[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/6W7bqko.png[/img] [h2][color=FD0000]The Koopa Troop[/color][/h2] [b][color=FD0000]wordcount:[/color][/b] 3,675 (+4) [b][color=FD0000]Bowser: Level 12 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=FD0000]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (258/120) [b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 12 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (143/120) [b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Kamek: Level 12 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DeepSkyBlue]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (135/120) [b][color=Aqua]Rika: Level 8 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=Aqua]////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]//////////// (69/80) [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] The troop took off once more after the little planning session, intending to look into the broken market they’d spotted from on high and, rather specifically, a surprisingly intact burger joint Bowser had spotted from on high. Unfortunately, while the trip down had been free of actively aggressive foes, the corrupted city was full of lurking dangers. With their wyvern mounts, however, the troop safely avoided most of them, only to end up drawing the ire of several dark magic corrupted [url=https://i.imgur.com/LJH2j0y.gif]lampyre[/url] which buzzed up from an alleyway filled with the black sludge that had warped their bodies. Their first warning of the ambush was a glow from below as each of the Jr sized coromon’s 4 wings illuminated for a moment, all of them before fired off 4 spear like bolts of electrical energy, one from each wing, up at the troop. Rika swerved her steed to the side to avoid most of these, but the enlarged wyvern carrying Bowser and Kamek lacked the maneuverability to do so, and so several bolts hammered home, punching holes in the greater wyvern’s wings. As it began to lose altitude as a result, the lampyre ascended, already charging another round of shots. [color=Aqua]”Oh no you don’t!”[/color] Rika shouted at them as she got in the game, wheeling her wyvern around and charging their attackers head on, spear in hand. The corrupted monsters fired again, but with her eyes on them their projectiles flew slower, giving her a chance to avoid them. Even still, lighting was fast, and she had to endure shocks on her energy shielding, gauntleted arm, and steed’s own body before she could strike home, lancing one of the bugs with her spear and punching a thin hole in its chest before flicking it away to the side before it could slow her momentum. As she swept past them Jr whipped his paintbrush towards the skewered one, splattering it with burning ink that set it ablaze. They flew on, wheeling around again to do another pass, but in that time the bugs got a chance to focus on Bower and Kamek, and they were not doing too well. The king had urged his advisor to bring them closer to join in the fight, but the lumbering wyvern was nowhere near as swift as the steed the kids were using, allowing the lampyre to easily dodge out the way of Bowser’s attempt to flame-breathe them. The two healthy ones buzzed underneath, and began cutting at the defenseless underbelly of the construct with their small but sharp claws, while the heavy wounded third sought revenge on those that had harmed it. Quad volts lashed out at them as they came charging in again, only for the pair to arc to one side before they got close, swooping around the lampyre while jr summoned a swarm of Flukefey strikers to dive down at it, finishing off the first of their foes as they flew towards the rest. They didn’t get there in time to stop the larger wyvern’s end however. The accumulated damage to Bowser and Kamek’s steed became too much, and it began to come apart at the seams, careening downwards and smashing into one of the buildings below. [color=SpringGreen]”Pa[/color][color=Aqua]pa!”[/color] the two kids cried out in alarm, Rika immediately altering course and swooping down to the crash sight rather than stay on the offensive. They paid for that, both them and their own steed being struck by quad volt shots as they flew, forcing them to make a landing as well, lest they crash down too. The pair rushed into the ruined attic that their elders had smashed through the roof of, and found a badly electrocuted Bowser rubbing his concussed head with one hand while holding a mostly unharmed Kamek safely in another. Jr rushed to heal his papa, leaving Kamek and Rika to face the two lampryes as they came buzzing in through the hole in the roof. They did not come alone, and were instead accompanied by a distracting swarm of electrical motes that buzzed like far to brightly blinking fireflies. Kamek shot a magical blast through them to little avail, while Rika’s grizzco blaster cleared the air far more effectively. Still, the swarm distraction had done its job, allowing the bugs to blast them with impunity, adding further harm to Rika and badly injuring the rather frail Kamek, forcing him to retreat. Facing the two bugs alone, Rika pulled out all the stops to take them down. She grappled one of them and pulled it close, using her knight and cloyster strikers to block incoming shots, before driving her chainsaw bayonet into the grappled one’s face. The poison card attached to the weapon made sure that even though it got away alive, its days were numbered, and not even because of the toxins running through its veins, for its poisoning had empowered the shipgirl thanks to one of the items she had smelted. She lunged forwards bringing her spear down with a chop and cleaving into it with the helbard like spines, before charging the other one. As she sprinted the little pot at her waist summoned a wisp, one which swooped out and collided with the poisoned lampyre, finishing it off. The other one attempted to back away, but the ship girl used her maneuvering thrusters to gain an extra burst of speed that let her cross the distance and ram the tip of her spear into it. Then she teleported the spear so it was facing the other way around, and fired both rear mounted cannon barrels into it at point blank. Despite this serious damage, the dark magic infused bug was only badly hurt instead of dead, and so the ship girl proceeded to hammer it with a pair of shots from her grizzco blaster, which finally finished the deal. [color=FD0000]”urgh. Those things were nasty. Good work Rika”[/color] Bowser praised his daughter as he approached, before giving her a bit of support as the adrenaline left her and the pain from repeated electrical shocks set in. [color=SpringGreen]”I dunno, I think something you fused with doesn’t like lighting, you were way more hurt than I would have thought given how much you were hit”[/color] [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Well, crash landing didn’t exactly help either.”