[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] 1,217 (+2) (+15)
[b][color=FD0000]Bowser: Level 10 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=FD0000]////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (124/100) 
[b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 8 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (137/80) 
[b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Kamek: Level 9 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DeepSkyBlue]///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]///////////////////////////(64/90) 
[b][color=FD0000]Location:[/color][/b] Bottomless Sea – Carcass Isle
Feat: Rika
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While Bowser and Jr got themselves some new minions Rika and Kamek both ended up with a sort of intrinsic increase in their worth as the spectral currency claimed from the fallen spirits attached itself to them.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”How strange”[/color] Kamek commented as he looked down at himself in a failed attempt to see a physical manifestation the wealth he had gained. Rika meanwhile was quite enamored with the situation saying “neat. I’ve never had my own money before” only to then hesitantly ask Kamek “it, it is mine right?”

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Of course”[/color] the mage replied without a second thought.

“Great! I am going to buy so many sweets when we get out of this place” she said, quite delighted at the prospect. The mage softly laughed good naturedly at this childish desire before telling her that [color=FD0000]”I’m sure you’ll be able to afford plenty, just do be careful about your teeth”[/color] before quietly sorting his new magical teacup, this one far more useful than the mug he had found in the Maw as it seemed to be making him feel more invigorated merely by holding it. He added the unclaimed hook to this, finding that it too had similar passive qualities which he could make use off

The fish meat meanwhile lasted all of a minute before being eaten by Bowser as a snack, which was how they found out that the king could apparently now restore his physical form by eating as a few minor scrapes closed up upon consuming the fishy morsel.

[hr]

Down in the caves below the island, the Troop’s scouting did not trigger anything of concern which gave them some false confidence as they all passed on getting footsie with the slugs and instead just went flying over them. Kamek and Jr could do this by default, of course, while Bowser summoned his trowlon striker Carrie to hover board over the sluggy sea and Rika pawned a ride off Kamek’s toadies, who hoisted her by her shoulders and. After getting them to simply follow the lead of her scout planes, which she could dedicate mentally, she found she could get a fair bit of aerial maneuverability out of the deal, which was neat.

What was not neat was the third (for Bowser and a few others) appearance of the, or a, master hand, who showed up to once again block their way to the area’s boss. The Troop were among those who immediately launched into trying to blast the glove to pieces, with Rika just following the lead of three who were in the know without a second thought.

Kamek stopped trying to kill the clearly incurable glove first out of all of them, before saying, and then shouting, [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Sire, I dont think it's working. Sire? SIRE!”[/color] to get the one of them who didn't stop wasting energy on their accord to also hold fire.

[color=FD0000]”Huh what?”[/color] Bowser stopped to ask, and in so doing gave the ting time to actually speak and lay out its plan.

“Curse? There’s a curse?” Rika said half way through, picking up on something weird in its words that the rest of the Troop couldn’t see due to their inherent animosity towards the hand. Kamek thought it was strange too once she pointed it out, but there really wasn’t time for discussing things as the master hand laid out another challenge, and looking back at it, they all really had been challenges, and this one was a doozy. Five minutes, three challenges. Do or die.

Bowser followed his heart as soon as the count down stopped, and was hot on Princess Peach’s heels into the trial of Desire. Within they came face to face with a wretched fish thing, that seemed to the king like a combination between the angler fish murlocs and the lady like sea snails that had grown to colossal proportions. He was entirely wrong in his assessment, but that didn't really matter. It had to die.

[color=FD0000]”Forget playing around or holding back, let’s go for broke. KAMEK! Supersize me and let's end this wet witch before she can even blink her gross eyes!”[/color] Bowser commanded dramatically, only to stand there posing while nothing happened, before looking back with a confused [color=FD0000]”Huh?[/color]

[color=SpringGreen]”uh, dad? I think he went the other way. After Rika?”[/color] Jr, the only Troop member who had come with him, pointed out.

[color=FD0000]”What? Why didn’t she come with us?”[/color] the king demanded to know.

The answer to that Rika herself didn't even know at first as she found herself heading the same way as Bella. Something was calling her down into the Abyss, the former foot soldier being affected by the calling command far harder than the slight tug that might have been touching the princess’s mind.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Rika, are you alright? Wait up”[/color] Kamek called after her, following in the wake of her and the others and, as a result, coming in dead last to see the utterly unfair fight the hand had put up against them. He found Rika stumbling back in horror as Bella visibly deflated at the sight of not one but two abyssal princesses and, of all things, their apparent master, all arrayed against them. The math in Kamek’s head did not look good but whether it be bravado, bravery or foolishness Sakura did not share her allies' qualms, stepping up to fight without fear or hesitation.

Exactly like a… well, exactly what Sakura was.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”This looks to be one unfair fight
So what we need is a hero tonight!”[/color] 

Kamek, no hero, hung back to take cover while chanting as both he and his green clones directed their wands towards the woman, all of them channeling a different magical boon and granting Sakura more power to back up her pride.

The short schoolgirl grew tall quite suddenly, shooting up to challenge the mighty armaments of the princess in size. Green energy burned around her wrist wraps and trainers, while her body gained a protective barrier shaped in a loose approximation of a sleeveless karate gi, the magical armor weightless except maybe for the burden of living up to the inspiration for it’s form. Finally sakura’s body seemed to glow from within as her muscles gained magical invigoration to let her push past her mortal limits.

It was power, pure and simple, and acted as heavy emphasis for Sakura’s confident words that shook Rika out of her stunned staring fear. She glanced back at Kamek who gave her a strained but encouraging nod, before turning her sights back towards the abyssal titans. The fear in her heart had not disappeared entirely, how was she supposed to stand up to those built to be her betters, but here the mage and the martial artist who had freed them where, standing against the one who’s vile grasp they had freed the ship girls from. 

How could she not stand beside them in this hour.

Besides, they’d gotten through the maw. Compared to that, this was surely only the second worst thing they could face together. 

“Come on! We can’t let her fight them alone!” she said to Bella, before running after their hero with Kamek’s toadies hoovering along side her and his clones swooping to and fro above, preparing to render more aid as soon as they had recharged.