[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/6W7bqko.png[/img]
[h2][color=FD0000]The Koopa Troop[/color][/h2]
[b][color=FD0000]wordcount:[/color][/b] 5,695 (+6)
[b][color=FD0000]Bowser: Level 11 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=FD0000]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (206/110)
[b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 11 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]/////////////// (85/110)
[b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Kamek: Level 11 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DeepSkyBlue]////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]///////////////////////(84/110)
[b][color=Aqua]Rika: Level 6 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=Aqua]/////////////////[/color]/////////////////////////////////////////// (17/60)
[b][color=FD0000]Location:[/color][/b] Dirmouth
[/center]

[color=FD0000]”yeah yeah I’m coming![/color] Bowser called up to Primrose as he, having been stopped from racing into a battle that was already over by Kamek, turned and started stomping all the way back up the crevasse’s slopes to meet up with her at the spot they’d meant to meet up, but which no one had been at. 

Once he was back he let out a little breath of exertion from the climb, then a bigger one his eyes goggled at the sight of all the stuff they had acquired.

[color=FD0000]”Oh. Wow. You two did waaaaaay better than we did huh?”[/color] he had to admit after a few moments, embarrassedly scratching the back of his head. It was certainly better than the bundle of torches they had gotten, that was for sure.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”It… certainly seems that way[/color] Kamek, who had flown back up along with his king, was forced to agree. 

[color=DeepSkyBlue]Oh and, my apologies for running off. Some of the others headed down early and got into a spot of trouble. Not to worry though, it all has been resolved without any death or injury, and now we seem to have acquired a small insect knight friend as a result of their, ah, spirited heroics”[/color] He then explained, while Bowser took on the vast bulk of the spare equipment, grumbling a little bit about having to act as a pack mule, but infinitely more suited to that task than the two smaller humans or the even smaller magikoopa.

After that, they headed back down a second time, met up with Rika and Jr just beyond the bandit barge (the prince hauling his car above his head due to not wanting to fly around in it in its busted up state) and headed down. Whether the (formerly) wounded fellow on the roof would follow after to give the thanks Jr had demanded, well that was all up to him.

Once at the bottom, the troop (sans Kamek who was just going to fly) piled onto the wooden platform along with the others. Bowser and Rika both did what they could to reduce their weight, the king using his shadow magic to go down to his smallest size, while the ship girl ramped up her antigrav to the point that it was as if she was standing upon the moon.

Jr made no such concessions, instead plonking down his clown car to take up space, pulling out his bright yellow GDI tool case and then getting to work trying to patch the thing up after it had taken a whole load of bullets and an entire harpoon to the casing.

As they descended, Bowser dumped the load of gear on the platform for people to pick though while they rode down. The troops’ own supplies, and anything that was left over after, was shrunken down by Kamek, and then stuffed into Jr’s car’s hammerspace glove box for safe keeping. 

The elevator trundled its way down rather slowly, meaning that even after the gear sorting was done there was still a long way to go. Soon enough the troop lapsed into air-filling conversation, with Bowser and Rika taking a load off while Kamek followed the progress of the elevator down upon his broom and Jr tinkered away, quietly cursing the hat kid for running off with his quick fixing mallet. As a result they were taken quite by surprise by the appearance of one crazy sunchild appearing on the rope of their transportation.

[color=SpringGreen]”How many of you jerks are there!”[/color] Jr yelled as he, along with the other three platform riders, scrambled to their feet to dodge/block the incoming show of sparks. Bowser ducked down and blacked them with his shell, Rika’s sunglasses flashed as the ones around her slowed enough to be avoided by some quick footwork and finally jr just ended up taking more hits on his clown-car as he lifted it over his head as a shield.

Then the floor fell away below them due to the Consul’s destruction of public infrastructure, sending everyone plummeting down into the dark. 

Yet they were not helpless.

[color=FD0000]”Hold on, I’ve got you kids!”[/color] Bowser called out as he used his shell mounted water cannons to adjust his fall, catching Rika and Jr in one arm, and then boosting  over to the wall of the pit they were plummeting down, cat clawed hand reaching out to meet it. A horrific sound echoed, 10 times worse than chalk on a blackboard, as Bowser’s claw started ripping through the stone and leaving a trailing cat scratch as he ever so slowly slowed their fall.

