[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=SpringGreen]wordcount:[/color][/b] 1859 (+3) [b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 7 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (72/70) [b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Kamek: Level 7 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DeepSkyBlue]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (70/70) [b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Location:[/color][/b] Edge of the Blue – Open Ocean -> Limsa Lominscuttle Town [/center] Kamek gave a little sigh of relief when the SeaPlane Tender agreed to help them. That had been a lot more tense than any kind of pep talk he had ever given and he was glad it had worked out, especially in a way that would help them get information about both their current and penultimate goal in the region. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”We’d be grateful for your help, and of course you can come aboard,”[/color] Kamek said, directing the white mage clone to begin healing her while Sakura, who had recovered pleasingly quickly, practically dragged the ship into their vessel, leaving Kamek outside with their last loose end. He glanced at the gauntlett’ed ship, still asleep, and then at the heart still floating in his hand and then put two and two together, flying close and then applying the heart to the ship girl’s own. Asleep, she offered no resistance to the power and the read wisps coming from her closed eyes shifted from red to teal-blue. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Well now, isn’t that interesting. Certainly a much less violent and risky way of going about that”[/color] Kamek commented, making a note to himself to inform the mercenaries about that along with everyone else, before directing his toadies to carefully bring her aboard as well. [color=SpringGreen]”Is that everyone? Finally, Sakura’s talking on and on about food has left me starving!”[/color] Jr commented from the controls of the ship as everyone settled down and the sleeping ship was put to bed. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”That’s everyone accounted for. Please, take us back to port if you could, young master”[/color] Kamek replied after he saw too the sleeping ship-girl’s safety and then he took a seat and strapped himself in, happy to finally get some rest after the hectic sea battle. The prince was more than happy to leave, hauling the ship skywards and sending it sailing though the sky back towards town. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Ah yes, you were both worried about what people’s reactions back in the city would be weren't you?”[/color] Kamek said, turning to the abyssal and abyssal looking ship girls, [color=DeepSkyBlue]”As Sakura and Gertalt have said, thanks to princess peach you shouldn’t have an issue with that Miss Ranger, but your situation is a bit of a conundrum your majesty. We may be able to collect a disguise for your appearance while fetching Peach? A new, less distinctive, outfit perhaps? Though the tail is something of an issue with that plan”[/color] [color=SpringGreen]”We could give it a new paint job?”[/color] Jr suggested [color=SpringGreen]”Make it obvious that she’s converted to our team instead of hiding her?”[/color] He thought for a moment more before also suggesting [color=SpringGreen]”Or if you wanna be sneaky maybe we can find some spirits to fuse her with like a bunch, really mess with her appearance. For a bit anyway”[/color] [color=DeepSkyBlue]”hmm, but how would we acquire more spirits?”[/color] Kamek asked, somewhat rhetorically, as he thought about the possibility [color=SpringGreen]”Well there's this place where they fish or something right? Get a bunch from there, make her look like a harmless haddock”[/color] [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Or we could lend her some of ours. Have Peach pull them out, put them in her and then take them out again once we don't need the disguise any more?”[/color] Kamek said. Peach had turned powers into strikers before, she likely could do the reverse, though it was unclear whether that would have some kind of negative impact on the strikers or not. Alternatively Jr could lend his Brachydios to her, though he wasn't sure if jr would be up to the idea. They’d have time to think about it on the mostly uneventful flight back to town. Emphasis on mostly. [hr] The [url=https://i.imgur.com/CXE2QvG.png]Heavy Cruiser Ri-Class[/url] slowly flitted back to consciousness and found herself laying in a strange room on an foreign but comfortable surface. She scrolled back in her memories and found that she had been fighting for her princess, and then there had been nothing and now she was here. When this had happened before, that was because she had died. Yet she also had not gone through the highly unpleasant process of being not dead, and also this was not where she had woken after those times. That was strange. Also, though she did not consciously recognize it, the Ri-Class felt different. Calmer mostly, but also the new heart beating away in her chest made her feel the kind of safe and secure someone would feel when knowing that they had a friend nearby who was keeping watch for danger. As a result, she did not panic, and instead deduced that: The new way she’d woken up was good. This palace was also new. Therefore this place was also good. The Ri-Class nodded to herself, happy with her logic, and that was the end of that. Then she sat up, leaving the pillows and blanket (that had been carefully arranged so she could lie comfortably despite the metal and tubing welded onto her back) behind. A little part of her hadn't wanted to leave, but good soldiers didn’t lay about or slack off. She glanced around the room and found it bare and spartan, stripped of any personal belongings. She also found a dozen odd skeletal turtle creatures, working in two teams of six to hold her gauntlets up in a position that had her let lay comfortably on the bed despite having two destroyer sized weapons irremovable strapped to her arms. She stared at one of the dry-bones for a while till it waved awkwardly at her briefly before resuming its given task of supporting her armaments. This was strange, the Ri-class thought, but probably fine. She felt no innate urge to attack the things, no one was telling her to attack them