[/color] Kamek noted, before suggesting [color=DeepSkyBlue]”I recommend we make the rest of the trip on foot, so that we are all combat ready instead of just half of us”[/color] to which there were no objections. This proved to be a fruitful plan as, other than having a brief run in with the claw-like hands in the corruption filled alleyway when collecting the lampyre spirits, the rest of their short trip to DineMite was a relative breeze. [hr] [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Sire, I know it's a bit late to bring this up, I’m not quite so sure this is the best use of our time. We already have plenty of pizza after all”[/color] Kamek felt he had to point out as they approached the eatery, one sporting a large burger shaped sign on its roof, which was what had drawn the king’s attention in the first place. [color=FD0000]”I mean yeah, sure, but a burger lunch sounds real nice to mix things up after pizza breakfast”[/color] Bowser retorted, while jr added [color=SpringGreen]”besides, you're the one who’s always telling me to get some variety into my diet Kamek”[/color] only half jokingly. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”That is if there are any to be found”[/color] the mage muttered in response as Rika stepped forwards and pushed the door to the building open with the tip of her spear. As soon as she did a [url=https://i.imgur.com/9CESkuh.png]hopper[/url] came, well hopping out of the door and lunged towards her with its wickedly sharp proboscis, eager to fill its empty belly with her vital fluids. [center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGncRMyf0VE[/youtube][/center] The ship girl was prepared, however, and lashed out with her rigging’s hull blades, slashing down with one of the cleaver like weapons and smashing the bug into the ground. Then she took a step back, giving Kamek and jr both the clearance they needed to blast it with fireballs, the heat from which caused it to explode into a steaming shower of fluids. [color=Aqua]”Ewwww. That’s gross”[/color] the ship girl complained as she wiped some of the goop off her armor, before adding [color=Aqua]”urgh, and there’s probably more of those in there”[/color] [color=DeepSkyBlue]”The place is likely infested, yes.”[/color] Kamek agreed, before asking his king [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Do you still want to take a look, sire?”[/color] [color=FD0000]”If there’s stuff living in there, then there’s gotta be stuff to eat, right?”[/color] the king suggested, before authoritatively commanding [color=FD0000]”Troop, time for some exterminating! On my mark, we bust this joint and sweep it clean!”[/color] His kids weren't exactly convinced one way or the other, but they dutifully formed up behind their one man battering ram of a father, and prepared to breach the building with him. After sighing, the mage did the same. [color=FD0000]”Three. two. one. Charge!”[/color] the king roared, before shoving open the burger joint’s door much more recklessly than Rika had, and then rushing inside with the others hot on his heels. As Kamek and Rika had expected, the place was indeed crawling with hoppers. Or rather jumping with them. A dozen or so of the half a jr sized bugs snapped their red eyes towards the intruders, and then started bouncing across the benches, chairs, and tables of the fast food joint’s main room towards them. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Careful not to bring the building down on top of us. Just because it's still up doesn't mean it's not close to collapse”[/color] Kamek warned, as the other three spread out to take on the bugs. Rika immediately nailed one with a burst of machine gun fire and a second with a grizzco blaster shot of explosive goop, before switching to her spear, twirling it around one gauntlet defensively to bat away a third and fourth before they could get close and bite her. While she held the right of the entrance, Jr held the left, the prince opening up by using [color=SpringGreen]”stone”[/color] to rip out a chunk of the floor and launch it at an incoming hopper, only for that rock to be transformed into a shower of flukes as soon as it started to be launched by the charm he had acquired. The shotgun blast of bugs hammered the hopper to the ground, and then promptly exploded around it, finishing it off. Then he smacked one down with his paint brush, coating it in shocking goop in the process, stunning it long enough for Mimi, who was riding her trainer’s shoulder, to nail it with an electroball’s worth of additional shock damage. Bowser, standing holding the center of the store, ended up being the one who had the most amount of trouble. Unable to simply roast the incoming bugs for fear of burning down the building, he instead found himself whiffing punches and demolishing furniture while the annoying hoppers bounced around and tried to sink their blood sucking snouts in him, Fortunately, the king had thick scales, so they achieved little, but it would have only been a matter of time before they slipped past him, had his shell not unfurled and revealed nimbler limbs. Tentacruel tentacles and Land Dreugh limbs all stretched out and began stabbing at or constricting bugs. Finally, Kamek floated above them all, out of reach of the jumpers, from which he provided fire support, using magical blasts from his wand and summoned magic fist