Suddenly, a shower of projectiles slammed into Bowser’s back as he sought to stall his downward momentum, although the thick shell dulled their impact. Up above, still clutching the now-severed rope that now dangled freely in the Chasm’s center, the Consul tilted his head. “Stubborn, huh? Like a big ol’ turd stuck in the bowl, you just don’t wanna go down.” He adjusted his arm, pointing a finger gun at the stone around Bowser rather than the armored Koopa himself, and let rip. A spray of magic bullets began to pummel the rock, destroying Bowser’s handhold so that his own weight would carry him down. “If you’re a king, I guess that makes this a royal flush, heeheeheehee!”

[color=FD0000]”Gaaaaaaah you tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerp”[/color] Bowser yelled out as he was blasted away from the ledge and then fell. The king trying to use more water jets to correct his fall, but the blast had sent him spinning, and the Koopa was no cosmonaut, his wild blasts turning his fall from a drop into a pinballing ricochet, the king shielding the youths in his grip as he himself went crashing from side to side of the tunnel uncontrollably to the tune of [color=FD0000]”OOf! Ow! Ouch!”[/color] .

That left only one member of the Troop to counter the minor menace’s ploy and it was the oldest among them.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Hold on! I’m coming!”[/color] Kamek called out as he dived down, broom handles stabbing towards the depths as his robes fluttered around him. Around him descended his indistinguishable doppelgangers and then, with a wave of his (and their) wands, they were joined by a squad of toadies who, flying upside down, attempted to catch up with and then gradually slow the falling heroes and villains. 

Once Bowser fell, the Consul relaxed with a sigh. “Too easy,” he complained. “Maybe S was crying wolf again, after all. Good thing I didn’t get my hopes up.” He looked up, however, which a miniature fleet of Toadies and clones whizzed past him to try and rescue the fallen. “Trying to ruin the moment, huh? What, not dramatic enough for you?” Smirking, F extended his hands downward, creating a picture frame around the scene with his thumbs and index fingers that he peered through with a bright red right eye. “Of course it’d be even better if they…” He then raised his right hand and snapped his fingers with a yellow spark.

Just as they reached out to grab hold of the Troop members, the Toadies, Kamek clones, and Kamek himself all blipped back up the Chasm. It was instantaneous and unceremonious, with only a slight chime noise before their hands closed around nothing. Down below, the other heroes continued to fall disappearing into the darkness far beyond reach. Overhead, more mocking laughter broke out. “Slipped through your fingers, heeheehee!”

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Wh-what…”[/color] Kamek stammered as from his perspective the team teleported away from him, at least until he glanced back to the source of the taunting and found it ever so close. Disorientated and aghast at his failure the mage did the only thing that could counter the building despair.

He got mad.

The mage turned on the Consul and retorted with an ever so eloquent [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Die!”[/color] as he raised his wand up and magic flared. Dark portals opened around the mage, disgorging a squad of Jr clones, which joined the toadies in body charging the tiny terror. As the mini horde of magical constructs charged the mage pulled out a stereotypical magician’s wand and gave it a wave, causing 5 rings of flaming rabbit skulls to form in a cage around his foe as his doppelgangers copied his move.

“Hah!” Barely moving, the Consul teleported in a flash of purple sparks, leaving the severed rope behind. He reappeared by one of the Chasm walls and shot three bundles of thorny vines from his back, embedding them into the stone to keep him there. The earth continued to rumble, however, and after another second their ends burst from the rock again to surround the Consul like giant tentacles. They swatted away the mindless minions that charged him as Consul hung between them. “Leaving you friends to die, huh? Or did you know about the flowers down there? Either way, that’s actually kinda interesting.” He held his fingers up, pinched close together with only a slight space between them. “Just the tiniest, little bit, anyhow.”

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Flowers?”[/color] Kamek asked, coming out of the red haze he’d been in at this news that, if this person had let that slip and wasn’t just messing with him, his family, friends, and allies were going to be ok.

