[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/6W7bqko.png[/img] [h2][color=FD0000]The Koopa Troop[/color][/h2] [b][color=FD0000]wordcount:[/color][/b] 3,303 (+5) [b][color=FD0000]Bowser: Level 11 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=FD0000]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (235/110) [b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 12 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]/////////////[/color]/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (12/120) [b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Kamek: Level 12 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DeepSkyBlue]///////////[/color]///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (11/120) [b][color=Aqua]Rika: Level 6 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=Aqua]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]////// (54/60) [b][color=FD0000]Location:[/color][/b] The Under - The Ruins [/center] The general consensus of the other two with regards to Barnabee’s request was about the same as Bowsers, as in: “if we have the time maybe we’ll look into it.” No dashing heroes willing to put everything down for a noble cause here it seemed. Still, it was enough to keep the bee knight with them, and none of the troop felt bad about the prospect of stringing him along for as long as his presence was of use. He certainly proved himself handy yet again quite quickly, as he identified the mask fragment they had found as belonging to one Lurien, the Watcher, a figure of some local historical import. That certainly bode well for the odds of it being important, and, as luck would have it, it was indeed part of one of the ones they needed [color=Aqua]"Hey nice, it fits!”[/color] Rika said celebratory after she found it to fit nicely into the slot, happy that the missadventure she’d somewhat caused had had a positive ending. [color=FD0000]”So, nine bits instead of just 3 huh”[/color] Bowser said, pointing out the obvious change to their quest this represented [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Well, it could just be this one that is broken”[/color] Kamek suggested, but the King looked unconvinced. [color=FD0000]”Eh I mean they probably are though? Right? Otherwise it’s 5 pieces and …. Well I guess that’s an ok number too but it would still be a bit weird if only one was broken up. That’s just … sloppy evil workmanship”[/color] Bowser mused on the topic of macguffin hunts and keys and such. [color=SpringGreen]”So… I guess we aren't just looking for monsters wearing these masks then, but like, big monsters in general? This is gonna be a real bug hunt then huh?”[/color] Jr summarized, before noting that [color=SpringGreen]”It’s weird that it's like, this mask belonged to this Lurien person but they aren't the boss we need to take down, right? I’m not the only one thinking that right?”[/color] [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Perhaps this F decided to make things harder for us? Claimed the masks himself and then broke them up?”[/color] Kamek theorized [color=Aqua]"So are we just going to go around punching big monsters till we find more?”[/color] Rika asked [color=FD0000]”I dunno, maybe urgh … you know what let’s focus on finding the others first, yeah?”[/color] Bowser decided, not at all interested in facing that daunting sounding task at the moment. [hr] After taking a short rest to catch their breath, drink some water, and eat some snacks, the Troop trooped out, heading back the way they had come and swiftly coming across the hanging platform filled pit they had crossed over to get here. Jr simply descended down using his car, while Bowser who had never taken the time to un-meowser himself, set his claws into the side of the pit and just kinda slid down the side of it, using tentacles, lobster limbs, and guns to dissuade anything from trying to knock him off. Kamek meanwhile hung back, glancing at the two ladies and other wizard of the group and proceed to make them an offer [color=DeepSkyBlue]”So, I may have come up with an idea, one that might make traversing this place a little easier for you, if you are interested?”[/color] Rika certainly was, her legs still not the best at land based traversal, and so she took him up on the offer without additional questions. With her approval, the mage landed, took out his wand, and then tapped it into an open palm, forming, in an instant, a little egg. This he sets down on the ground, stepped back from, and began chanting too: [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Hocus pocus filiokus Keep quiet now while I focus Grow and grow, O loyal steed Of you we have need To skitter through these caverns deep To help us free the light blinded sheep So awaken child of mother dead Rise and shine you sleepy head To carry her slayer, that is what you are for So rise and rise and live once more!”