[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] 930(+2)
[b][color=FD0000]Bowser: Level 9 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=FD0000]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (114/90)
[b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 8 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]///////////////////////////////////////[/color]////////////////////////////////////////// (40/80)
[b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Kamek: Level 8 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DeepSkyBlue]//////////////////////////////////////[/color]///////////////////////////////////////// (38/80)
[b][color=FD0000]Location:[/color][/b] Bottomless Sea – the Maw - the Depths
Feat: Rika
[/center]

[color=FD0000]”Come on already, pull you stupid thing!”[/color] Bowser yelled at the magnet half he was using to try and pull a platform dangling from chains closer, the red beam from the bar he was holding like a rifle wiggling and wobbling over a bit of rusted metal but failing to have enough heft to move it. If it was just weak he could have just ditched the thing, but the king got the impression that it could be stronger if something was different, and the fact that he had no idea what that difference needed to be was incredibly frustrating. 

[color=SpringGreen]”You ok over there dad?”[/color] Jr called back from where he, Rika (and Mimi) were making their own way across with a fair bit more speed thanks to their cooperative method of traversing the path.

[color=FD0000]”Bah. It’s this stupid magnet. Just ain't working right”[/color] The king replied, giving a harrumph and then giving up on the route he was trying to take and then yelling [color=FD0000]”Hey, if any of you are still coming up, grab the other half of that magnet. Maybe they work better closer together or something”[/color] down at the stragglers.

[color=SpringGreen]”So what you gonna now do dad?”[/color] Jr asked

[color=FD0000]”urg, guess I’m going that way”[/color] Bowser replied, pointing at a much more rickety looking platform than the one he had been trying to move closer

Jr looked skeptical, but did not question his dad’s plan, which turned out to be a mistake. The King’s claws hit the deck and immediately an awful creaking started to echo from the rusted bolts holding the platform’s supports to the ceiling.

[color=FD0000]”Ho boy, that does not-”[/color] Bowser began to say as he took a careful few steps forwards, only for a dreadful snap to resound as the back most support bucked free, causing the back of the platform to jerk down towards the water below and almost tipping the king down into it.  [color=FD0000]”-sound good”[/color] he finished after just barely managing to recover.

[color=SpringGreen]”Dad! Run!”[/color] Jr shouted, though Bowser really didn't need prompting. Caution was thrown to the wind as heavy clawed feet pounded along the platform, followed by creeks and snaps as the entire rusted assembly came apart behind him, rust and metal splintering apart and falling to the waters below. As the last bolt slipped free the king leaped, arm outstretched for the next. Grasping, failing, and then finding living metal instead of dead.

“Eek!” Rika cried out as  the weight of the king clinging to her outstretched and offered gauntlet dragged her down, only Jr’s on grip on both her and the platform they had been using preventing all three from plummeting down from the sturdier platform they’d rushed to and Bowser had leapt for.

It was a stressful few moments as first Rika and then Bowser were slowly hauled back up onto semi solid ground, the three (plus mimi who could do little to help) flinching at every groan and shudder of metal.

[color=FD0000]”That was close”[/color] Bowser noted matter of factly.

“Mmmf” Rika agreed, too stressed and out of breath to form a proper response, an attitude shared by Jr and Mimi, who both just nodded and, down below by, Kamek, who was quite sure he’d have suffered a heart attack if he wasn't so thoroughly de-aged. 

The fact that they were so close to the end, and the concern that staying on one platform to long wold invite another collapse, got them moving soon enough and in relatively short order the four of them clambered up the ladder and reached blessedly solid ground which they all took the opportunity to just sit or lie down on for a few moments.

“I really hope that's the last of the jumping. How can you live in a world where this reminds you of home?!” Rika asked the two royal Koopas from where she was lying on her back.

[color=FD0000]”You get used to it”[/color] Bowser explained, before asking them both [color=FD0000]”You both OK?”[/color] 

[color=SpringGreen]”Yeah, you get used to it”[/color] Jr echoed as an answer, forcing the bravado just a little.

“Yeah. I think I’ll be ok. Just give me a few more moments, ” Rika replied. She was, at the very least, doing better than Carl, the legless robot that thought it was human. Or the human that looked like a robot? None of them really got it, probably because none of them (including Rika, despite her appearance) were human, so any real psychological importance of the term went right over their heads. 

[color=FD0000]”If he wants to be called a human, he can be a human”[/color] Bowser decided after mulling it over for a bit.

“So can I be a human too? Instead of an Abyssal?” Rika asked, having got something of the wrong impression of the poor man’s situation by relating it to her own identity issues.

[color=FD0000]”If you want”[/color] was the rather simple answer she got from Bowser.

[color=SpringGreen]”Why not be a Koopa instead, we’re way cooler”[/color] Jr suggested instead

“Hmmm. I’ll think about it?” She replied honestly. 

Either way, Carl’s identity dilemma was Sakura’s problem now as she decided to see if freeing him from Galeem’s light would help him out. While she was at it, they had to find a way through that didn't kill him. To this end, the Troop had a very, very, very simple plan.

[color=FD0000]”Troop! Square up. On my mark! 3. 2. 1. Charge!”[/color] Bowser commanded, and then with a cry of [color=SpringGreen]”WAAA”[/color] “YAAAH” “MIMIIIII” [color=FD0000]”RAAH”[/color] the three + their hanger on charged the heavy metal door in a collective shoulder-barge.