As for attacking rather than running again, he’d mostly acted on instinct fury, though a little part of him had had a sensible reason, one that he explained to the Consul while winding up his next attack [color=DeepSkyBlue]”I can’t help them if you’ll just bring me back again can I? So you have to go down!”[/color] 

“...You’re serious?” The Consul clapped his hands together, hooting with laughter. “Now that’s funny! Got a deathwish, or something? I mean, not that I mind swatting you here and now. It just won’t be any fun. Amuse me for thirty seconds, and I might even let you live.”

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKsOyTB98As&ab_channel=NintendoMelody[/youtube][/center]

“You can call me F,” he said as he swirled a hand in a spinning motion, creating a ring of magic bullets above his head like a halo. “Let’s kill ourselves some time, eh?”

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”F? What a coincidence, that will be the grade I’ll give you in evil after this battle is over, child”[/color] Kamek taunted with five voices in return before he and his clones scattered into evasive action. As they flew, they waved the mages’ original wand and sent out bursts of flame using the Fire Materia embedded in the end of it, using the simple logic of fire beats plant for this opening gambit. 

In reply F extended his fists, surrounded by their own rings of bullets, and opened fire. As if fired by two gatling guns, a fusillade of the glowing projectiles rained down. Most missed, but there seemed to be no end to them, and with the sheer speed plus quantity it would only be a matter of time before the clones got ripped up, one by one. As the fireballs came in, the giant vines slapped them away from F, scattering the flame. What damage they took the Consul didn’t seem to mind, and their thrashing around ensured that any ignition quickly got blown out. “Like it’d be that easy,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. His right eye flashed red again, focused on the Kamek with the robes of the original color. “Can’t call this a battle if you’re just gonna buzz around, is it?” He ceased fire to make a flicking motion with his hand, which caused all three vines to suddenly shoot forward toward the real Kamek in quick succession, wide as subway tunnels.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Oh crumbs”[/color] the mage said, before each of the vines smashing forth in turn, before leaving a gray cloud in their wake as they withdrew back to the Chasm wall.

Then from on high there came a call of [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Sorry to rain on your parade”[/color] as Kamek, surrounded by a dissipating puff of smoke that was the byproduct of his own teleportation, brandished a [url=https://imgur.com/BUGNFXd]crimson rod[/url] and summoned a bloody raincloud, right above where F had rooted themselves, from which drops of corrupt ichor raining down.

“Tch.” Eye flashing red again, F pulled himself into the stone wall to dodge the attack, traveling through the burrowed tunnel left behind by his vines’ activity. A moment later he emerged through one of the three exit holes, but this time rather than anchor himself with his vines he used them to crawl across the wall like the legs of a spider. He opened fire again while moving, trying to shoot Kamek down.

Time spent tunneling was time Kamek used to put away his rod and summon more clones, each one the same color as him such that who was the real one was indistinguishable
 
[color=DeepSkyBlue]”I see a little roach. Let’s squash it!”[/color] the Kamek squad taunted together as they moved to evade with varying success, all of them raising their wands and summoning a series of massive blue glowing fists ever so close to the skittering F. Each one smashed down in quick succession, sending stone shards flying and leaving craters when they impacted with the cave wall, the mage burning a hefty amount of mana to do so.

The consul opened his fists, causing his next projectiles to appear as an array before his palm rather than a ring around his wrist. These bullets burst forth like shotgun blasts to fight against the fists, although the spread of shots didn’t lose power as they traveled. As he used the originals to stay on the move from the fists, more vines erupted from his back, quickly growing in size to the Sequoia-esque thickness of the others. While his spread shots riddled his foes, the vines snaked through the air to swat the Kameks from the sky.

Kamek hissed with pain as the magic bullets clipped his body, each one only stinging individually but the sheer number of shots where taking a toll, the illusions dissipating again under the barrage while the mage himself merely hurt. In contrast to those where a. his own frustrating inability to land a solid hit on F, and b, the vines F was using, which would pulp him if they hit. 

So when they started to target him rather than swatting at clones the mage teleported to get some distance again. He reappeared in the shadows of one of the caves, deployed some strikers, and then teleported again into another's shadows, making appear, when he drifted out of it, as if he’d not made that detour.


