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[img]https://i.postimg.cc/DyH88WMW/Kid-s-Hat-Final.png[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/Zn05qZPF/Jiggy-Final.png[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/L5r26P82/Star-Fox-Final.png[/img]

[b]Level:[/b] [color=8258fa]6 (5 -> 11/60)[/color] | [color=fed428]5 (10 -> 16/50)[/color] | [color=5edaf6]3 (13 -> 19/30)[/color]
[b]Location:[/b] Land of Adventure - Spiral Mountain -> The End
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1896 (+6 EXP | [b]Overdrive![/b])

Power: [color=8258fa]Brewing Hat[/color], [color=fed428]Beak Bomb[/color], [color=5edaf6]Jet[/color]
[color=fed428]Item:[/color] Red Feathers (-2-3), Trowlon-lon Milk (-0.4)
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With the duo’s unceremonious, but official, induction into the ranks of Smash, the brief intermission was over. Proper ceremony and celebration could wait until later. The matter at hand demanded their collective attention, which the Princess called upon for the pre-mission briefing. Her speech served more to inspire than direct, and certainly, it was somewhat inspiring… in the sense that it inspired some confidence in Fox that someone of reasonable competence was taking charge in his (or anyone else’s) absence. Though either of them were preferable to nothing as far as direction, between her and Bowser, he had a clear preference. At Peach’s last line, a corner of his mouth cocked up slightly in a light, satisfied smirk. She may yet have a latent talent for squad leadership if left to foster it, but likelihood of sharing the burden over shouldering it ensured she’d be able to do so comfortably--relatively speaking.

With that, the party proceeded across (or in some cases over) the bridge in managed order, which, in the way of steady traversal, posed no issue for Hat Kid, Fox, or Banjo and Kazooie. For the latter two it almost stood as a reminder of old times… if not for the excess of company, the change in landscape, the difference in objective, and pretty much everything else. This sentiment of alien circumstance carried over well into Grunty’s Lair, the interior not so much as remotely resembling its former self. A finely laid brick corridor took the place of the open, methodically carved out cavern that they remembered from before, ending some ways in at a darkened well frame embedded in the wall--no doubt an entrance into the looming dark that hung over the lair. Upon confirming its safety and simplicity of use the party entered through one at a time.

On the other side they were met with… something not [i]entirely[/i] unexpected, but certainly foreign to anyone there. A veritable archipelago of largely barren, pale yellow stone lay suspended within backdrop of infinite darkness in every direction. Fox observed quietly to himself that this was, in fact, NOT the Subspace, though it was conceptually not too far off. Of course, it wasn’t Space [i]proper[/i] either, as him and Hat Kid knew too well to be the case (unbeknownst to one another). Despite the evidently ominous nature of this place, the child was less put off by it than most present. As far as she was concerned it was just another pocket dimension to be cleared; pretty standard fare; nothing to be [i]too[/i] worried about.

The thought came to her too soon, as a few of their comrades were beset upon by a small number of hitherto unseen wraith-like aberrations, likely native to this dimension. With the sudden increase in their presence, the creatures’ immediate proximity to their accosted allies, and their sporadic teleportation, Fox found some difficulty focusing on any of them long enough to get a clear shot off. Banjo and Kazooie struggled similarly to find an opening amidst the madness to jump in for an assist. Just as well, for one of their allies managed to intuit and call out the secret to the creatures’ behavior so as to prevent further drawing their ire. Hat Kid was spared the danger of looking directly at any of them by her Hat’s waypoint focusing on the center of the central island.

Inevitably, the issue of safe traversal to their target destination came up, regarding those among them who couldn’t fly or jump far enough to at least reach the scattered islets and avoid a perilous fall into the everdark. To that end, Hat Kid, Banjo and Kazooie, and even Fox could probably all make it with mild difficulty using the latter method, but it was for the better that they take a less circuitous route along with the others so as to not lag behind and risk possible delay by more Endermen. Jr, otherwise unwilling to take passengers, would end up hauling a technical stowaway by the propeller of his kart with Hat Kid using it as an attachment point for her Hookshot, hooking onto it as the Koopaling took off flying overhead. In similar fashion, Fox nimbly hopped onto Euden’s back in dragon form, landing lightly in a kneel and keeping a handhold on for the duration of their crossing. Light as the pilot was, he expected (and hoped) the prince wouldn’t mind. Finally, Banjo and Kazooie shot themselves skyward in a streak of red stars that marked Flight for them, and promptly estimated in their heads an inability to cover the full distance to the island without spending precious resources. Between Red Feathers and the Trowlon-lon Milk, they could more easily spare the latter, so Banjo threw down another serving of hard watery swill to triple their launch height and coast the rest of the way over.

