[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/6W7bqko.png[/img] [h2][color=FD0000]The Koopa Troop[/color][/h2] [b][color=FD0000]wordcount:[/color][/b] 754/3447 (+2/+5) [b][color=FD0000]Bowser: Level 12 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=FD0000]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (149/120) [b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 12 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (51/120) [b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Kamek: Level 12 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DeepSkyBlue]///////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (34/120) [b][color=Aqua]Rika: Level 7 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=Aqua]/////////////////////////////////[/color]///////////////////////////////////// (34/70) [b][color=FD0000]Location:[/color][/b] The Under - Home of Tears [hider=warp locations] [s] Central hub: Smash City Alcamoth Accessible locations: Peach’s castle Limsa Lominscuttle Town Lumbridge Twilight Town Kosm’s Beach [/s] [/hider] [/center] Eventually, after a draining slog the slowly advancing wall of doom that was Bowser arrived at the waiting room right before the top of the tower. He’d punched his way through a fair share more patients, endless amounts of mistakes and given up on punching amalgamates to the extent that he had at one point simply exited the tower via window and climbed up to the next floor on the outside via Meowser form rather than try and deal with another one. Kamek, naturally, had followed his king’s lead when it came to this navigation, and had also amassed quite the collection of spirits thanks to a toady of his being dedicated to the task. Specifically, the koopas arrive via window, with Kamek shrinking the pane of glass down to a size to be removed, letting himself and the king in, and then resizing it back up to full size. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”In hindsight, I’m not sure why we didn’t come up via the outside for the entire climb”[/color] Kamek mused, before moving clear of Bowser before he shook his cat fur dryer Once at the waiting room, they took the time to recuperate from their climb, with Bowser sitting his butt down on the big chair, while the broom riding mage took a moment to stretch his legs. Neither of them were inclined to tamper with the flashing light door (for the moment) and instead they climbed up the last flight without incident, and up there met IGV, or rather Iguana Gallo Valletto. Turned out the man was a minion of council P, but not at all a happy one, considering he supplied them with detailed plans with how to take down his supposed master. Kamek did have to wonder if this was all some elaborate trap. The plan did, after all, involve assassinating several (probably) notable members of the city's population after all, which was likely to not go down well with the locals. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”If we are going to do this, it would be best to be discreet about taking down these ‘cronies’ correct? It would not do to have news of their fate at our hands spread after all, lest that news obstruct the second part of the operation”[/color] he suggested, putting the issue he had identified out there in non-accusatory words. His king was not at all as prone to caution or subterfuge, so when the king began to object to the proposed child murder with [color=FD0000]”Hey, so, uh, I can’t believe its coming down to me to say this-''[/color] the mage quickly stepped in to head it off till later with [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Oh your right sire, it is ever so rude of us to have not graciously thanked you for your wisdom and foresight, Iguana Gallo Valletto. Truly it is a boon to us all that you have sought us out to take part in this fantastic plan”[/color] After that flattery, he quickly pivoted to keep the Kings mind off the issue, for the moment, by saying [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Come now, we can’t let time go to waste. The longer we wait, the more likely it is that one of these ‘Agarthans’ catches wind of us! We seekers do have a rather notable feature after all”[/color] he tapped the side of his spectacles before pointing out that [color=DeepSkyBlue]”and with some of our number still out and about in the city streets, its only a matter of time till one gets spotted”[/color] [color=FD0000]”The kids''[/color] the king caught on, instantly a little worried about the various children they had wandering around down there, having up until this moment assumed the city would be safe as houses. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Indeed, so we best get on their case before they get on ours. Discussions on how to ‘deal with’ the child can wait for once they are dealt with I’m sure''[/color] he added, though the insinuation went over the kings head, before asking their host [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Speaking of haste, is there a quicker way down that going past all those indestructible melted things? If not, I could whip up a few cave drakes steeds that could sneak most of us down from the tower without being spotted''[/color] He would have flown them up, but he was unaware of any clandestine take off points in the city, while landing unstealthy would not be much of an issue as no one would know where they had come from. Plus, he assumed Iguana would be abandoning this abode soon enough, so giving it away to any observers was no longer much of an issue. [hr] At the same time as their elders were discussing political assassinations, the youngsters had decided to go on a little murderous adventure of their own. They had, after all, just acquired Rika a new weapon, an even more modified than it had already been grizzco blaster, and both of them had agreed they should test it out. Unaware of both the arena, and the waterways beneath the city were options for this, they were instead heading for a little trip outside the city to see if there was anything to shoot. The closest gate to the outside world was signposted as leading to the ‘crumbling caverns’ which the pair assumed was some kind of dangerous unstable cave system likely crawling with nasty things. They were only partially right. It was indeed a cave system, and it was also unstable to a degree, but what they had not expected, was for said system to be made almost entirely of [url=https://i.imgur.com/E3iggCH.png]cheese[/url] [color=Aqua]”I. What. That can be a thing? Places can just be made of food?!”[/color] Was Rika’s reaction to this as she leaned out of Jr’s clown car to take it all in. The giant fruits they had discovered in the Luma Pools notwithstanding this was the first time she had seen something like this. [color=SpringGreen]”I mean yeah. Duh. It’s basically the same as cheese land back home”[/color] Jr replied, entirely nonplussed by this. He was slightly more plussed by having to rapidly correct his hovering height when Rika dropped down out of the car onto the cheesy ground, and then shuddered when the ship girl crouched down and gave the floor a lick. [color=SpringGreen]”Ew, hey, Kamek says not to eat stuff that’s been on the floor, and that, well I mean that is the floor!”[/color] He called down to her. “Yeah, people come back and forth through here all the time, miss!” came a call from one of the [url=https://i.imgur.com/yuJMS8i.png]gate guards[/url], who had seen no issue in letting a kid and a teen through other than warning them to watch their step. [color=SpringGreen]”Yeah, see, you definitely shouldn't be licking that”[/color] Jr reiterated [color=Aqua]”It’s good cheese though? Maybe if I chop some of it up?”[/color] she started suggesting, only to be interrupted by the guard: “No making pot holes either! That’s a road after all” Rika visibly deflated at this news, and so the guard did offer her an alternative or two “If you want cheese so bad, they sell that in the market. Or you can get it fresh from the miners for cheaper, if you can get out there” [color=Aqua]”Ooo, ooo, let’s go do that!”[/color] Rika insisted, very interested in this now, thoughts of weapon testing now long forgotten and replaced with a need to sample new tastes. Then, before Jr could offer an opinion on this (he had, incidentally, been inclined to agree) the ship girl was off, leaving him to cry out [color=SpringGreen]”Hey wait up!”[/color] as he flew after her. In the time it took for him to catch up, the ship girl had swung from a vine across a pit of spikes, wobbled her way over a teetering platform, had to use her grapple hook to get unstuck from a quicksand-esque pool of cream cheese, and held her nose to get by the fumes caused by where runoff water form the city of tears wound its way through the cheese, rotting it as it went. [color=SpringGreen]”You could just have gotten another ride you know”[/color] Jr pointed out, and then refused to let her take one now due to her boots being covered in cream cheese. Thus the ship girl ended up doing a bit more platforming till she came to a little overlook, and, looking down from it, she could see that she had reached her destination Below them a number of rat people (known as [url=https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/8/80/Skritt_Miner.jpg]Skritt[/url]) all busying away in a quarry of sorts, hacking away at the cheese and piling it into carts. Every now and then one would make an excited squeak as they made a discovery of a more gourmet cheese among the masses of common fare, from distinctive blue cheeses to ones that could only be distinguished by their sensitive noses. The spoils of their labor were then shipped off to a [url=https://i.imgur.com/kI79z2z.png]metal structure[/url] (possibly a warehouse) adorned with a sign reading “Chadder Co.” that was, presumably, their base of operations. Dug into the cheese walls around said structure were a large number of doors which, given the mail slots on them, were probably the miner’s housing. [color=Aqua]”There it is, come on”[/color] Rika called back to Jr, before she hopped off the precipice and started skidding down the slope leading to the facility. As she slid down she passed a few miners and gave them a [color=Aqua]”Hi! Hello! Bye!”