At this second offshoot he summoned a pair of Rika clones to unleash a retaliatory barrage of shell and gunfire upon the scuttling F to further draw his attention away from the two stealthy snipers lining up their shots.

The mage had disappeared again. Once F arrived at his destination, he began to paint copious amounts of bullets in the air. “More feeble tricks,” he sighed, rolling his eyes. He pounded his fist and palm together his head, creating a brilliant rupture that expanded into a field of outer space around him that sparkled with stars. Then the comets burst forth, flying through the air to track Kamek down wherever he’d wandered off to. They suddenly changed direction midair, announcing where the sorcerer had gone. No sooner did Kamek summon the Rika clones than their position received a deluge of explosive starlight. “I’m losing interest fast, old timer,” the Consul groaned. “Come on out and…play.” He snapped his fingers.

The Strikers vanished as if they never existed. Kamek himself blipped directly into the center of a spherical field of floating bullets, which then collapsed inward.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”What?”[/color] the once again confused Kamek started, only to cry out [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Gah,”[/color] in pain as he made the snap decision to fly though the wall before it completely collapsed, trading pain of some shots vs the certain death of being hit by them all.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Grrr, fine, then you shall have my mightiest trick!”[/color] the mage declared, before pulling a single Wisp from the air.

And then pressing his wand to its body and chanting 

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Boil and bubble
Here comes trouble…!”[/color]

“Right you are!” A barrage of star bullets struck him square in the chest. F shook his head, incredulous. “...What, did you think I’d just wait for you to finish?” He extended his armored hand, only for it to tear apart as a big mitt of twisted vines grew out to seize Kamek before he could fall. With his arms and wand pinned, F brought him closer, putting his mask in the old sorcerer’s face. “Killing you would be the easiest thing in the world, you know. But hey, you did last thirty seconds. So consider me ‘entertained’. Next time, bring your A-game, will ya? And all your little pals too, ‘cause you’ll need ‘em. Until then…”

He tossed Kamek into the air, and with his oversized hand flicked him away. “...Enjoy the Underground!”


[hr]

Down down, deep down below where the mage had tried and failed to take on the tyke alone, the seekers had landed harmlessly on a patch of flowers, just as F had said they would.

[color=FD0000]”UUUUUUURGH, My head. And arms. And legs. And everything”[/color] Bower complained, as he slowly started to sit up, only to pause when a [color=SpringGreen]”wowowowow”[/color] as Jr, who was laying on his chest, started to fall off.

[color=FD0000]”Wow wow I gotcha”[/color] the king said as he reached out and caught his boy before he could fall onto the …. Flower patch? That was odd, he thought, and then startled as there was a little yelp as Rika, who he had not realized was also in trouble until it was too late, fell off of his shell and hit the ground with a light rustle. 

The king bolted upright, still holding his son close and asked [color=FD0000]”Wow, are you ok?”[/color] to which the ship girl gave an unhelpful [color=Aqua]”Mmm”[/color] sound in response, before she also sat up, shook her head and realized [color=Aqua]”I. Huh. yeah. But… how? Didn’t we fall super far? It felt like that pit was practically bottomless. Until it wasn’t I mean“[/color]

That was the question, one that caused them all to look up into the darkness, and yet they found no answers there. For a few seconds. Then the form of Kamek came fluttering down and impacted with the flower bed upon which he bounced rather than went splat, as if it was a bed made of mattresses rather than one made up of plants. That would have provided the answer to the question the troop had been wondering about … if they hadn’t all been too panicked about the blasted state the mage was in to care about said question any more. 

[color=FD0000]”Ka”[/color][color=SpringGreen]”me”[/color][color=Aqua]”k!”[/color] came their triple cry as they rushed over to his side. They huddled around the mage, who was out like a light and covered in wounds. 

Bowser immediately called on Heel, the rabbit supporter, to stabilize the mage, but that wasn’t enough to do more than keep him from fading out.