[/color] As Kamek spoke, energy and magic flowed into the egg, causing it to grow and grow, larger and larger, till it towered above them all and then, as he finished, it cracked. Split asunder, and out of it hatched a massive spider which had Rika subconsciously take a half step back before she recalled that it was under control, and had a better look at it What she was presented with by the mage was a big spider, yes, but specifically one that, if she knew her taxonomy, she would have recognized as something close to a huntsman spider due to its [url=https://i.imgur.com/kfDmWwC.png]wide flat thorax and abdomen[/url]. It also had a small cushion like saddle on top of its head, which she was motioned to take a seat on. [color=Aqua]"You know I’m not so sure this is really that secure”[/color] she said, not exactly an expert in these things but still recognizing the lack of things to hold her down, as she set herself down cross legged, right before a magical aura gripped her and bound her to the creature’s back. [color=Aqua]"Wow”[/color] she started, right before the as til now motionless spider itself stumbled to the side clumsily, with Rika failing her arms a top it with a [color=Aqua]"wowowow”[/color] as Kamek hurried after it in a panic. Right before the spider hit the edge however, Rika suddenly went [color=Aqua]"Wait!”[/color] and halted her arm flailing, holding both horizontally and as stock still as the spider had gone. There was a tense little moment, and then the spider padded away from the edge as the ship girl declared that [color=Aqua]"I think I’ve got it. Yup. It’s like it’s my legs now? That is so weird”[/color] [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Ah so that’s how it works”[/color] Kamek said, admitting he had had no idea up until now, before starting to suggest [color=DeepSkyBlue]”In that case let’s take it slow and-”[/color] right before Rika took a running start and she, on spider back, lept down into the pit while wooping with delight at her new found mobility. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Oh no”[/color] Kamek started as he hurried back to the edge, only to sigh in relief as he saw the girl land safely on a hanging platform, and then marble as she rapidly descended, the hunter spider beneath her stringing webs between platforms and across the walls to scramble on down quick as can be. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Well, that seems to have worked nicely”[/color] he noted, before looking at the other two and offering [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Would you like one? Or, well, one to copy in your case Rubick? It does not have to be a spider either, I just thought it would be symbolic. I can do a burrowing beetle, or a variety of Wyverns if you’d prefer to try and fly, or even a griffon should you prefer that aesthetic”[/color] Whether they took him up on it or not, the mage preceded to produce a [url=https://i.imgur.com/QmjBqxV.png]obsidian wyvern[/url] for himself, stashing away his broomstick and descending into the depths on the cavern adapted flying beast, which caused him and it to fade from view as they flew through the dark caves. [hr] He was next seen down below, landing by the map maker that the others had stopped by to hear the news about where the others had gone, namely, onwards after buying a map. Something both said map maker and the bee knight suggested they do as well. [color=FD0000]”I mean if they already got one, then we don’t need another one right?”[/color] [color=SpringGreen]”Big waste of money”[/color] [color=Aqua]"Yeah … what they said”[/color] [color=DeepSkyBlue]” … ”[/color] Kamek just stared at the rest of the troop for a few moments, shook his head, and then went ahead and bought a map when they weren't looking anyway. His (advised) foresight proved itself useful swiftly, as they walked right past where the entrance to the basement had been (just as they had walked right past where the spirits of Sectonia’s mind controlled minions had fallen after they were eaten alive by spiders) and deeper into the maze of tunnels the people they were looking for had barely set foot in before beginning their downwards decent. Obviously then, they found neither hide nor hair of their fellows, and instead found only more of what the realm was infested with: more bugs. Many of these turned out to be skittish and harmless, a light zap from a wisp or burst of gunfire from a scout plane enough to deter most of the curious or aggressive ones, while a stealthy Kamek simply flapped on by without a care in the world, the mage gradually filling out the twisty turns of the deadend filled maze. Progress was gradual yet steady and safe … right up until Rika suddenly shouted [color=Aqua]"Oh no you don’t!”[/color] Down a tunnel one of her planes had gone, and then spurred her spider steed down it at a breakneck speed without warning, thrusters on her back firing and giving it extra acceleration, leaving the rest of the troop blindsided and in her dust. Astride giant spider Rika stampeded through the tunnel, hopping across gaps and scaling a few vertical surfaces while scattering lesser bugs in her wake till she burst into a little mining complex and came across what had caused her to yell in the first place. Within where three [url=https://i.imgur.com/uEKcqGa.png]centipede like creatures[/url] perched around various crude yet sturdy miner’s shacks and, pinned to a wall, the sputtering form of her scout plane, once again pinned by silky strands, although this time the aircraft was to