[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] 1,315 (+3) [b][color=FD0000]Bowser: Level 9 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=FD0000]/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]///////// (80/90) [b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 7 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (71/70) [b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Kamek: Level 7 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DeepSkyBlue]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color](70/70) [b][color=FD0000]Location:[/color][/b] Edge of the Blue – Bottomless Ocean Feat: Rika [/center] [color=SpringGreen]”nononononono wait what?!”[/color] Jr paused his panicked sub-vocalizations to yelp when the ship was suddenly wrapped in golden chains and the sinking feeling suddenly halted. He was stunned for a moment and then tried to adjust the controls to stop the ship straining against whatever this stasis was only to find them stuck too and the dull background roar of the engine silenced. It was a brief and bizarre lull in the hectic action, that lasted just long enough to get a look at the battlefield and be fearful of the beating and threat of a cliffhanger ending his dad was receiving in the same way a certain lion might have done in another time and space. Then a few (rapid) heartbeat after the stasis had appeared the gold started ringing, as if someone was hitting it with a spoon. The tone started slowly but then picked up in urgency, demanding the prince’s attention even as the sea spire his dad was clinging to started being smashed to bits again. [color=SpringGreen]”Aw beans. That’s not going to last is it?”[/color] jr noted. He really hoped the hat kid, who had not given her name before dashing off on an umbrella propelled flight out the back, had managed to fix the engine through the stasis. All they could do now was [color=SpringGreen]”Hold on!”[/color] and brace for whatever the stasis ending would be like. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”I’m wearing a seat-belt”[/color] Kamek helpful informed the prince while massaging his temples, skull thrumming from the adrenalin of his close call and the day’s magical exertion [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Gah, my head’s ringing”[/color] [color=SpringGreen]”That’s the gold stuff and it’s about to go!”[/color]shouted at him informatively [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Oh”[/color] Kamek replied, right as the stasis ran out. [hr] “Shoo you stupid fish” Rika demanded as a versatile swarm of the beasties tried to attack her. Better her than Sakura and Bella she supposed, who together where in the process of explosively dislodged the princess’s tail from the eel’s grip. “Go eat things that wont fight back” she told them while blocking a jumping shark with a hull-blade and then repeatedly punching it in the face with her still abyssal gauntlet. Her turrets were aiming freely, swinging two and fro pumping shell after shell at anything moving below the surface. The problem, Rika recognized as she impaled a undead piranha on her gun’s bayonet and slapped another one down with the other free hull-blade, was that while she was was incredibly apt at running point defense with her myriad of automated weapons, she could only act reactively, because no-matter how hard they tried to pre-aim, cannon shells were not made to hit stuff under the water. If only she had torpedoes. Or depth charges. She did have explosives, but trying to use said exploding slime on water didn't work very well thanks to it floating like oil. Also spitting on it was not a long range triggering mechanism, which made the whole thing a risky proposition, particularly when trying to defend a point. Maybe she could get Jr to make something for her later she thought while firing her giant rifle at full auto at a nearby shark to dissuade it from coming close to the surface. Little capsules with spit and slime in them? Gross but it could be effective. For the moment, most of what she was doing was spraying the area around her with slime and then spitting on it, causing a chain of explosions that didn't catch much, but right now the ship girl was all about volume of fire so it fit in nicely with that strategy. How long she could keep going all guns blazing was debatable. With that in mind, as soon as Bella was free and safe, and she’d make sure she had a safe spot to land with her fire power if she did anything today, he’d be heading back to the ship to reload, which would bring the explosive slime producing ship girl within earshot of the man in green who was in the middle of trying to make grenades using all scrap and no primer. [hr] Bowser’s rocket propelled bunny hopping worked a treat, the king laughing as he skipped over the frightful fishes and rapidly advanced on the tiny terror. Blazermate’s advice was positive reinforcement for his plan. If they wanted to