[color=SpringGreen]”I can fix this, I can fix this!”[/color] Jr declared in a half panic, searching desperately around for his paintbrush and then spotting it embedded, handle first, in the ground near the edge of the meadow they had landed in. It must have gotten knocked out of his car, he reasoned (said device had been allowed to just freefall after Bowser had grabbed him and was laying elsewhere in the clearing).

Unfortunately, before he could go grab it, the welcoming committee arrived, as the darkness divulged a swarm of freakish horrors that came cavolcading into the flower field, maring its beauty with their mere presence. Not that the troop, unlike Sectonia, actually cared about the aesthetics. What the problem for them (barring the obvious threat of injury and death) was that, as the circus of horrors came storming in, they ran past the embedded paintbrush, making retrieving it far more complicated than walking over.

[color=FD0000]”Alright, which one of you weirdos wants to die at the fist of the Koopa King!”[/color] Bowser roared, stepping forwards ahead of the youngsters despite his body being pretty beat up as a result of his pingponing from wall to wall during their fall.

In response to his taunt an absurd monster that looked exactly like a [url=https://bogleech.com/volfoss/volfoss-imstuffed.png]cooked turky stuffed with skulls and snakes[/url], and wielding a knife and fork, charged them while letting out cry that sounded a bit like what a turkey’s gobble would sound life it if had been marinated in sulfuric acid for a million years, baked in the fires of hell and then bass boosted beyond any reasonable amount.

Despite this it still seemed was kinda silly, right up until Rika hopped out from behind Bowser and opened fire, prompting the Turkey to return fire in turn, flaming screaming skulls soaring forth from the slit in its gut that collide with the heavier shells mid air, leaving only the bullets to rake its vital-less body in-effectively.

Then it retaliated by spewing a shower of snakes out of its neck hole, the serpents showering down into the grass before them and then swarming forwards, hissing and baring their fangs.

[color=FD0000]”Ha ha, is that it? Get Cooked!”[/color] Bowser retorted to this, crouching down to bring his maw low and then letting out a torrent of firebreath. It ripped through the snakes (and the pretty flowers) lighting all of them aflame… and sending toxic green smoke billowing up from the snake’s funeral pyre.

The king coughed and backed up, while Rika and Jr (who was carrying Kamek’s dazed body) both quickly hurried to the side to get clear as the towering undead turkey came storming forwards through the toxic cloud, the pre-cooked meal ignoring the lingering flames as it raised its cutlery to stab down into the poisoned king eyes.

Before it could strike however a heavy fist slammed into its side, Rika, her mouth sealed tight and nose furrowed inside her not at all airtight helm, using her new thruster module to do a rocket powered punch right to the thing’s side. The monster, big as Bowser, was not hurt or distributed too badly, but it did knock off its aim just enough that the cutlery hit Bowser in an armored spot rather than his vulnerable eyes.

That still stung like hell however, the knife and fork leaving a set of 1 and two puncture wounds in the king’s shoulder and cheek respectively. 

The king stumbled backwards, crying out in pain, but at least that got him out of the gas enough to breathe fresh air. It didn't cure the poison however, and so the King’s retaliation was practically blind, though fortunately the turkey was big enough that firing up the jets of his kinetic strike module and blindly swinging still resulted in him landing a punishing blow that showed up Rika’s own punch up by a fair margin.

Or showed it up until the secondary explosion caused by the Brachydios goo her punch had left behind went off, which rocked it with a third strike, this one blowing a gash in its side. Which more snakes spilled out of.

[color=FD0000]”Uuuurgh”[/color] Bowser complained as Rika backed off out of the stinging poison smoke, pursued by serpents.

[color=aqua]”Nonono. Shoo!”[/color] She shouted at them, racking the swarm with gunfire that was only moderately effective at thinning their numbers. The rest came on, lunging at her legs, and though some fell to her kicks and hull blade slashes a few snuck through and gnashed at the girl's flesh … only to find it was graded to be resistant to anti ship (girl) weapons. Sharp fangs broke on or only lightly scratched her skin, the serpents finding themselves unable to inflict their deadly venom.

Actually this was kind of a problem everywhere they looked, as the rest of the troop all had touch scales that were ever so difficult to chomp through. So the snakes did the logical things: 

Some tossed themselves into the still simmering grass fire to make yet more airborne gas, serpents slithering forth while burning alive to spread the cloud of poison.