[/color] along with a wave. She got a few waves in return … and also the very unnerving experience of practically every one of the rat miners, no matter how far away they were, turning their galeeming eyes to look at her. But only for a moment. After that moment passed most shrugged and got back to work, while a few gave her a long distance wave. [color=SpringGreen]”Freaky”[/color] Jr muttered as he watched this happen, before swooping down and getting much the same treatment, though his clown themed flying machine got a fair few gawks and guffaws. Still, neither mass noticing event had any immediate consequence, other than some amusement from the hypersonically communicating Skritt miners, and so soon enough the pair had rolled on into town and were having a look around. Then the consequences showed up in the form of a [url=https://i.imgur.com/zLKcdxc.png]yellow mouse[/url] wearing a suit and bowtie combo. “Hey there you two, are you here about the delivery job?” He called over as he approached, before chiding them with “because if so, your late” [color=Aqua]”Huh? Oh, no, no, no, we’re just here because one of the guard ladies said we could buy cheese off of the miners for cheap”[/color] Rika informed him, before asking [color=Aqua]”So are you selling any cheese?”[/color] “Only in bulk. We’ve got quite the lucrative little deal with some of the merchants in town that rakes in the big bucks” the mouse informed her smugly, before furrowing his brow and then turning to one of the Skritt miners nearby demanding to know “Hey, have you lot been selling the product behind my back!” which got some immediate and unified head shakes of denial [color=SpringGreen]”Must have been some other miner she was talking about”[/color] Jr quickly interceded to suggest, instinctive covering for whatever mischief the rat folk were in. Their mousy boss looked a tad unconvinced, but accepted the explanation for the moment. Given the few tips of a hardhat the prince got from the miners when their boss wasn’t looking, there probably was something like that going on. Not that Rika picked up on it, mind. [color=Aqua]”So no cheese then? Aw, I was looking forwards to trying a bunch out”[/color] the upset ship girl said, scuffing the metal deck of the warehouse with a foot, before snapping her hand and asking [color=Aqua]”Oh, oh, but wait, how about if we do that delivery job you were talking about! Would you give us cheese then?”[/color] “I. Well. I’d pay you. And then you could use it to buy some of the cheese you’re delivering” the mouse, who was presumably the Chadder who’s name emblazoned the warehouse, or so Jr guessed, explained slowly. [color=Aqua]”Oh so like one of those job things? Neat.”[/color] the ship girl realized, having only ever killed things for money at this point, before deciding [color=Aqua]”I wanna try it!”[/color] [color=SpringGreen]”I mean, we gotta get back to the city before Kamek and Papa finish up in the tower, so sure, we could bring some cheese back with us”[/color] Jr agreed. It wasn’t like he’d be doing manual labor to do it. “Excellent, right this way, and you can meet your fellow employees” Chadder told them, before leading the way inside the warehouse, casually commenting “they’ll be ever so happy to have help, it was going to be quite a tough run, what with them being down a rodent. Poor guy fell down a spike pit” The pair traded a glance at that news, it wasn’t exactly the kind of thing you wanted to hear on your first day on the job, but, given the precariousness of the route they’d had to take there, it wasn’t entirely surprising. A moment after that bit of news, they were introduced to the leader of the remaining cheese transporters: who turned out to be a [url=https://i.imgur.com/xEWQY7A.png]Mouse lady[/url] with an incredibly large backpack, big as she was if not larger, strapped to her back. “Oh, are you the newbies the Skritt were squeaking about? Name’s Purse. Nice to have you onboard” the mouse lady introduced herself, rising from the back of the pack she was sitting on and offering a hand to shake [color=Aqua]”Hi, nice to meet you too! Only gonna be a one off though, so I dunno if calling us newbies works?”[/color] Rika replied, before taking a few moments to free a hand from a gauntlet and shake the offered hand. Or was it paw, she wondered. “Temp hires then” Chadder suggested, before directing the pair of them to two more sacks of cheese that a pair of Skritt where filling up with neatly wrapped bundles of dairy gold. Jr simply lowered his sentient meathook from his car and used that to hoist his load up into the air, while Rika took a lead out of Purse’s book and strapped a big ol sack of cheese to her back. In doing so she joined the ranks of a trio of [url=https://i.imgur.com/BzI6jLr.png]Skritt[/url] who made up the majority of the pre-existing party, along with a [url=https://i.imgur.com/AJipelC.png]shock roach[/url] toting [url=https://i.imgur.com/BnOlEf8.png]feild mouse[/url] who wasn’t carrying much else but his weapon. Once they were all set up and packed up with cheese, the others mounted up on [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/pizzatower/images/9/99/Spr_bigrat_move_0.gif]large rats[/url] which they tempted to ride forth via little cheese on sticks. Then they set off, rodents and koopa riding out, and Rika running, grappling hooking and maneuvering jetting after them. [color=Aqua]”Urgh, I really