stop the eel strikes, they had to hit the source. To that end he launched himself at her sea-stack fortification, landing safely about half way up it. Solid ground turned out to be deceptive however, as the titan, fully healed thanks to Sakura’s bleeding heart, decided that their first order of business was to slammed the rocky outcrop, sending the king’s arms cartwheeling as he tried to avoid falling back to the sea, the only thing keeping him from staying upright were a few blasts from his incredibly useful cannons. Fall averted, he decided to ignore the giant, it seemed to be ignoring them despite their involvement in its eye loss, and focused instead on the monster causing them all the trouble right now. The girl wasn't listening, whether it was Galeem’s power, poor parenting or the fact that she just didn't register them as anything other than toys to be played with didn’t matter, from here it was clear that the girl was having a ball with this brawl and wasn't stopping anytime soon. Case and point, with lightning speed she brought two of her eels, that browser had hoped he’d gotten inside the range of, right on back to secure her position. Taken entirely by surprise the king instinctively locked his four shell segments back onto his back in a defensive posture when they rose up, which let him take the hits the dealt out but removed his newly found mobility and stabilization. One of the eels rammed him from one side, causing the king to stumble towards the edge and just barely catch his footing on it, only for the other to hammer home a moment later, causing him to tip over the edge. At the last second the king reached out and, mecha mit flaring, he caught the edge of the cliff with those super heated claws. He was left dangling precariously over a long drop back down to the ocean, his booted feet and gloved other hand scraping uselessly at the sheer cliff face. As he flailed, ocean green energy erupted in the girl’s hand as she raised it to deliver a killing blow, only for a heroic little plane to swoop in and strafe her with fire, causing the tiny terror to miss her shot. The explosion it caused down below would not have been pretty to be caught in. Her second shot however struck true. A little fireball lashed out and tragically blew the noble champion of the skies to smithereens. Its life had been short, but it had bought the Ace Cadet the time he needed to intervene in their little scene. As their massive arrow struck true and delivered its poisonous payload into one of the eels that had beaten him down, Bowser did three things to help himself. First, the quad of little turrets mounted on his shell swivel round and started blasting the un-arrowed tentacle with their solid rounds. On the ledge Bowser was hanging onto Mallet and Sledge the hammer bros strikers appeared and they too laid into the tentacles, buying the king time with their tossed hammers, mallet focusing the one being shot while sledge tried to hit the poisoned one. Finally, the king himself stopped futility scrabbling to try and pull himself up and instead opened his palm to reveal a large golden bell, which he clipped to his spiked collar and then with a yowling roar transformed into Meowser. Cat claws shinked out of new slots in king’s boots (which now where stylized to look like they had [url=https://i.imgur.com/8DTaZRd.png]cat ears[/url] at the very top) while his gloves became claw ended mittens like they did for [url=https://i.imgur.com/6t9dQzk.png]Mario[/url] and co. While the coat and cannons stayed in place the rest of the transformation remained the same: fur sprouted from and replaced the king’s scales, his stubby tail lengthened into a long thick feline one, the bottom of his hair became bleach white. His blastoise ears stayed mostly the same and just gained some fur on the outside. He also gained a distinct dislike for water, which was highly motivating when the very angry cyclops hammered the sea stack again and this time split it, causing the top to tip sideways and threaten to tip everyone into the sea. Clawed boots and gloves found purchase on sheer cliff face where moments before Bowser had had none, and then with a grunt he flung himself up onto the ledge next to where his minions were holding the ground for him. He gave them a nod before they dissipated, and then began to ascend the cliff with his cat climbing skill, scrambling up sheer rock with relative ease. He redeployed his cannons as he ascended, reactivated the razor shoals boon he’d deactivated to harmlessly spray the boat momma, and primed them to defend himself from the inevitable follow up from the tentacles. If the eels wanted to be speedy jerks and chase him, they could suffer for every rapidly climbed inch, while also being peppered by more mini shells and confusing supersonic sound waves. If he did manage to ascend to and/or catch the monster girl he was going to tail slap some sense into her, of that there was little doubt.