Others acted as constrictors, wrapping around Rika and Bower’s legs to bind them and stumble their movements. Which became quite problematic when the Turkey backed off into the toxic cloud for a moment, and then sent screaming flaming skulls firing up into the air from its neck gap, which swirled around its absent head for a few moments before shrieking down to bombard the king and ship-girl.

Bowser instinctively ducked down, the shower of skulls hammering his shell. Then he jerked back upright with several snakes now biting onto his face or grappling his arms. Rika meanwhile used her sunglasses to slow the shots, but the grapple on her legs meant she had to try and counter battery the incoming skulls instead of dodging out of the way.

The glasses massively increased the success rate of this, but one still slipped through and that was enough, the burning head smashing into her own one and causing the stunned girl to fall into the flowers again, only this time her soft landing was followed up by being swarmed by snakes. The fact that she was wearing a helmet prevented them from biting her softer eyes, lips, or nose, but they could still grapple her arms and, worse, her neck. The ship girl began choking as her windpipe was constricted, and her cumbsy gauntleted hands were unable to pull off the wretched serpents.

Things were looking a touch grim to say the least, at least until  a cry of [color=SpringGreen]”I got it!”[/color] came from beyond their battle. There, the koopa prince could be found, still holding their hurt mage over one shoulder and raising his paintbrush triumphantly in the other, the boy having artfully dodged though all the others fighting to retrieve the implement.

The first thing he did was point it at Kamek and cast [color=SpringGreen]”Cure!”[/color] to heal him back to consciousness. The second thing he did was look back and see the farce of a fight he’d left behind.


[color=SpringGreen]”Oh jeez. That is one dangerous turkey”[/color] he noted, to which Kamek, coming to, groaned in confused agreement upon seeing the scene out of hell. Possibly the ring of gluttony specifically, which fit Bowser quite well.

It was time for the boy to step back into the fray. He used the butt of his staff to flick one of the pokeballs strapped to a bandoleer on his chest free, batted it up in the air in a tennis serve and then smacked it in the direction of the fight using the end of his brush.


[color=SpringGreen]”Go Dazzle! Use Icy Wind to blow that gas away!”[/color] he commanded, as the ball split open and released Dazzle the Poppilo into the fray. 

“Pop pohhhhh” the mon chimed out as it blew up several bubbles in quick succession, tossing each one up to burst and let for a gush of freezing cold air that swept through the gas cloud, picking it up and carrying it away. Then the boy had him use water gun to put out the fires, preventing any more gas from spreading, before he called the mon back to his pokeball before the snakes could get that juicy soft bodied target.

With the gas free and unable to re-poison his papa, Jr pointed his wand forwards and cast [color=SpringGreen]”Esuna”[/color] to free him from the toxins coursing through his body. Just in time too, as the king was pulling the last of the snakes off of his face when the turkey came at him again.

[color=FD0000]”Haha, oh no you don’t”[/color] the cured king cried out, flicking on his mecha mit’s shield to block a cutlery strike, before deploying his canons over his shoulders and point blank blasting the titanic turkey with torrents of water to stager it. He was about to smash it with the kinetic strike module again when the monster repaid him in kind, a shotgun blast of snakes and skulls blasting out of its belly and into his own, causing him too to stagger back.

They faced off for a heartbeat… and then both roared with fury and charged each other again.

As Bowser and the big bird duked it out Rika, struggled to rise, serpents swarming over her, gauntlets preventing her from reaching her own body … until she fumbled the latch jr had installed and ripped an arm free from its old prison, hand gripped the snake around her neck and tearing it free. She gasped, lungs filling with fresh air rather than deadly gas thanks to Dazzle’s icy wind, and the rush of oxygen to her brain let her think straight and gave her a moment of inspiration.

A moment later the ship girl was blasting into the air, trailing one of her gauntlets as she used her back mounted thrusters to burst out from the swarm. Then cannons roared as she fired her rigging’s turrets in two different directions, causing her to spin in the air, shedding serpents that were clinging to her body in the process.

