[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/6W7bqko.png[/img] [h2][color=FD0000]The Koopa Troop[/color][/h2] [b][color=FD0000]wordcount:[/color][/b] 3997 (+5 (for Rika and Jr only)) [b][color=FD0000]Bowser: Level 12 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=FD0000]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (213/120) [b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 12 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]//////////////////////// (94/120) [b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Kamek: Level 12 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DeepSkyBlue]////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]//////////////////////////////// (88/120) [b][color=Aqua]Rika: Level 7 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=Aqua]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (90/70) [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] While the older troop members set out to do the ever so boring task of selling stuff, Jr and Rika resolved to go take part in the much more interesting activity of buying things. First thing’s first, they loaded up with tapes, the prince having talked Rika and only Rika into this whole monster transformation and then combination thing being a good idea. This turned out to be a winning option however, as the girl turned out to have a hefty wallet when it came to her cash reserves. It was only after they had gotten the tapes that the issue of how to record things came up, prompting a trip out of the market again. Or rather a race out there, with jr drifting through the streets while Rika sailed up the miniature rivers running down every street caused by the endless rainfall. The prince, who had reliable roads instead of inconsistent gutters, held his own till they reached the collection, with its many waterways. There, Rika started to catch up, only to nearly run afoul of some kind of oversized jellyfish, halting the race as she first blasted it, and then limped to shore to get her stings seen too by the prince. [color=Aqua]”ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch. Someone really should do something about those that water’s not tactically secured at all”[/color] she complained as Jr cast healing spells on her. “I think some folks are on that already, fortunately enough. A tall, fiery headed fellow with white swords who I would think was a human for one” came a comment from the owner of the stall they had stopped by. [color=SpringGreen]”Sounds like Ganondorf”[/color] Jr replied, before snorting at the thought of the king of evil warlock punching the water like some insane fisherman, before taking a look at the [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/deltarune/images/c/c1/Seam_face.gif]living stuffed toy cat[/url] who had informed them of this fact. “A friend of yours? Do thank them from me if you see them later then, that quest has been up on the board for much too long” the cat, who was named Seam, replied, and then pointed them over to a handy nearby commissions board when they inquired what he meant by that. [color=Aqua]”Should we check it out? Kamek said they’d be a while after all”[/color] Rka asked, to which Jr replied [color=SpringGreen]”Sure sure, just as soon as we’ve got those tape recorders”[/color] “Tape recorders you say? Well now, aren't you lucky, because I just so happen to have a few. Or a pair to be exact. Oddly popular with humans, those. They come here, buy one, and then never come again. Funny that” the stuffed feline merchant informed them, smiling a little knowingly at his own comment. “I suppose you’ll be wanting one for much the same reasons?” he then added, looking at Rika, who looked rather human from the waist up these days. [color=Aqua]”Yup, but I’m not a human, I’m a ship”[/color] she replied, confusing him a little, and then confusing him more when she pulled of an armored boot and popped a reptilian foot up on the encounter [color=Aqua]”Plus I have these now”[/color] “I see,” the cat replied in the awkward moment that followed, one that only ended once Jr lifted the foot back off the table and said that [color=SpringGreen]”Yeah, we’d like those. How much?”[/color] “Not even wanting to see the goods first? Well that works for me, ha ha ha” the cat replied as he turned to go fetch them from his stash of odds an ends and popped a pair down on the table, each one coming complete with a set of headphones “that’ll be 120 each, so 240, if you please” The two put their money on the table, and with a “thanks for that” the cat took their cash and pushed the items closer for them to pick up. Rika, naturally, tried hers on for size at once, while jr did the same … and realized that they didn’t fit on his head all that comfortably, particularly considering his ears were now up top, what with him being a cat-koopa and all now. “Probably should have looked at them first” Seam said with mild amusement, before politely offering “I can take them back off your hands if you aren't satisfied” [color=SpringGreen]”Nah I can just tinker with them a bit, probably”[/color] Jr replied as he inspected the cheap plastic band, and theorizing that, if that was stripped carefully away, he could free the cables and then assemble some kind of clips to attach them to his ears. “Very practical of you. Now, can I interest you in anything else?” Seam asked, and then shrugged when the prince told him no. [color=Aqua]”Oh, do you know what I can do with this?”