[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] 1,535 (+3) [b][color=FD0000]Bowser: Level 9 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=FD0000]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (157/90) [b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 8 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (82/80) [b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Kamek: Level 8 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DeepSkyBlue]///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]/ (79/80) [b][color=FD0000]Location:[/color][/b] Bottomless Sea – the Maw - the Kitchens Feat: Rika [/center] The royal koopas and their mighty robot companion hammered on the door again and again and again with all their might. They making good progress right up until a scraping sound accompanied by yelling came from behind the door and something was slammed in place behind, barricading them out. [color=FD0000]”GAAAH!”[/color] [color=SpringGreen]”Owwwww”[/color] came a pair of cries as the first and final blow against the cupboard barred door jarred the arms of the father and son team, causing both to drop their hammer based bartering ram to shake of the pain. [color=SpringGreen]”Well… this isn't going to work now.”[/color] Jr was forced to admit after rapping at the door and finding it completely unbudgeable now [color=SpringGreen]”Did they at least get in ok?”[/color] [color=FD0000]”They better!”[/color] Bowser replied, before stomping over and checking, only to find the troop of heroes turning to go the exact opposite direction they needed [color=FD0000]”Hey. Where are you going! That’s the wrong way!”[/color] He roared after them. When informed about the other way being blocked, he’d inform his son, who was instantly worried about his minion being all alone in her assault [color=SpringGreen]”Aw shoot. Mimi! Mimi? Get to safety they aren't coming fast enough![/color] He shouted, hammering on the door again, trying to get her attention. [hr] On the other side of the door, the mon had figured this out on her own, though only after having to squeeze her way through the cupboard, and its contents as well as the door she’d originally tried to get through. Sneaking through solid matter wasn't exactly fast for the half ghost, who poked her ‘chest’ out through the front door of the cupboard to take a peek at what was going on. What she found was Sakura, Rika and a growing Bella all strung up over a fire. Which was not a good place to be, in her basic assessment. Plus, help didn't look like it was on the way, so even though there was just one big guy left, Mimi decided to be sneaky about this rather than try and fight the very very large man armed with a nasty nasty metal cleaver. So the little cloth doll of a pokemon squeezed herself out of the cupboard and then started to slink and sneak her way around the kitchen, avoiding the chopping Larry’s gaze as she headed for the hanging girls, one of whom was just waking up from her shaking. “Hmmmm. Wha. hmmm…. Oh hey Sakura. You ok? Why do I feel so... Toast?” Rika mumbled as consciousness returned and she looked around, and then down and found why she was feeling so warm. She did not take it well, crying out in alarm and struggling for a moment, only for the knot tied around her hands (and gauntlets) to shift a little and threaten to lose and drop her into the fire just as Larry had warned while she was out, causing her to freeze up. After staring down for a few moments, she tried to breathe deeply to calm herself and then coughed as the smoke from the fire caught in her lungs. “Urgh, bleh, awful” She shook her head and wondered how they were going to get out of this. She could wiggle loose. And fall in the fire. She could shoot her guns at the hook holding her up. And fall in the fire. Even if she could swing herself and free herself at just the right moment to drop past the fire, that was still a long, long way to fall even with her gauntlets lowering her weight. Plus, even if she didn’t go splat, she’d just be leaving the others behind, and that wouldn’t do. A more controlled cut to free their hands while still letting them hold onto the rope might give them options, and if that was something they went for, she did have an option for that. Kind of. “I, uh, have half a pair of scissors in my pocket?” she offered, now thankful that no one had taken it off her, but there was a snag in that plan, which was “But I can't reach them. Sorry. Maybe that’s a stupid idea” She really really hoped one of the others had an idea, or that help was on the way. And help was indeed on the way, coming from above, around and, closest to them, slinking around the kitchen the long way, was Mimi, who, if/when spotted