[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/6W7bqko.png[/img]
[h2][color=FD0000]The Koopa Troop[/color][/h2]
[b][color=FD0000]wordcount:[/color][/b] 1,080 (+2) 
[b][color=FD0000]Bowser: Level 12 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=FD0000]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (141/120)
[b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 12 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]////////////////////////////////[/color]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (31/120)
[b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Kamek: Level 12 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DeepSkyBlue]//////////////////////////////[/color]////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (27/120)
[b][color=Aqua]Rika: Level 7 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=Aqua]/////////////[/color]///////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (14/70)
[b][color=FD0000]Location:[/color][/b] The Under - Ash Lake
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After the troop had given up on trying to break the invincible clock Primrose had her own set of suggestions, ones which had Kamek nodding along at their wisdom, though he did have to insist on a reminder that [color=DeepSkyBlue]”The one I fought, F, was quite the fierce foe. We should consider them as being somewhere in the same realms of threat as the guardians themselves, I think. So best to be well prepared before we go knocking on their door”[/color]

[color=FD0000]”Yeah, but we’ve clobbered plenty of those at this point, so we can take the helmeted schmucks on, no issue”[/color] Bowser, who had caught up in time to hear Kamek’s warning, declared confidently

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”With a full party”[/color] Kamek added as a caveat

[color=FD0000]”Ah, well, sure, maybe, I guess. We need to find the others anyway, so might as well do that first”[/color] the king retorted, not entirely willing to commit to agreeing with their inability to handle the threat of a consul on their own.

He was then filled in on the rest of what he missed, which ended with him scratching his head at the talk of the world being older than they thought.

[color=FD0000]”Huh, what? But that makes no sense. I was there, on the cliff, where this all started. So was Kirby, and he’s the one who survived it all, and then freed me and that was, right after he got away. I think. Must be, because I don't remember much of anything in between getting blasted and waking up”[/color] Bowser scratched his head, [color=FD0000]”I mean the puffball’s never been the most talkative but, I think that was how it all went down?”[/color]

[color=SpringGreen]”Wait, you don’t remember anything before that?”[/color] Jr asked, now just as confused 

[color=FD0000]”Nope. Nothing.”[/color] 

[color=SpringGreen]”That’s weird. I mean I do. You two too right?”[/color] Jr glanced at the other two, to which Kamek nodded, and Rika shrugged, and then explained that [color=Aqua]”Everything before I was freed was pretty hazy”[/color]

[color=FD0000]”Huh. Weird”[/color] was Bowser’s rather uninspired final assessment of the situation, as he and Rika simply dropped the issue from their minds, while Jr and Kamek continued to ponder it to a greater or lesser extent. The promise that it would be explained later, however, made it a mostly secondary concern. 

After that bit of head scratching, it was time to head out. The Troop bid Asgore farewell, and then caught up with Barnabee, who offered a different perspective on the whole situation that those who were free from Galeem had had. That they had only been spared the reaper’s blade because he was close to full on lifelight.

[color=Aqua]”Whaaaat, nooo, he was way too nice for that Right? Right?”[/color] Rika immediately rejected his assertion, which got the full range of replies from [color=FD0000]”Yeah, obviously, he’s a fluffy pushover”[/color] to [color=SpringGreen]”Eh, I dunno, he only talked about killing monsters and stuff right”[/color] and [color=DeepSkyBlue]”You know, now I am not so sure”[/color]

There was a bit of inconclusive discussion on the topic on that, before it was ended by them arriving at a familiar sight: a green pipe.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Ah finally, some normalcy, now that’s a sight for sore eyes”[/color] 

Sure enough, the pipe functioned just as expected, the troop lining up and descending down it, the familiar sound resounding and sensation grabbing the koopas just as expected, while Rika audibly delighted in the new experience. What was not so delightful was that the exit was at the bottom of a pond.

[color=FD0000]”Oh come on, I just dried off!”[/color] Bowser compiled as he sank to the bottom, the risk of drowning not at all an issue for him thanks to his aquatic fusions. Jr also had very little issue with the water, his car landing down on the mariokart track, at which point the prince deployed a rear propeller, and then with practiced ease drift boosting along the track before launching up out of the water onto the pavement.

Rika, hauling a waterlogged Kamek, arrived a few moments later, climbing up onto the surface of the water and floating over to the edge to deposit her elderly cargo, who gave her a [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Thank you Rika, much appreciated”[/color]

The two of them tried to shake themselves dry, only for a wet furred Bowser to burst from the pond next to them and undo their meager progress, the King having used his Meowser form to cat scratch his way up the side of the pool. Not at all a pleasant experience, that was for sure.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Ack- Sire really”[/color] Kamek comaplied, only to get splashed more as the koopa king tried to shake himself dry like a dog, much to Jr and Rika’s giggling amusement. 

[color=FD0000]”Urgh, that hardly helped”[/color] Bowser complained as he stood up, and then took a look around the city they’d found themselves in [color=FD0000]”Huh, so this is Asgor’s old place … not bad, though the rain’s a pain”[/color]

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Quite. We’re going to need to get umbrellas. Or at least I am”[/color] Kamek muttered, before Jr got them back to the point [color=SpringGreen]”So, uh, how are we gonna find the others in here anyway?”[/color] 

[color=Aqua]”Yeah this place is huuuuuge!”[/color] Rika said, putting words to the obvious as she marveled at the sights 

[color=SpringGreen]”Which means its gonna take forever to look everywhere”[/color] Jr groaned

[color=FD0000]”Guess we’ll check the obvious places like the middle of town, and then if that doesn't work, Kamek can just make me huge and they’ll have to come to us”[/color] Bowser said, ignorant or uncaring about how that might go down with the locals.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Sire I uh, well, oh never mind”[/color] Kamek gave up trying to find words to dissuade his king from this line of action, and then instead simply muttered that [color=DeepSkyBlue]”I just hope they are here at all”[/color]

[color=Aqua]”Maybe we can just ask someone?”[/color] Rika suggested as she deployed her remaining scout plane to have a look around. Before anyone could get a word in on that she announced [color=Aqua]”Oh hey look, looks like some kind of guard over there just past that gate. I’m gonna go ask her!”[/color] and then promptly hopped back onto the pond’s surface and started boosting across it, heading for the guard she had just spotted.

[color=SpringGreen]”Hey wait up!”[/color] Jr called as he burned rubber after her, something that swiftly turned into a race between them. Kamek groaned at the kid’s antics while Bowser gave a hearty laugh at it, before the two older koopas set on off after them at a less energetic pace.