[/color] Rika asked, showing him the fan of knives mod she had gotten from one of the cheese thieves, and getting pointed towards a local smith as a result. After that, they bid the cat farewell, made a quick stop to get said mod cheaply installed in her left gauntlet, and then the two checked out the quest board. After a bit of discussion, they decided to look into the fluke situation, but, lacking knowledge of how to get down into the waterways, they asked a guard, who then directed them towards one of the residential districts being harassed by the bugs in question. [hr] There they came across a scene of a team of armored siren officers armed with runic [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/monster_train/images/8/80/Guard_of_the_Unnamed.png]sheilds[/url] lead by a [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/monster_train/images/c/cf/Tethys_Titansbane.png]axalotol[/url] looking siren preparing to raid an apartment building while several monster residents huddled outside, waiting for the all clear to be allowed back into their homes. “You’re not the first ones to ask, and the last group didn’t come back” the leader of the group, officer Tethys, replied when asked about more details about the waterways and the gate. [color=SpringGreen]”Whoever they were, I bet they were nothing compared to us!”[/color] Jr retorted self confidently, to which Rika added [color=Aqua]”Mm hmm. Not that we can really prove it, but we’ve dealt with all sorts of dangerous stuff, I promise”[/color] “Hmmm. Maybe you can prove it, and give my girls a rest while you’re at it. We’ve been on damage control all day, so how about this: you clear this one of flukes for us and prove you can handle yourselves against them, and then I’ll give you the details. Deal?” the officer cunningly replied, which got agreement from both of them. “Great. Call if you need us to bail you out. Oh and try not to break anything. The people want their homes back in one piece after all” she requested, before gesturing for them to enter. The two did, and found themselves in an ever so ordinary apartment building, the pair climbing (or hovering in Jr’s case) up the central stairway, following the sound of a strange sucking sound. They came across a broken down door, and when they peeked into it they found a cozy little home with pictures of a happy monster family on the wall. Said family where currently outside however, and in their place where two [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/hollowknight/images/9/92/B_Flukefey.png]hovering flukes[/url] watching as a [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/hollowknight/images/f/f3/B_Flukemon.png]big lanky one[/url] rummaging around an open (and beeping from being open to long) fridge. [color=SpringGreen]”You're under arrest! You have the right to remain silent”[/color] Jr cheerfully shouted at them, getting their attention. They immediately gave up that right as the two floating flukes (known as flukefey) swooped towards them, mouths peeling back and revealing a dozen [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/hollowknight/images/7/78/Flukefey_Attack.png]sharp teeth[/url] and screeching as they went. Rika, naturally, leveled her guns at them, only for Jr to shout [color=SpringGreen]”No damage to the house, remember!”[/color] forcing her to quickly switch to a crude guard with her gauntlets. One smashed into that, but the other slipped down low and clipped her armored leg, bruising it through the metal before it kept on swooping. Fortunately raced right into a saw blade slash from jr’s clown car which ripped up its face, and then a boxing glove punch sent its body sailing back across the room. On a shaky leg Rika shoved her flukefey back, and used her hull blades to chop at it when it came in again, unknowingly mirroring jr s strategy as she followed that up with a gauntlet punch, though hers was tipped with a chainsaw gauntlet, sending the shredded corpse flying past the tall one as it came in to body tackle her. It smashed into her before she could steady herself after her own punch, but she used her maneuvering thrusters to stop herself being knocked over, and the flat of her hull blades to push it back. “Food ours. Stole first!” the fluke claimed with a feminine pitch as it stabilized itself after the pushback and prepared to charge in again [color=Aqua]”I don’t want your food, I want your life”[/color] Rika retorted, only for Jr to call out [color=SpringGreen]”Wait wait, don’t kill this one yet, I wanna record it!”