[center][img]https://www.mariowiki.com/images/thumb/b/b2/Koopa_Troop_artwork.png/658px-Koopa_Troop_artwork.png[/img]

[b][color=SpringGreen]wordcount:[/color][/b] 1258 (+3)
[b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 6 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]///////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (114/60)
[b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Kamek: Level 6 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DeepSkyBlue]/////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]///////////////////// (49/70) 
[b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Location:[/color][/b] Edge of the Blue – Seaward Bay
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[color=DeepSkyBlue]”I’m not slow… ok fine I probably am, those ladies were quite nippy”[/color] Kamek said when Peach complained about the lack of fast fliers to chase after the ship girls. Neither Kamek nor Jr’s aerial transport devices were built to be the fastest in the land, just fast enough that it beat platforming around the mushroom kingdom. 

After that the remaining heroes split up to investigate their Peach given task, with the airships being the one that was given to Kamek.

 Unfortunately it turned out when Kamek had been completely wrong when he had said to Jr that they wouldn’t need the money yet. Not having cash on hand made it very difficult to get the time of day from prospective airship captains and crews, let alone begin discussing hiring their services or buying their ships for adventuring purposes. It seemed the summary of the situation they’d gotten on arrival had been entirely accurate. No one making money hand over fist running jobs for the merchants was the least bit interested in their dangerous quest. 

This left Kamek with the bottom of the barrel, and down there he found a flying machine that was practically a flying van. While the ship itself turned out to be pretty unsuitable for racing thoughts storms, the owners of the airship turned out to be much more interesting than their transport.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Oh yes, we’re all upstanding citizens here,”[/color] Kamek agreed when Balthier hastily denied any connection to piracy, not so subtly confirming that dealing with former pirates was not going to be an issue because when it came to the likes of Kamek, the pair were in good, or rather villainous, company. 

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”I appreciate you being upfront about the risks involved in using your craft like we need to,”[/color] he said after as he examined the machine and mulled it over and then decided that he didn’t need to decide quite yet. Indeed it would be rash to do so. Its not like he could pay anyway.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”My associates are currently looking into a few other possible options, so I’ll need to catch up with them before I commit to anything. I’ll be sure to let you know either way what our decision is by the end of the day,”[/color] He assured them, before bidding his farewells and heading back to meet up with the rest of the team so they could review their findings.

[hr]

Over in Peach’s castle Jr’s hand scooping method was replaced by Sakura’s far more sensible methods of transporting the treasure, namly a hand cart and some big old sacks. Jr felt like he was a bank robber stuffing the sack full of gold, which was to him a very fun thing to think about while he worked away at shoving the heavy riches into the bag. The time it took for Sakura to get their new treasure transport gave the Ace enough time to get his trip to Lumbridge over and  done with, the hunter returning with a little collection of new gear he’d gotten for his troubles.

The sword and hammer were neat, but his new horned headpiece was the real star in Jr’s opinion [color=SpringGreen]”oh neat. Now you match”[/color] he noted, pointing from the horns down to BB’s own. Speaking of the piggo, Jr’s own behemoth managed to look awfully jealous of BB as the pig propped itself up on the gold cart with a new piece of ornamentation added to boot. This was despite Tyrant having been able to run around and play in the piles of gold with Mimi (who’d mostly spent her time surfing coins down piles of treasure) while the team collected their cash. 

With everyone ready to go, jr grabbed his own overstuffed bag, hauled it up into his car. Then he jumped up and down on it a few times trying to shove it into the glove box before giving up and using the car (with its go kart wheels deployed) as his own little push cart. Tyrant immediately seized the opportunity and mounted his own gold filled chariot, sticking his nose up at BB’s own despite it being more fit for purpose. Then Mimi sat on his head in-order to use him as her own throne, putting the porker in his place.

[color=SpringGreen]”You bet I am”[/color] was Jr’s overconfident response to being challenged to arm wrestling, before they started the long hard trip out of the vaults and towards their destination. They picked up a small escort of mercenaries in the foyer, had to physically lift their transport carts for a brief moment in order to go through the paint portal with them, almost got squished from the drop at the other end of the warp, drew a lot of attention and urges to come shopping with their spoils that their escort were forced to shoo off while passing thought he shopping alley and then finally arrived back at the the spot they’d set off from.

As the mercs headed home and the party reassembled Jr flopped down onto the ground to take a load off his tired legs, [color=SpringGreen]”Ok. I get the paper money those loot boxes wanted now, moving that much gold around is the worst!”[/color]

[hr]

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”I’m afraid the best we can get airship wise is an Atomos, which is functionally a flying delivery van,”[/color] Kamek infrared the group once they were mostly back together, [color=DeepSkyBlue]”It’s fast, but it won’t be able to take us through the storm unless we go close to the sea, and if we do it’s weaponless and armor less target for sea monsters,”[/color]  

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”That said, it doesn't need to stay that way. Ace and Peach's comment about feeding spirits to Shippy has me thinking. Even if we can’t buy what we need right now, that doesn't mean we can't get something decent and then upgrade it. Mechanically in the case of the Atomos or spiritually in Shippy’s or the sky hatchery’s case”[/color] Kamek hadn’t given up on the sky hatchery like Peach had. In his opinion getting some of the fighters their own personal flying mounts might be useful to let them get into fights rather than being stuck on the deck of some ship or other.

[color=SpringGreen]”There was a junkyard back on the islands the casino was on. We could fly it and see if there’s junk there I can use to soup up this titchy airship. If not that then the kart graveyard and whatever's making all those robots might work out instead I guess.”[/color] Jr said, interested in the idea but not not entirely convinced they had what the needed to turn the lame sounding Atomos into a storm chasing machine worthy of the Koopa Troop’s airfleet [color=SpringGreen]”Shame we can't just crush spirits and get a compleat airship out of it huh”[/color]

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”That seems outside the bounds of what they can provide yes, however on a more basic level it might be an option. If we acquire this airship, or avians, or Shippy, or any combination of the above, then we can use those as jumping off points. Roam the seas, gather powerful spirits for fusion or ship parts, and in doing so build ourselves up to a palace where we can face the final gauntlet of the storm. At the very least, if we want to investigate the abyssal fleet we need to get out there somehow and most of our options are likely up to the task of scouting the sea, even if they aren't up to facing the storms quite yet”[/color]  He summarized.