[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] 1,936 (+3) [b][color=FD0000]Bowser: Level 10 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=FD0000]///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]/ (99/100) [b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 8 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (112/80) [b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Kamek: Level 9 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DeepSkyBlue]////////////////////////////////////////[/color]//////////////////////////////////////////////////(39/90) [b][color=FD0000]Location:[/color][/b] Bottomless Sea – Gateon Port - Carcass Isle Feat: Rika [/center] [color=DeepSkyBlue]”It’s getting closer!”[/color] Kamek cried out in alarm as the shark brute just kept coming, wading through the veriballe wall of firepower blazing out of the street they had decided to hold. “No it isn’t?” Rika shouted through the wall of smoke and noise, notably from several feet back from her starting point as she, and Bowser next to her, got a quick physics lesson on Newton's third law as their firepower overwhelmed their ship-folk motor power and shoved them back down the street. [color=SpringGreen]”Just keep firing!”[/color] Jr demanded between fireball hucks, both of his mage and of his minions, who, bogged down in the water in front of Rika and Bowser’s line of fire, got an absolute pummeling of friendly fire. Only Quiet was spared, or rather she spread herself by taking one look at the mess he had been summoned into and promptly leaping onto a roof for a clearer shot in a safer and less distracting environment. [i]Check weapon, identify target, aim, aim, try to ignore the stupid turtles and girl yelling at each other and demonstrating D rank shooting skills, aim, aim aaaaaand[/i] A thunder-crack echoed through the square, louder even than all the cacophonous firepower of the Troop and which put an end to their nonsense as a high caliber sniper round shot through one of the shark giant’s comparatively tiny eye holes and finally struck it down right before it tore through the mass of strikers. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Phew. Thank you dear”[/color] Kamek sighed with relief and then called up to the sniper, who shrugged and then dissipated a moment later, along with the rest of the strikers. [color=SpringGreen]”Whaaat!”[/color] Jr shouted at him as the smoke and ringing in their ears took a bit longer to dissipate. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”I was just thanking Miss Quiet for her excellent shooting”[/color] Kamek floated closer to inform him. [color=SpringGreen]”eh, why would you do that?”[/color] Jr asked, not putting much stock in thanking minions for simply doing their job [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Because-”[/color] Kamek began, but any lessons in boss-minion relations would have to wait, as the attention attracted by their noisy battle strategy bore fruit just as the rest of the battlefield came into view from their haze of smoke and water vapor. As bigger monsters joined the square battle itself, a more immediate problem for the troop was a bunch of doors being thrown open down the street, where another gaggle of fish dudes stormed out in an attempted flanking maneuver that instead sent them charging right into where Bowser and Rika had back blasted themselves too. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Sire look out!”[/color] Kamek shouted as the pair of water walkers made an about turn to face these fishy foes. [color=FD0000]”ghahaha, if it’s a punch-up you want it’s a punch up you’ll get!”[/color] Bowser roared with delight, slamming forwards a slug that sent waves through the street as it missed the first slippery fish [color=FD0000]”Go help the other’s you two, we’ve got this!”[/color] he insisted, not at all disheartened and promptly giving one of the bigger, slower, fish men an uppercut to actually prove his confidence. “We do?!” Rika shouted back as she brought her gauntlets up in a boxer’s guard (in a mimicry of Bowser’s own style) to block an overhead swing from a big murloc, and then used her hull blades to guard her lower body from a leg sweep by another one. They’d have to ‘have it’ as Jr and Kamek saw no reason to doubt the King’s ability to handle small fry and head off to aid the others with the big fry. “Oh… shoot” Rika said, and then did just that, using the small triple barreled ship turrets mounted on her rigging’s elbows to blast herself backwards intentionally this time, the combination of the burst of speed and suppressing power of her poorly aimed projectiles giving her just enough space to drop her guard, bring her machine-gun to bare and pepper one of the fish men with bullets. The other, smaller, one charged her without fear even as its comrade fell, only to be grabbed by a stray tentacle lash from Bowser, to whom one more fishy boy was nothing when counted against the other half dozen swarming him. [color=FD0000]”Raaagh, stay still you fishsticks!”[/color] Bowser demanded as he tried to kick one of the little dodgy ones, only for it to slip aside and hack at his armored leg to little effect. That it rapidly became the case that basically only the small ones left said something about what Bowser could deal with, something aptly demonstrated when one of the bulkier puss filled buggers charged in, late to the party, and got a highly telegraphed wound up punch for its efforts that sent it flying across the street and into a nearby wall. This left the Bowser vs fish fight as functionally between the speedsters and the one thing that they could hurt, and could simultaneously be hurt by; the tentacles of Bowser’s tentacruel cannons. As Rika watched, the one that had been grabbed batted at the tendrils of its capturer with its club, eliciting a screech of rage from the beak they belonged to and prompting it to toss it’s captured foe away, only for it to land (relatively) softly in the water. The others were mostly fighting the same target, dancing back and forth