[/color], as he took out the tape recorder and prepped to do just that [color=Aqua]”What, now?”[/color] Rika called back as she and the fluke started brawling, both of them relying mostly on brute force in the tight confines of the home. [color=SpringGreen]”Just beat on it for 10 seconds and then we can end this”[/color] jr requested, a request which the ship girl found herself obliging even as she was forced to take on the full brunt of the fluk’s full body tackles. Seven seconds later saw her holding it back with hull blades and one arm as it tried to use its fang filled sucker mouth to eat her face while she used her left arm to bunch it in the gut. [color=Aqua]”Get. off. Me. - eek”[/color] the ship girl started as her new weapon mod, installed on the left gauntlet she was using to punch, triggered, shotgunning the fluke with knives at point blank range. The blades scythed right through the fluke, splitting it in half and sending each half tumbling to the floor. [color=SpringGreen]”Hey come on I almost had it!”[/color] Jr started to complain, only to be very confused when the tape clicked upon finishing recording, in a manner in which he assumed meant it had finished successfully. [color=SpringGreen]”Huh?”[/color] he said confused, right as the two halves of the fluke, which notably had not turned to ash, suddenly rose up, the top half floating through the air while the bottom half revealed a second maw at the point at which it had split, and [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/hollowknight/images/5/5e/Screenshot_HK_Flukemon_03.png]attacked[/url] Both children screamed in panic, sending the officer outside racing up the stairs after them, but once she had gotten there, she found the two unharmed. The same could not be said for the apartment, which now had some bullet holes punched in the wall, and part of the carpet was on fire as a result of the two’s panicked response to the fluke’s final hurrah. “Tsk tsk, what did I say about property damage” the officer said once she took in the scene [color=SpringGreen]”You could have said they split in half! That was freaky”[/color] Jr complained as he got Dazzle to put out the fire. [color=Aqua]”I mean, I guess we know now, so better when it's just one than when there's a load in the waterways?”[/color] Rika noted strategically. “Exactly, the young lady gets it” the siren agreed “and now I know you can handle some flukes, and the unexpected, so I am way less leary about sending you down there to deal with them. So don’t worry too much about the property damage, lives are more important after all. Which also means you two can feel free to back out of this if it gets too rough, ok? We’ll still pay bounty on the flukes” [color=SpringGreen]”Eh, we’ll be fine”[/color] Jr insisted at the same time as Rika replied with a salute and a [color=Aqua]”Yes Ma’am”[/color] “You’ve got a good head on those shoulders human, make sure you keep it” the officer told Rika, to which the girl responded [color=Aqua]”Actually I’m a ship”[/color] once again, though this time she did not try and show off her lizard legs to additionally correct the false assumption “Alright mis ship” the officer responded near seamlessly, before filling them in on what they needed to know. [hr] Once they knew where it was, the majority of the trek through the waterways was a breeze, the pair using Rika’s plane to scout ahead, and picking off the odd handful of flukes here and there as they went, and collecting the spirits as proof of their kills. The only real issue they encountered where nests, which were home to narrow tunnel filling [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/hollowknight/images/6/61/B_Flukemunga.png]Flukemunga[/url] which would slide across the floor to attack like living battering rams. After being chased out of a tunnel by one, and then turning their firepower on it once up a few ledges that it could not follow them up, they found the oversized creatures to be incredibly bullet spongy. As a result the pair agreed to just avoid them, the spirit it dropped almost certainly not being worth the cost in energy and ammunition needed to take it down. It’d drown once they were done anyway. When they finally found the Royal Sluice, a great gate in a wall that groaned audibly from the pressure pressing against it, they also found a culpable mosh pit of flukes meandering around it. Fliers, walkers and big fat sliders alike, along with a host of the little grubs being tended to by their sisters. Either something among their number had been smart enough to predict the way the city would try to deal with them this way … or the channel in-front of the gate was just a big convenient space that led to all the other tunnels. Certainly, the piles