a wall and was also in a sorry state of repair. [color=Aqua]"You jerks, you’ll pay for - eek”[/color] Rika was interrupted in her decrying of their attack on her plane by 3 volleys of the same attacks that had taken it down. Each of the pests raised up its arms and then launched [url=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZcnxrPX0AAuck7?format=png&name=small]dozens of fine strands of silk[/url] from their backs, which swiftly turned in the air and flew straight at the ship girl with near impeccable homing ability. Her sunglasses flashed as if catching the nonpresent sun, slowing the frightfully fast shots, resulting in her and her spidery steed only getting clipped by a few shots as they scampered to the side rather than taking the full volley to the face. It still stung a hell of a lot though, at least where it didn’t get caught on her gauntlets and shielding. On instinct, Rika pulled up her guns to return fire … only to hear the dreaded click of empty chambers from each and every weapon, reminding her of how she’d used everything up before on killing the spider queen. [color=Aqua]"shoot”[/color] she cursed, because that was now a thing she couldn't do. Logically, she should have just turned, run, got reinforcements or just left the weird hand bugs with their prize. That, however, would have been admitting defeat, and the Pacific Princess had injected something similar to the Gleaming refusal to be beaten back into her. [color=Aqua]"Alright spidey, time for some live fire combat training!”[/color] she told the unthinking construct she was riding/controlling, and then leapt into the fray. Literally. The huntsman spider launched itself atop one of the buildings hosting a kindred,taking the creature by surprise enough that Rika could deliver a massive gauntleted punch to its limb-covered chest, smashing it clear off of the building and onto the rocky ground below with a crunch. That was swiftly followed by a second crunch as Rika’s steed leapt again after it, the ship girl bringing down both her two gauntlets in an overhead smash that finished the job [color=Aqua]"Phew. Ok. Next!”[/color] Rika taunted as she pulled herself up, only to find that the second one who would face her gauntlets coming right at her. Fast. Skittering along the ground came the centipede like monster, many limbs carrying it frightfully fast and its long glaive striking even faster. The wicket point connected solidly with her chest … only for it to be bounced back by the last of her energy field’s reserves. With an alarm beeping in her ears Rika herself skittered back as the centipede stood tall, took two slow stalking steps to the right … and then struck again and again with several quick jabs. Rika caught these by copying Bowser, using both gauntlets in a boxer’s guard to defend herself, before surging forwards as the kindred drew back for another strike and using the hull blades attached to her rigging to punch forwards and strike it in the abdomen. The creature shrieked and stumbled back, only for the low blow to bring its focus down, and to her steed, which it then directed a stab at, skewering one of the spider’s eyes. Rika cried out in pain and stumbled back, not because she had been hurt as she would have had the spider been a striker, but because her controlling link to the construct had fed her a simulacra of pain to helpfully inform her it had been damaged. She really did not appreciate that, nor when another volley of those sticky strands came flying in from the other kindred who was off to her left, striking the spider’s body and limbs in dozens of places and causing it and her to lurch to the side with another bark of pain. [color=Aqua]"That’s really annoying”[/color] she hissed as she acclimatized to the transmitted sensations of pain and found them not nearly as bad as it would have been had she herself been struck all over. As she adapted her foes wordlessly come up with a plan, with the close range fighter scuttling around to put itself on the opposite side of her from the shooter, which would have would have forced her to face it with her back to the other … if her instincts hadn’t screamed at her about how bad this position was. Said instincts also reminded her that this was not how she was supposed to fight. She was a battle cruiser, she was supposed to move fast and hit hard not slug it out like a heavily armored battleship. So she ran, or, rather, rode, turning and charging towards the shooter instead, the wounded spider racing forth at what was still an impressive speed. The one who had circled round her chased after her, but to ward it off she dropped it a gift, one that came in the form of the one modern armament she had left: a torpedo. The scrambling creature darted to the side to avoid being bonked by the metal tube she’d dumped from the underside of a gauntlet, and then stumbled as said tube exploded behind it, the blast levaling one of the shacks. That gave her enough room to block a sunglasses slowed volley of threads, and then to leap at the shooting kindred. It had learned from the first one’s fate however, and so fell back to avoid being smashed into upon her landing, and then raised its spear to hack at her. Rika countered using both gauntlets, catching the blade in their maws … and then triumphantly touted [color=Aqua]"See how you like your own medicine”[/color] as the spider brought its abdomen down under its belly to positively blast the kindred with its own silk, a wave of the strands washing over it and sticking it to the floor. [color=Aqua]"Ha! Now eat this”[/color] Rika cried as she smashed two fists down onto it in a one two punch, and then disdainfully spat on the creature for good measure, priming the Brachydios slime her blows had splattered to blow while the kindred struggled futility to free itself. [color=Aqua]"And now finally for you!”