Yet the ground was still swarming with them as they poured out of the holes turkey’s body seemingly without end. Which is where the troop’s own swarms came into play. From atop Jr’s shoulder, Kamek tiredly raised his wand and summoned forth a horde of Dry Bones, while Bowser called out for [color=FD0000]”Marie!”[/color] to summon the former skullgirl and his striker. The maid arose, looked at the mess with contempt and then summoned skeletal soldiers to battle the snakes, and a barrage of skulls of her own to meet the turkey’s head on (literally).

Undead humans and Koopas swarmed forth into the battlefield, and began stamping the snakes wherever they found them, their bony bodies entirely immune to anything the serpants could do to stop them.

Rika, then, floated down among them after correcting her spin, and was only lightly accosted by snakes as she slipped a hand back into her other gauntlet and took in the situation. Jr, carrying Kamek, was still re-approaching, while Bowser was duking it out with the Turkey itself. He was winning, but the lack of vitals was making it hard to actually put the undead thanksgiving dinner down. Worse, all it would take was one knife or fork stab getting through his guard and hitting the eyes it was aiming for for this battle to become costly, and by the looks of the scratches on Bowser’s face scales, it had gotten awfully close more than once.

Time to end this quickly.  

The ship girl ran forwards towards them, and shouted [color=SpringGreen]”Toss me up!”[/color] at a set of skeletal troopers in the way. Marie herself raised an eyebrow at this from where she was plugging one of the turkey’s wounds with a vacuum cleaner to see if sucking out its insides worked (it did not, there seemed to be zero end to its stuffing), and then had her minions do as was asked. 

They put their hands together and held them low, and when the ship girl stepped a foot on their palms they tossed her skywards in a team jump.

Rika soared up, titted herself in the air a bit to angle her fall towards the turkey, and then fired up both her maneuvering thrusters and her rigging cannons, blasting them up into the air and sending herself shooting down like a comet, canon gauntlet holding the top of the rifle one.

Chainsaw bayonet wiring.

The mechanized blade caught the back of the Turkey, and the force of her fall turned the buzzling blade into a guillotine that scythed down through its cooked flesh, tearing its back entirely apart … and sending its stuffing spraying out towards Rika, who shrieked in alarm as the bottomless pit of death spilled forth.

She had a heartbeat to react, and only because her sunglasses counted the mass of snakes and skulls as projectiles. Legs shaking from catching her own landing, she was sure she was about to risk it all on a point blank barrage when Marie, who had entirely seen this coming due to her unsuccessful attempt to drain the turkey, summoned a wall of skeletons between the ship girl and the snake wave.

[color=aqua]”I… Thank you”[/color] she gasped, to which the skullgirl simply shrugged.

Beyond the wall, Bowser punched the somehow still alive turkey in the gut to get some space and then pulled out a massive pair of shears that he was wearing on his belt like a sword. The blades snicked open and were then driven down on the monster’s front and then squeezed shut,  scything though the string holding it’s turkey breast. The king ignored the wave of stuffing that spilled out in response in order to drive his cutting implement down again, and the second snip slicing through its waist as well, tip of the shears meeting the trailing edge of Ricka’s cut when they met, allowing Bowser to fully complete Rika’s bisection/ 

This caused it to literally explode, whatever the infinite source of serpents and skulls inside it briefly surging in response to the lack of continent, and then burning itself out a heartbeat later as the twin sides of the turkey vaporized into ash, and left its spirit on the floor. This quite fortunately took the sea of snakes with it as they too disintegrated upon the death of their creator, the serpents having been an inherent part of its construction. 

With the beat finally dead Bowser, face cut up and body ravaged by the fall and the, fortunately now gone, poison, sunk to the floor with a gasp, himself desperately in need of healing.

Fortunately that was on the way, jr rushing in to rejoin the group half a moment later and casting [color=SpringGreen]”Medica”[/color] to heal everyone in the surrounding 15 foot radius. Including the flowers, who’s beauty was touchingly restored as the healing magic washed over all the victims of their battle, and also over anyone else who gathered up with them after it.

Given that the monsters had been quite the toughies, it was likely he might have his work kinda cut out for him.