of stolen food and prevalence of grubs gave the indication that this second option was correct. What gave the indication of the first was that the duo caught sight of the party that the officer had mentioned had gone down before them. Or rather they caught sight of their spirits: a [url=https://i.imgur.com/gXD9Ozz.png]fiery mage[/url], a [url=https://i.imgur.com/jUADILk.png]huking warrior[/url], an [url=https://i.imgur.com/yHNgMe0.png]eyeless healer[/url] and a [url=https://i.imgur.com/M6oiWLP.jpg]serpintile rogue[/url] had all met their end at this final hurdle, and though the fluke spirits also laying around indicated they had taken down a fair number of foes down with them, it clearly hadn’t been enough. By Rika’s estimate, as she observed this with a scout plane she was hiding in the shadows of the ceiling, it wasn’t enough of a thinning of the herd to let them take an easy victory either. [color=SpringGreen]”Come on. We can take em”[/color] was Jr’s predictable response when she told him about all this. [color=Aqua]”I dunno, it really doesn't seem like a good idea”[/color] Rika tried to tell him, only for the boy to try and badger her into doing his way, which might have worked had a cluster of wisps that had been shadowing them this whole time not swooped into silently back her up via forming a hovering cross of disagreement. [color=SpringGreen]”What? Oh come on Kamek, we can handle ourselves”[/color] the prince told the mage’s remote minders huffily, and then started arguing with the voiceless spirits till Rika had an idea, one that she leaned in to whisper, and got a near instant agreement on. A little while later, a totally normal and not at all suspicious fluke waddled on past the children’s former hiding spot. [color=SpringGreen]”Careful, careful, you're gonna drop me”[/color] the top half complained, while the bottom half retorted [color=Aqua]”I am not. It’s just tricky to hold on with just these teeth things”[/color] Or at least that is what they tried to say, but the flukes’ bodies did not really allow for the greatest deal of coherent articulation. Either way, the two children in a trench coat, or rather making up the top and bottom halves of a fluke which they had turned into via tapes (having rather easily tracked down and then laboriously record the second half they needed before returning) wobbled their way into the room filled with yet more of ‘their’ kind. The pair wisly shut their traps at this point, and did their best to blend in, Rika’s new legs carrying them in a meandering path that did not look at all suspicious. It got worse when they passed through the area where the fallen monster heroes’ spirits lay, and jr immediately gave into greed and tried to bed down to grab them, an action entirely uncoordinated with Rika, which caused her to lose grip and for him to tip off of her ‘shoulders’ and go sprawling onto the floor with the spirits scattered before him as every fluke nearby turned to inspect the sound. There was a little moment of stillness, before jr scramblingly gathered up the monster spirits in his stubby little arm and took an embarrassing amount of time to hop back on top of his ‘lower half’. It was only once he was back and the ‘fluke’ had stopped to embarrass ‘herself’ that one of the other ones asked “what do?” with regards to the spirit collection to which the prince floundered for a response till he came upon: [color=SpringGreen]”Tidying? Uh, messy glowing things, not neat?”[/color] “Tidying?” “Tidying” “Tidying!” “Clean nest!” “Glowy things away!” went a round of replies, as the flukes came around to this novel idea, and immediately several of them started copying Jr in gathering up the spirits in-order to dispose of them, denying them any more unearned loot Not that Rika would have gone and let them go near any more to repeat the incident, and instead she made a b-line straight for the goal. With a fair bit of difficulty they shimmied up a ladder leading out of the water channel, and up to the control systems for it. Well, control systems was a bit of a generous way of describing the big rusty wheel the pair came face to face with when they got up there. Still, this was it, they’d made it, and despite a hiccup along the way, they were about to pull off their stealth operation without a hitch. Then Jr tried to pull the crank, and it made just the loudest, screechiest sound as the old unused rusted metal ground against yet more of the same, resisting every turn. That certainly got some curious looks from the flukes, some of whom started to get an inkling that this was bad right as the alarm bells started ringing, warning everyone and everything nearby that the gate was about to open. That, plus a trickle of water that would herald the flood, 100% blew their cover. “Water!” “stop!” “kill!” came cries, as the flukes all turned to storm towards the children, the sky filling with Flukefey as the Flukemon and