed.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Gah!”[/color] the mage cried out in pain as the tip of a lash struck him in the back as he shielded the slowly recovering Jr from harm. The mage wiped his wand around and yelled [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Buzz off you flea bitten farmboys!”[/color] at the offending forman, while blindly blasting a fireball back over the front-lines of their battle in retaliation.

Once again it was Mimikyue came to the aid of the beleaguered Koopas after it was sure the king and centurion had the Thing firmly pinned down in melee combat. The small spirit scooting around and between the legs of the dry bones and farmhands to join the Koopas while also dodging the shots and explosives that Linkle was indiscriminately raining down upon the undead friend and foe alike.

“Kyu Kyu!” they squeaked as they placed themselves opposite Kamek at jr’s side and began lashing out with its long claws at the closest farmhands, somewhat ineffective scratching at their faces with their lengthy limbs.

Kamek was happy both to have someone else at jr’s side and that the boy had found such a useful and loyal minion but quickly realised that they could apply themselves better. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Good work cutie, but hit the ones skulking at the back with the whip instead, they’re the most dangerous,”[/color] he instructed it. Kamek was convinced that if they could destroy the newly arrived minion commanders they could break the back of the Thing’s remaining forces, and as a result prioritized them over the scarecrows even if he was quite certain he couldn;t take much more of their mind mangling screeches.

Mimikyu hearing this turned to look up at the mage for a moment tilting its head to the side a little as if thinking whether to obey this instruction.

When Kamek added [color=DeepSkyBlue]”It’s the best way to keep our young master safe,”[/color] the creature nodded and set to work. Its claws sunk into its now singular moonlit shadow, which raced out and under the melee before popping up behind a foerman like an assassin to strike it in the back with a dark claw. The spectral strike seemed to ignore the protection offered by the foreman’s petrified form, leaving great gashes in its back before the shadow snuck away to strike another foreman. Even with Mimikyu’s harassment sowing havoc among the enemy's minion commanders Kamek still feared that they might be over run. The circle grew ever smaller as the dry bone’s dry bones attacks were riposte by the empowered farmhands or they had their bones melted away by their blighted seeds. This fear ended when Bowser finished wailing on the Thing from beyond the stars.

With central threat torn to shreds and reduced to a pulp (which oddly had remained behind even as the thing both seemed to flee and be spritified simultaneously), Bowser turned his focus to take out the trash. Great waves of flames spewed from his swollen and injured mouth (quickly and painfully cauterizing some of the wounds inflicted by the Brachydios’ beat down in the process) and washed over the masses of crystalline undead assailing the squad from every side. While the crystal components of their foes where relatively resistant to fire the same could not be said for any cloth, wood and most especially hay making up their constitution. Thus as Bowser stomped around burninating the countryside he left swaths of their foes at worst incinerated and at best merely left actively on fire. Any who survived or looked like they might recover received a hammer to the face as Mallet and Sledge rode on their lord’s shoulders, throwing their namesakes at any monstrosities that needed a bit more work to put down or attempted to assailed Bowser from behind or the sides.

Bowser’s third striker was not part of that battle however and had instead, with the help of mallet, Heel the Rabbid Supporter team jumped over the monster’s assailing Kamek, Mimikyu and Jr’s position, landing among them to provide faster healing for Bowser’s wounded son.

With a pulse of healing energy from Heel’s medical backpack Jr’s physical form, kept intact by Kamek’s care and the steady stream of healing provided by the vitality potion, was restored to near working condition. Yet his mind was still a wreck. The Thing’s last return to the stars had broken something in his heart and soul and so even as his physical form was restored he couldn't help but feel like the situation was [Hopeless].

He sat up slowly and looked around, ignoring Kamek’s fussing as he took in what he had missed. The thing was dead, which was good, and his father was here, which was also good. On the other hand Bowser had clearly taken a beating, they were surrounded by even more rock zombies and they still had to deal with their actual target that was busy blowing up their allies some distance away. Jr sighed dejectedly as his mind focused much more on how things were going poorly instead of the bits that were going well. 

He broke out of his listless gazing at the events unfolding when Mimikyu hopped onto his knee.

“Mimi?” they intoned with concern before cutely bopping its soft cotton filled head against the boy’s belly.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Young Master? Young Master? Are you alright? Do you need more healing?”[/color] Kamek asked, and had been asking since jr came too.

[color=SpringGreen]”What? No. I’m fine”[/color] he muttered even though he wasn't entirely back up to snuff, pushing away Kemek’s hand as the mage tried to hand him some of the green herbs. Heel’s timer had already run out at this point (the Rabbid had healed all he could and even chucked a few bombs around before poofing back out of existence) and jr didn’t see the point of wasting what little healing items they had left on himself, useless as he currently was.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Then are you able to fight? We could really, gah”[/color] Kamek was interrupted by the lash of a whip before finishing that [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Use your help.”[/color]

Jr took a look around for a few moments and then asked [color=SpringGreen]”How? All my stuff’s over there,”[/color] before pointing at his clown car, which was in the process of slowly drifting away into the sky again after it had been relieved of its pilot.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”I.. Well. your minion sire!”[/color] Kamek urged the boy in while blasting a farmhand with his magic wand.

[color=SpringGreen]”Fine. Sure,”[/color] jr replied, unconvinced that they could be of any help. Yet with the halfhearted call of, [color=SpringGreen]”Minions get out here.”[/color] he summoned his swarm off Koopas and Goombas into the perimeter anyway, suddenly packing it full of bodies.

[color=SpringGreen]”Go fight or something.”[/color] jr instructed vaguely while he gradually got to his feet while Mimikyu reclaimed their now by now familiar spot on his shoulder. The minions not immediately under attack glanced at one another before one of the goombas hesitantly asked “eey boss, you alright? Ya sound a bit down.”

[color=SpringGreen]”Meh”[/color] jr responded unhelpful and noncommittally.

“So uh. How we playing this? What formation we doing?”

[color=SpringGreen]”Don’t care.”[/color]

“uhhhh”

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Join the fight! Push back the rabble, link up with our allies and make sure you destroy the bodies of the zombies because they turn into bombs if you don’t,”[/color] Kamek commanded the squad in Jr’s place, spurring them into action.

“On it!” the minion army responded, before throwing themselves into the fray alongside the depleted dry bone forces, punching, kicking headputting and generally attempting to overwhelm the farm hands before stomping their remains into oblivion. They were a lot better at the second part than the first, due to being individually smaller and weaker than the farmhands, but the difference in height between the undead humans and Bowser’s minions made it easy for their allies to shoot or strike over their heads in order to help out the swarm who could then deal with the remains. 

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”We’re going to win this.”[/color] Kamek quietly assured jr with a clap on his Mimikyu less shoulder as he started blasting farm hands with clusters of colorful shapes shot from his magic wand. 

[color=SpringGreen]”Like we always do,”[/color] Jr muttered sarcastically as he advanced after the minion horde, unarmed and disinclined to get stuck into the melee, Mimikyu riding his shoulder and continuing their shadow sneak attacks on the foremen.