[/color] she said, turning on the last kindred as it rose up to unleash a volley of strands upon her … only for it to be struck by a flaming clown shaped balloon and knocked off its feet. [color=SpringGreen]”There you are! You had papa worried sick running off on your own like that!”[/color] called the source of that attack, junior, as he fluttered in on his clown car [color=SpringGreen]”You could have gotten hurt or something”[/color] [color=Aqua]"I’m fine, and I can handle myself”[/color] Rika retorted, right before the slime she had set exploded behind her, taking out the kindred … and her own spider as its abdomen was too close to the blast. The destruction of that unraveled the magic and caused the ship girl to unceremoniously be dumped to the ground, landing on her butt with an [color=Aqua]”Oof!”[/color] [color=SpringGreen]”See”[/color] Jr retorted, before vaguely waving over at the kindred and saying [color=SpringGreen]”Primid Party, just shoot that thing or something”[/color] resulting in the burning bug getting introduced to the 5 rounds rapid method of dealing with horrors, and for once, siad method worked remarkably well as it was blown away by a hail of super scope shots. [color=Aqua]”I had this”[/color] Rika insisted as she picked herself up off the ground, thinking for a moment, sighing, and then saying [color=Aqua]”but thanks for coming”[/color] [color=SpringGreen]”Yeah sure whatever it's nothing … so why’d you run off anyway?”[/color] he asked, to which Rika replied by tramping over to the cave wall and awkwardly scratching at her trapped plane till she freed it from the strands … and it promptly fell apart. [color=Aqua]”Gah. Well. Urg. Stupid”[/color] the shipgirl said as she crouched down, unlocked her gauntlets to free her hands, and then started piling bits of the broken plane into the hanger bay it had come out of. [color=Aqua]”Don’t have spare parts for these”[/color] she explained as the hanger began recycling the bits that had survived and demanding replacements for the parts that hadn’t. [color=SpringGreen]”Oh yeah oof. I know what you mean, without that mallet Papa gave me keeping this”[/color] he smacked his clown car [color=SpringGreen]”in one piece has been way more of a pain than it used to be”[/color] before he had a think and suggested [color=SpringGreen]”You where really relying on that dispenser thing to keep going huh? Guess we shoulda stocked up on spare ammo and parts and stuff while we had it… Well, till then, maybe we should try and get you some replacement gear and strikers and stuff?”[/color] That Rika had to agree with. [hr] After the troop regrouped and had joined back up with the main party (and Rika had gotten her ear talked off for her recklessness by the two worried old koopas) they headed deeper into the caves till they came to the fork in the road. The troop moved to look at the big cavern first of all, the one filled with big indestructible worms, cool clown bugs, weird jumpy bugs and [color=FD0000]”Oh hey, that screaming one has gems on it … get it for me Kamek”[/color] The mage glanced at his king, then at the screaming bug … and then delegated the task himself. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”End, put it to sleep, would you?”[/color] he said, getting the foliage covered sniper striker to appear and, after he made another comment about the lovely locations he kept being brought to, proceeded to try and put a tranquilizer dart in the bug. Should it hit, and the bug be forced to take a nap, Kamek would then get some toadies to go get it for him so he wouldn’t have to risk becoming wormfood himself. While the elders waited to see if they were going to get rich quick, and Rika sat down next to the giant chicken she’d gotten as a replacement mount and sulked/thought about what she’d do with the spirits she’d packed up for a bit, Jr attempted some long distance clown to clown communication. First he let Dazzle the clown nosed sealion pokemon out of his ball to ride in his car beside him for moral support, then he floated up in the air at the entrance and yelled [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Hey! Clown bugs, over here!”[/color] before smacking the front of his clown car to establish the fact that they had similar aesthetic tastes. If he did not get bombarded by roach and/or clown based sorcery, he’d call over the question [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Have you seen a catgirl? Or a giant bee? Or a small human kid? Or a guy and/or girl human with red hair? We’re looking for them and wanna know if they went by here”[/color]