by the trio, would give a little wave before getting back to sneaking closer to them to help out however she could, be it scissor retrieval or distraction causing or simple moral support. [hr] [color=FD0000]”I’m sure she’s laying low. Pretty sure we’d have heard if she wasn't, that little minion’s can be a real trouble maker”[/color] Bowser told his son, clapping the boy on the shoulder encouragingly when there was no response from Mimi, who was well out of hearing range of the door. [color=SpringGreen]”I... Yeah I guess”[/color] jr replied uncertainty, before saying [color=SpringGreen]”She’ll be fine. They’ll all”[/color] more confidently, entirely to convince himself that that was the case. [color=FD0000]”Yeah, they will. Now, let's catch up to old Kamek. There’s gotta be another way around here somewhere, and I’ll bet he’s already got a lead on it”[/color] Bowser told Jr (and Blazermate if she wasn't already gone). He got a nod and the two set off at once, diverting their path only briefly so that Bowser could pick up Rika’s dropped doll [hr] Kamek and Nadia had made good time working as a team to get the door open, and by that Kamek would have to admit it was mostly the fed Nadia, who magnet grappled the key down for him to catch, who did most of the work. Still, the koopa was there to be a receiver and so dutifully caught and slammed the passed key home into the lock, before spinning it with his dangling body-weight, opening the way and then dropping down into an awaiting Nadia’s arms [color=DeepSkyBlue]”ah. Thank you Miss-”[/color] he was in the middle of thanking her for catching him when the feral slipped and fell, tossing him aside just in time to avoid crushing him [color=DeepSkyBlue]”eek!”[/color] The tossed turtle landed on his shell’s stomach on the soapy ground and, as koopa shells were wont to do, started sliding along the ground uncontrollably by. Normally he would have tried to stop this undignified skid at once by digging in his boots, but, unfortunately, the ground was slippery with the same soap that had tripped Nadia, there was nothing he could do but slide by the busy koopas, bounce off the far wall (ducking inside his shell to avoid bashing his brains out), and then come spinning all the way back, whisking by Nadia’s jet skiing traversal and sliding all the way back and then out through the door they’d unlocked and entered through, sailing right towards [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Sire look out!”[/color] [color=FD0000]”Oh no you don't. Jr, get behind me and catch!”[/color] Bowser commanded his son, stepping right in the path of the out of control mini koopa shell. He stabbed the horns of his hammer into the ground and ducked under the head, forming it into a ramp that caused Kamek to launch up and over the king’s head, and right into a jumping catch by his son [color=SpringGreen]”Gotcha!”[/color] jr cheered as he snatched the koopa out of the air like a basketball and then landed back on the ground, before dusting some of the suds off himself and the koopa before putting the old made young koopa down on his own two feet again. [color=FD0000]”What are you doing, messing around? We have ladies to rescue!”[/color] Bowser demanded to know, to which the dizzy Kamek could only reply by pointing through the door and informing them that it was [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Slippery”[/color] Forewarned, the king, the prince and his trusty swine all poked their heads into the washroom without slipping, and found the line of washers inside. [color=SpringGreen]”Hey, are those our minions? What are they doing working for this place’s ghoul of a lady?”[/color] Jr asked as they spotted the troopas. Both he and his dad had zero interest in the fork like Volbonan (jr had never seen them anyway, and while Bowser did remember them from when he stole their stew to use it as the main course at his wedding , he certainly did not remember that that was what they were called) other than a brief thought of using them as weapons/climbing gear. [color=FD0000]”Yeah they are!”[/color] Bowser agreed, handing over the porcelain doll to jr for a moment (who tried and failed to hand if of to Kamek because it was a girl’s toy) and then, despite the fact that the last set of his minions they’d encountered had attacked on sight, carefully stepped out onto the soap floor, puffed himself up as much as he could and then shouted at the turtley dishwashers commandingly [color=FD0000]”HEY, KOOPA TROOPAS! GREAT NEWS, YOUR KING IS HERE TO LIBERATE YOU FROM DISH CLEANING DUTY. NOW QUIT SCRUBBING AND FORM UP! WE HAVE A SHIP TO CONQUER! Also I mean you’re really bad at it look at this mess there is soap everywhere, yeesh.”[/color]