and they weren't attacking her. So this was fine. What else. There were voices coming from the other room. That’s probably where the other ships were. Now that she was not dead, she reasoned, she should go and report her ready status. She got up, hauling the massive gauntlets up with her and instinctively activating the anti gravity mechanism in them, the same one that let destroyers float, which made moving around and fighting with them a breeze. What it did not make a breeze was operating doors, like the one that led to where the voices were. After awkwardly scrambling with the door for a few moments one of the dry-bones carefully walked up and opened it for her, revealing the bridge beyond. There she found a ship girl, a human and two creatures that looked a bit like the helpful bone creatures if they had still been alive conversing with two, no three (there was a small legged destroyer in the lap of the spiky turtle creature) abyssals. She stared at this scene utterly confused, and then only after creating an awkward silence for several moments realized in a panic one of the abyssals was her princess. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”ah you're finally awake-”[/color] the blue robed turtle began to say as the Ri-Class stumbled backwards and then jerkily saluted the princess, her gauntlet'ed hand smashing into the low ceiling of the ship in the process, causing the whole vessel to lurch ever so slightly. She stumbled and then recovered, not carving a massive gash in the ceiling this time “Heavy Cruiser, Ri-Class, reporting!” she announced like a good soldier. [color=SpringGreen]”You! Sit down and strap in before you break more stuff or make us crash!”[/color] the spiky one, who was seemingly controlling the building they where in, yelled at her. She froze up. He wasn't abyssal. But he was ordering her around. Only people who were in charge of her ordered her around. Also he had an abyssal sitting in his lap. Also the princess was sitting already so was he in charge of her? She was taking too long. If she looked like she was disobeying she’d get in trouble. So she sat and then tried to buckle herself in a few times before the skeletal turtle helped her do that too. That was useful. She hadn't really been annoyed about having her arms locked up like this till now, so it was nice that the turtle thing was helping. This meant she was rather startled when it poofed into a puff of smoke and a bunch of rapidly fading colorful shapes. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Ah, my apologies for the alarm. They’re just magical constructs and I don't want them tumbling about while we fly. Are you alright?”[/color] The blue robed one asked “I” she’d never been asked that before. “I don’t know?” She was confused. Incredibly confused. Nothing made sense, but this one, this one was a friend? What was a friend? She didn't know. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”I understand that this might be confusing. But let me try and explain”[/color] the creature, that later introduces himself as Kamek, said, and then try to explain he did, speaking of other worlds and a creature called Galeem, of her controlled past, her possible future and of more simple things when she asked about them but it was hard. She was a grunt. A drone. A soldier. She wasn't supposed to think, she was made to fight and obey and die, but now those unquestionable impulses had died on the battlefield while she was still here, still alive. But she was still loyal wasn’t she? Wasn't she? She was supposed to tear Kamek apart. But he was her friend, and the princess wasn't ordering her to kill him. So she let him talk. [hr] [color=DeepSkyBlue]”But why do you fight for them?”[/color] “I was made to. It’s what I’m for” [color=DeepSkyBlue]”But why for them. Do you believe in their cause?”[/color] “Their cause?” [color=DeepSkyBlue]”What does the fleet fight for”[/color] “I. I don’t know?” She hadn't needed to before [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Do they treat you well? Do you enjoy being one of them? Or do you suffer?”[/color] “I” she tried to think of something, but she only remembered the pain of waking up every time before today [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Does your leader inspire you? Do you admire them?”[/color] She glanced over at the princess. The princess who had already tuned her back on the abyss due to the same ‘friend heart’ that had been used on her. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”If you get nothing out of being part of the feet, then why fight for it?”[/color] “But. I was made to. It’s what I’m for” she repeated Kamek forced himself not to sigh. This was turning out to be a lot more difficult than dealing with the princess, but he thought he was getting somewhere ever so slowly. She was, he was releasing, a minion, and he knew how to handle those. [color=SpringGreen]”Hate to break up your therapy session,”[/color] Jr butted in as Limsa Lominscuttle Town came into view. [color=SpringGreen]”but we’re here”[/color] [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Ah well. We’ll come back to this at a later date. For now you three should hide yourselves till we get Peach and work out what we’re doing about this whole situation”[/color] Kamek gently waved his hand at the pair’s abyssal nature. The three ship girls, and for added safety one abyssal pig, were moved into the back bedroom so no one could spot them if they happened to look inside the ships windows, and then the Atomos was carefully brought down to land in the spot it had left from. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Right then. Hopefully finding the princess won’t be too hard. Shall we all go, or does anyone want to stay behind? Might be wise, just in case there's any trouble”[/color] [color=SpringGreen]”I’m staying behind. [i]Someone[/i] damaged my ship, so I’ll fix it while you're wandering aimlessly around town looking for Peach.”[/color] Jr replied, before also releasing there was a bunch of external damage too. The trip had not been kind to the cargo hauler, but despite that the fact that they'd flown the glorified flying van into a warzone and gotten back in once piece was impressive. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Very well. Anyone else?”[/color] Kamek asked before heading out to track down the princess.