wish I’d asked Kamek to leave me one of those mounts now”[/color] Rika commented to herself as she set foot back on the overlook she’d first spotted the facility from, giving her brow a wipe with the back of her arm, which was a bit tricky what with the massive gauntlet strapped to it. Then she moved to catch up with the mounted people, giving them an apology of: [color=Aqua]”Sorry for keeping you waiting. But I’ll be quicker on the jumpy bits I promise”[/color] “Oh don’t worry about it, we can take it slower. Safer for us to stick with you anyway for the rest of it, especially with all that the gear you are carrying there” Purse replied, vaguely gesturing to all the shipgirl’s hardware. [color=Aqua]”Definitely feeling it now that I’m all stocked up on ammo again, that is for sure”[/color] Rika replied, to which the shock roach totting mouse replied that it was “good to have, but hopefully we won’t need it” As fate would have it, he was dead wrong about that, to a tragically literal degree as, about half way back to the city, he met his end in the opening volley of a two pronged ambush. They were passing through a canyon, hopping across ridges hanging over deeper drops, when both ridges suddenly produced hostiles. On one, piratical [url=https://i.imgur.com/OYr6Mx5.png]ratlings[/url] let out squeaky war cries as several smaller swashbucklers swinging down on vines to attack the convoy, while one hulking ratling cannon blasted out a teetering platform, cutting off their rout forwards. From the other appeared strange creatures made from [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/pizzatower/images/e/e6/Spr_indiancheese_walk.gif]living cheeses[/url] who hurled [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/pizzatower/images/1/12/Tribe_cheese_axe.gif]axes[/url] down from on high at the cheese curious. One of these was the end of the poor field mouse, who took an axe to the brain, and went tumbling down into a spike pit. Also on their side where cheese slime [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/pizzatower/images/9/9f/Rage_loop.gif]knights[/url] armed with massive forks who came jetboosting down to join the fray. Overlapping cries of “take the cheese!” and “free the cheese!” from each group gave something of an indication that these were in fact two entirely separate groups of ambushers, which got confirmed when the first ratling got impaled on the fork of a cheese knight. “Around! Turn around, back the way we came!” Purse commanded, as she pulled out a large shield to two handily block the strike of a rattling from her pack, before in a flash switching it out for a two handed sword which she used to drive him back. In a third flash the sword was stored, and she was blasting her attacker with a dark wand with one hand as she was urging her steed to turn and retreat with the other. Then, a screech of alarm caused her to look back, spotting one of the Skritt, who’s pack had been grabbed by a rattling and a knight, both of whom were trying to pull it back and stab the other, while the helpless cheese courier desperately tried to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. [color=SpringGreen]”Get your own cheese, the pace is straight up made of the stuff!”[/color] Jr shouted at the cheese bandits/liberators, before he gave the command: [color=SpringGreen]”Mimi! Help that guy out would you”[/color] to his electric mouse imitating pokemon. She obliged, curling an arm up and then hurling an electro ball at one of the cheese knights, the electrical atack arching though its armor and cooking it alive inside of it. Jr followed this up by waving his paintbrush and casting [color=SpringGreen]”Stone!”[/color] which caused a bunch of chunks of cheese to be ripped out of the canyon wall, which then smacked into rattling in ironic comeuppance, sending it tumbling down into the canyon below. As the prince switched to healing the wounded Skritt so he could get moving and escape, Purse called out a warning of “The big guy, he’s going to cut us off!” Indeed, the large cannon toting rat was right in the middle of shoving another load of rocks into his mighty weapon to act as cheap grapeshot. [color=Aqua]”On it!”[/color] Rika called out, before she whipped her grappling hook up and out, latching on to the edge of the canyon and then rapidly pulling herself up top, leaving the others, (and her cloyster striker which she had summoned to help) behind to keep up the fighting retreat. The ship girl stuck a boot on the edge of the canyon and pulled herself all the way up top. Just as soon as she got there, she had to immediately ducked to the side, catching a throwing ax to the cheese sack. Then a heart beat later she dodged to the other, the crucible absorbed power of her sunglasses slowing the hail of stone shrapnel enough for her to avoid most of it, while her energy shield and gauntlets blocked the rest. Projectiles mostly evaded; she moved to face the rattling cannoneer in melee combat. She dodged to the side to avoid a smashing attack it tried to perform with its heavy metal ranged weapon, then delivered a close range blaster shot with her new goopy gun, the explosion knocking the rattling back and smearing it with burning ink. She ducked