in and out of range of the tendrils trying to grab them as they congested with Bowser’s slow attempts to catch them, batting at the tendrils with their clubs. Unwilling to try and shoot them and risk hitting Bowser, Rika moved in to help, resting her rifle on-top of a sideways held gauntlet as a brace and then bayonet charging the closest murloc. She skewered it in the back while it was distracted, before turning her turrets to either side and blind firing to ward off the others for a moment as she kicked her stabbing victim down into the water and then pumped lead into its back to finish it off. She pulled the bayonet out of the crumbling murloc only to be grabbed and hoisted over Bowser’s shoulder as unseen by her the tossed fishman had been about to do to her what she had done to its ally, only for the girl it had been rear charging to be plucked out of harm's way and a torrent of fire to be blasted out in her place. It leaped to the side, the water skating its body and the air giving it just enough fire resistance to complete its evasion steamed but not roasted. “What are you doing?” Rika complained, unable to see this hoisted over Bowser’s shoulder but taking the opportunity and fact that the merlocs were as surprised as she to hammer one of them with gun fire. [color=FD0000]”I’ve had about enough of these goons! Let’s make a splash”[/color] Bowser declared, before crouching and then launching himself skywards with Rika in tow, leaving the remaining locks looking upwards in confusion. For about a second. After that they went scrabbling as he came thundering back down with an almighty meteor stomp that created a mini tidal wave that washed the fishmen away, followed by his own shockwave of fire rolling in its wake, roasting fish meant that tried to jump over or swim through the wave or just giving those smacked against buildings by the waves a blast of fire for good measure. Hammered by the wave and then scorched, the wounded fishmen picked themselves up only to find themselves at the mercy of Rika’s rifle fire, as the shipgirl flipped around to sit on Bowser's shoulder, cannon arm wrapped over his neck while one of his arm held her hips in palace and the other guarded her with a mecha-mit shield so she could use him as a mobile elevated firing position. “Die die die die die!” she cheerfully demanded of the fishmen while Bowser cheered her on with [color=FD0000]”Yeah! Blast em to bits Rika! Make them regret messing with us!”[/color] while leaping from place to place, sending out more water-fire waves and keeping them both from being surrounded again. Meanwhile, in the square proper, the fish lackeys might have been dealt with or (were being dealt with as merely a side piece to people’s main targets), but in their stead more big brutes had arrived, adding themselves to the pile of toughs that had only had one of their number removed sofar, and that was by the Troop themselves. The second shark giant was engaged in a running battle with Nadia and Cadet who had made the ‘mistake’ of fighting it 2 vs 1 rather than several dozen vs 1. That was Jr’s self aggrandizing tactical analysis anyway. A more level, Kamek sourced, look at their situation would see that Ace was in his element, it was just that with any speed vs power fight, speed would rather ironically have a rather slow time of taking down power. Nadia meanwhile, was more used to fighting human sized (if admittedly often super powered) foes like the murlocs she had been absolutely tearing through, but unfortunately didn't quite have the tools to deal with someone much bigger and stronger than her safely. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Nothing a little magic can’t fix”[/color] the mage asserted, summoning a green orb of power and tossing it to one of his clones, then a second green to another and a third to a third, turning their robes from his own blue to a deep forest green. These shadowy supporters immediately went Ace’s way, and with a wave of their wands cast their magics upon him, adding a dark green burning energy to his sword, a similery hued aura to cling to and invigorating his body and a barely visible barrier that extended over and out from his shield (the semipermeable magical barrier having about twice the real shield’s radius) as they buffed his attack, speed and defence respectively. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”That should give you the edge you need”[/color] Kamek informed the fighter as he himself floated safely out of harm's way and transformed the last clone into an ash white healer, which, while it could not compete with Blazermate, could patch up the odd cut, bruise and scratch that Nadia and Ace had picked up so far. Speaking of Nadia, the three support clones moved to her next, giving her claws, tail and ears (of all things) a dark green fire to their edges, her body the same accelerating aura of Ace, a pair of spectral arm and shin guards to help her block and, for some reason, an spectral oversized pirate hat that belonged on a [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/0/0d/02BW022T2-full.png]Miss Fortune[/url] rather than a Ms Fortune. As Kamek rendered aid, Jr went in on the attack, hovering above the shark giant and deploying two of his clown car’s custom arms, one ending in a water gun, the other in a bizarre mass of living flesh. [color=SpringGreen]”Look out below pea brain”[/color] Jr taunted the ground pounding shark monster as the car tilted to the side and brought the splatter gun full of (or more accurately running low on) ink to bare, spraying the giant's body with vulnerability causing ink, given its tiny eyes a special focus, before flipping round and using the synapse flesh gun to shoot a stream of electricity at the titan, which was joined by an electro-ball from Mimi. [color=SpringGreen]”Can’t get me, can’t get me!”[/color] the boy taunted (throwing in a raspberry at the end for good measure) the beast , and really all of the range-less foes, as he bobbed above them all carefree as can be and being a right nuisance while he was at it.