At varying rates, by varying methods, everyone made it to the island a little at a time and carefully made their way toward its center. A period of unsettling silence and inactivity that hung in the air like the atmospheric haze around them marked the prelude to the impending conflict, followed by a chorus of Endermen to sound off the arrival of their foe. A pair of purple lights aglow in a starless sky revealed against the dark a great ebonic drake that claimed this dimension as its domain. The beast swooped down to set itself atop the frontmost obsidian spire, making its imposing presence known to the intruders in guttural announcement before entering a ramming dive toward the clustered heroes.

To some end the Ender Dragon’s opening attack succeeded better than expected, knocking aside roughly half of the party that failed to scatter in time. Banjo was bowled straight over underfoot and sent tumbling along the porous stone, Hat Kid contacted with the Dragon’s head while trying to jump over it, and Fox dashed wide of it, but not enough to avoid being struck by a wing end and thrown back-first into one of the spires. By the time they got back to their feet the Dragon was already out of their ranges, so the best they could do at the moment was to spread out, keep mobile, and let the more range capable of their group go to work on it until it circled back.

While staying on the move, Hat Kid tried to analyse the situation to figure out what she could contribute and how, and she noticed something peculiar. Neither Jr’s MOAB balloons nor the Dragon’s corrosive bombardment (both of which they made a point of steering clear of) did any discernible damage to the spires. She began drawing parallels to the previous boss battle in her head. [i][color=8258fa]Black Pillars; Black Spires; Both seemingly indestructible; Both bosses so far have been dragons; these are probably just coincidences, and I’m definitely overthinking the wrong aspects of this…[/color][/i] Her internal rambling did point to one relevant truth, however: that this boss had a gimmick… and some were already onto it. It was then that she noticed a beam trailing from one of the spired crystals to the Dragon, and another subsequently detonating under the knife of a Striker. She didn’t exactly know why, but this struck her (as well as others, it seemed) as a necessary step to bringing the leviathan down.

[color=8258fa]“Hey!”[/color] she called to the animal duo, pointing to any one of the crystals being besieged by their allies, trusting they would understand from there before Sprinting off to find Jr’s kart and grappling onto it again. She carried her momentum of her upswing through by entering into a vertical wall run up the height of the nearest spire, detaching her hook as she reached the top and pushing off the crystal’s housing cage in a soaring backflip. Her time perception dilated at that exact second just long enough for her to switch hats, donning what appeared to be a conical witch’s cap. She then manifested a full vial of unknown contents--seemingly from nothing--shook it for a second until it activated, looked down to smile and wave at Jr, and hurled the improvised chemical explosive at the crystal, all while passing over the Koopaling. She righted herself on her backfall and hooked onto it once more.

With a proper directive given to them, Banjo and Kazooie immediately saw a way to make themselves useful, even if it had limited uses. Banjo neared one of the spires, chugged another swig of the reddened lightener, and ascended for the crystal that sat atop the structure. His ascent was more graceful, controlled, deliberate than the first time around; closer in manner to an assisted jump. As per the pattern and dynamic, Kazooie took over from there, seizing aerial control when the potion’s effect wore off. Once they were lined up with the crystal, she reared back in anticipation, expending one Red Feather, and tucked her wings as she shot forward in a breakneck kamikaze dive, aiming to shatter the gem on impact. Unlikely as it was to be the case, should one more hit be necessary, she would repeat the attack accordingly. After which, she would need to spend another Feather to stay aloft at their height.

The assault on the spires didn’t go unnoticed by Fox whilst seeking cover between them. His problem was being able to hit them from his poor angle on the ground, as well as having an acid spewing dragon to evade and occupy. The battle was still young, however, and he still had a narrow window to make a move before the drake came back around to make another run. As he made haste for any unassailed tower with a still intact jewel atop it (should there happen to be one), Fox drew sights on any one of the nearby Endermen, intentionally antagonizing the gangly spectre to draw it closer, leaping over whatever reckless attack it threw out, and footstooling off of the unsuspecting creature to propel himself higher. With an additional wall jump, followed by a variant propulsion technique, he quickly boosted to the top of the spire in a jetstream of white smoke. From there he got a good look at the Ender Dragon on its return flight to the island, as well as the coordinated crystal destruction being conducted around him. By this point the Enderman he offended would have teleported up there to meet him. Fox then dove from the tower, air dashed away toward the open, and turned to litter the gem with a rapid volley of lethal red light on his way down. The explosion resulting from its destruction would surely take care of the pursuing Enderman.

He landed closer to the center of the battlefield between the spires in the midst of the Dragon’s impending return, and measured the next action he took against that of the beast. If it bombarded them again, he would stand his ground just long enough to throw out his Reflector to respond, having seen the caustic projectiles once already and evaluated them, [url=https://youtu.be/oU2CzynZqmI?t=527]based on identical past experience[/url], to be manageable. Otherwise, if it attempted another straightforward physical assault, he would instead disengage and clear himself of its path. From there (in the latter case), he would harry it with prodding blaster fire from below, aiming for its beaming violet eyes that made for the easiest target.