under another flying axe coming from the other side of the canyon, delivered another blast to the rattling, and then fired her grappling hook at it. The claw grabbed its shoulder, and then pulled her close, the ship girl blocking a hasty canon bludgeon with her other gauntlet, and then driving the one with the hook attached home. Stabbing the tip of the whirring chainsaw bayonet into its neck. On the other side of the canyon the cheese slimes where left in [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/pizzatower/images/e/e2/Spr_indiancheese_stun.gif]shock[/url] at the sight of gratuitous blood spraying from one of their foes as Rika sawed it’s head off. Then they [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/pizzatower/images/2/29/Spr_indiancheese_scared.gif]screamed[/url] in terror as she turned towards them, and unloaded her full firepower against them while she yelled [color=Aqua]”Run while you still can”[/color] over the roar of gun and cannon fire. That was the last straw for both parties as, be it out of either cowardice or pragmatism, neither seemed willing to fight to the death. It was a battle for cheese after all. Rattlings scurried away with roguish speed and stealth, while cheese slimes simply melted away into the landscape made of the same material as them. Rika gave them a few parting shots, but quickly decided to stop wasting ammo on the retreating foes. That stuff was expensive after all. After the battle was won, they took stock of their losses. One death (of someone none of them had known very well it had to be admitted) and a few handfuls of cheese either pilfered or fallen out of holes punctured in their sacks. In terms of gains, Purse acquired a new shock roach, and the two troop members 4 tribal cheese slimes, 3 forknight cheese slimes, 2 rattling swashbucklers and 1 cannon rattling. There had been a few more, but the canyon had devoured the rest. After a quick collection of the loot, repairs to bag holes, and a short eulogy for the dead, they continued on their journey. The rest of the journey was uneventful enough, the group platforming across the crumbling caverns without future amish or harassment, and then riding back in through the gate and heading for the market. There, they found out what their pay was for the whole ordeal: [color=SpringGreen]”50 gold per bag! That’s it?”[/color] “You should be grateful I’m paying you at all, what with the state these sacks are in. Who knows how much cheese you lost!” the merchant retorted, and that was the end of that. Or rather it was after the merchant none too subtly threatened to call the guards if Jr kept arguing. Rika meanwhile, after examining the (comparatively) meager pile of coin she had been given and then looking at the prices of some of the cheeses she had helped deliver, some of which were going for many times that, came to the conclusion that [color=Aqua]”Wow. These job things are really bad huh?”[/color] [color=SpringGreen]”Yup. Dunno why people do em”[/color] the spoiled prince replied in a huff as he turned to move away from the stand “We can get a bunch of runs done in a day so it adds up” Purse pointed out lightly, before conceding “But I can’t blame you for thinking that after that experience right there though” [color=Aqua]”Oh. Well. Um. Hmmm”[/color] Rika hummed and ha’ed at that, rather unsure now. What she was sure about was that she had rather lost her appetite for buying any cheese after Jr’s extended argument with the person they’d be buying it from. Going back would likely be very embarrassing to say the least. [color=SpringGreen]”We haven't got time for that either way anyway. Papa’s got to be almost done with that tower by now, right?”[/color] Jr noted, looking up to see if he could spot his dad, yet being unable to do so due to the rain, even though the king was at that very moment climbing up the outside of the tower to avoid an amalgamate. [color=Aqua]”I guess so yeah”[/color] Rika agreed “Guess this is where we part ways then” Purse said, and then as they moved out of sight of the grumbling merchant, the mouse pulled off her little instant item retrieval trick one more time to retrieve a small parcel from her pack “here, we owe you one for getting us out of that jam. I’m sure those jerks are going to be licking their wounds for a long while after it too, so that's a second boon you’ve given us to us to boot” The ship girl accepted the parcel and found within it a lovely little wheel of brie some miner had pulled out of the dairy based earth back around Chadder Co [color=Aqua]”Huh, I didn’t see you buying this?”[/color] Rika asked, to which Purse just winked and reapplied “just think of it as hazard pay” before moving away and bidding them a final “Farwell. And good luck to you with whatever’s up with that tower!” before she and the three Skritt rode off back towards the gate they’d come through. [color=Aqua]”Well that was nice of her”[/color] Rika said, while Jr briefly wondered just how much of the missing cheese had vanished at the hands of the couriers instead of the bandits. Then he decided he didn’t care and suggested [color=SpringGreen]”How about we find somewhere to wait and give this a try?”[/color] to which Rika readily agreed.