Flukemunga became a swarm charging towards the raised platform. There was the click of two tapes being paused, and then Rika and Jr (who was wearing custom made cat ear compatible clip on earphones) were there in person again, disguises discarded. The prince tossed two pokeballs over his shoulder before he grabbed the wheel with his claws, getting a far better grip using them than the stubby arms of the fluke and beginning to turn. Behind him Mimi and Dazzle burst from their pokeballs, and immediately were rocked by the sound of gunfire as Rika opened up with all guns upon the incoming barrage of Flukefeys. Rifle fire, shells, and ink flak all were let loose, swiftly being joined by the mon’s own electrical and watery blasts. The first wave that slipped through this AA screen hammer straight into Rika’s Knight and Cloyster strikers using shield and shell to block their charge, while the second met even more firepower as jr added super scoped armed Primid and pan tossing chef bro strikers to their firepower. A final bust of knives going off in sync with an all out adult from Rika’s blaster bought them a moment of clear air space just in time for the ground assault to start. The first Flukemon to climb the ladder meanwhile got a face full of wisps, the little motes zapping the bug when it hit them, stunning it and sending it falling down among its kin. The second got a boot from Rika, sending it down in much the same way. Then the oversized Flukemunga rammed into the base of the platform, and acted as siege towers for their sisters to climb atop. [color=Aqua]”No no no no,”[/color] Rika panicked as she switched to melee fighting, smashing flukes down with gauntlet punches, blocking and chopping with her hull blades. At her side Mimi lashed out with her claws, Dazzle with staggering penguin leaps, the whips with more zaps and a pack of goobas boodilly tackled flukes off of the platform. Despite all this, it looked like they might still go the way of the monster adventurers as Rika cried out for jr to [color=Aqua]”Hurry uuuuup!”[/color] [color=SpringGreen]”I’ve got it!”[/color] jr cried out in response, as with one final wrench the wheel broke free of all its rust, and spun smoothly at last, the gate opening, and the flood sweeping in. Torrents of water washed in, sweeping away first grubs, then Flukemon and finally the Flukemunga. And, naturally, all of the spirits that had fallen down below during the battle. It didn’t clear the skies either, as the few remaining Flukefey who dived in to try and avenge their sisters interrupted the kids' cheers to demonstrate, but they, too, fell when faced with both of them working together to cut them down to the last. [color=SpringGreen]”We did it! We saved the city!”[/color] Jr cheered, while Rika sat herself down on the edge of the platform to rest and toned back the victory a little bit with [color=Aqua]”Well, or some peoples houses and food and stuff anyway”[/color] before thinking and commenting that [color=Aqua]”Anyway, this better not end up like the cheese thing and be super bad paying”[/color] [color=SpringGreen]”I mean we got the spirits and stuff, so that’ll probably work out either way”[/color] Jr pointed out, remembering how the humble cheese slime had netted them an incredibly shiny hat that he was sure his Papa would have made bank off of by now, and not have been ripped off of by a scummy auction house. At any rate, all there was left to do was gather up the spirits that hadn’t been washed away (there weren't that many) and then head back to the surface. The flooded tunnels might have made that tricky for some, but for the ship girl and the flying car riding prince, that was no issue. Everything after that was plain sailing (literally for Rika). They followed the flowing water back to where they had entered the waterways, where they were greeted by an impressed officer Tethys, who directed them to the guard’s headquarters. A quick stop by First Officer Lobster Siren’s office, an account from one of Tethys’s shield officers of their success and an accounting of their fluke spirits (14 fliers, 8 walkers and 1 of the big ones) got them handed a hefty bag filled with 3000 gold pieces in it. The two where delighted by this (and Rika slightly readjusted her view on paid work, in that murder, it seemed, paid well) and where eager to go blow it all at once, but some insistent prodding by their wisp escort directed them instead to go link up with Kamek and Bowser. Jr was, it had to be said, a little miffed about them having given away all the toys, only to be placated by the fact that they’d kept a few of the more portable items for his amusement. That was how both kids enjoyed some game monster-kid gaming over a hearty supper, and after that they were all more than ready to hit the sack. [hider=shopping math] 240: tape players 50: mod install 1500: 2 platinum tapes 2000: 10 tapes (2 used) Total: 3790 spent [/hider]