strikes to pick off or soften up several of the hoppers before they even got close to his wards. In short order, the bugs were dealt with, and barring some goop splatters and destroyed furniture, the building was no worse for wear. Well. except for a hole in the floor Bowser had smashed open when trying to use his kinetic strike module on one of the bugs. [color=FD0000]”Before you say something, look I found a thing”[/color] Bowser said, pointing a finger down into a small basement the hole had revealed, one containing a [url=https://i.imgur.com/65y2tBg.png]cargo container[/url] of some kind. [color=FD0000]”Has to be some kind of meat locker”[/color] he insisted, before gloating [color=FD0000]”and you said this wasn’t a good idea”[/color] right as the ground started shaking. A wave of confusion and concern swept through the group, as they quickly pivoted around to the source of the shaking, which was coming in behind them. First the ground shook, then there was the smashing of stalls, and then, moments later a [url=https://i.imgur.com/VGXA7sA.png]greater hopper[/url] came smashing through the ceiling of the restaurant. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Oh for badness sake! I ask one thing!”[/color] Kamek grouched as he dodged falling splinters. The others were a bit less concerned about the state of the building (jr and bowser just toughed it out, letting it strike their thick shells and skulls, while Rika slowed anything falling towards her just by looking at it, letting her sidestep it with ease) and more about the massive bug. The really massive bug. It stood at twice Bowser’s height, and it was mad. Hopping mad [color=SpringGreen]”I think we killed its babies”[/color] Jr shouted as he leapt to the side as the giant blood drinker launched itself towards him with a great leap, smashing through more of the ceiling in the process and adding a shrapnel shower to its full body attack. [color=FD0000]”And now it’s next!”[/color] the king roared as he charged forwards and tried to land a punch on the monster, only for it to leap into the air again to avoid him and chase after his spawn for some eye for an eye retribution. Said chase and its erratic bouncing movements made it entirely unsafe to shoot at, Rika found, as she tried to line up a shot, only for Jr to repeatedly end up in her crosshairs. That or the roof above him, which she’d rather not blow out and rain down on her new brother. Rather than risk blasting him then, she flicked out her grappling hook, and on the second thwip of the line, caught her target [color=Aqua]”Alright how about thiii[sup]iii[/sup][sub]iii[/sub][sup]iii[/sup][sub]iii[/sub][sup]iii[/sup][sub]iis[/sub]”[/color] which had unfortunate consequences, as she was bounced up and down while being reeled in. Add to this Bowser also chasing after the bug on foot through the rain of rubble it left behind, and the whole thing made for quite the ridiculous scene, that would have been funny had a child’s life not been on the line. Kamek certainly wasn't laughing as he watched this, instead shaking his head once and then started chanting [color=DeepSkyBlue]”this reached pest is quite a handful Best we bring it to a standstill But how to do that, I hear you ask I tell you now I am perfect for that task With the knowledge that makes me oh so wise I’ll cut this problem down to size!”[/color] Before unleashing a blast of magic that flew towards the titanic bug- and then missed the deceptively hard to hit bug, striking a support pillar of the building and shrinking it down to a quarter size- and promptly bringing the rest of the building that hadn’t already fallen down on top of them as a result. Kamek surrounded himself in a panicked sphere of protection as timber rained down, burying everyone and everything in a layer of debris, and kicking up a cloud of sawdust. As it cleared, Bowser and his son popped out of their shells and clawed their way out of the debris and into the cave light, finding Kamek still floating in the air, surrounded in a shimmering shield that had deflected most of the debris shower. Rika had not fared so well, and was out cold, and, worse, still attached to their foe by her grappling hook. Said foe had lost track of them in the cloud of dust, and simply kept bouncing off in one direction, but now it pivoted and went after the first target it saw. This turned out to be Rika, resulting in the jumper chasing its own tail for a few moments before the grip of the ship girl’s grapple was finally shaken off, and she was tossed into a pile of fallen timbers. Fortunately, the rest of the troop had, mostly, not just been idly watching the absurd sight, and were ready to leap in. Jr had found his paintbrush, and now raised it above his head and cried out [color=SpringGreen]”Benediction”[/color] instantly restoring Rika to full health with the long cooldown spell, while Kamek sent toadies in to scoop her up and carry her into the air so that she would not be crushed while she was regaining consciousness. [color=FD0000]”Building’s already down! Now let’s blast it!”[/color] Bowser roared once the ship girl was out of the way, before deploying his shoulder cannons and unleashing several shots on the hopper. Mimi, who had simply ignored the raining shrapnel via her ghostly intangibility, joined in with an electroball. The giant hopper suffered from these strikes, but it was big and tough, and it would take more than that to end it. Fully aware, Bowser charged on in to draw its attention, shouting for Kamek to [color=FD0000]”Shield me!”[/color] before ducking into his shell and sliding the rest of the intervening distance. The hopper came crashing down, but rather than pulping its prey into a drinkable juice like it usually did, instead it landed on a target protected by a shimmering barrier, that greatly reduced the damage the impact did to Bowser, while doing nothing to reduce the damage Bowser’s spikes did to the Hopper’s underbelly. Unperturbed, it lept straight up, indeding to strike down with a far more precise jab of its proboscis, only for the spikes that had jabbed it to suddenly shoot up into the air after it. The king’s spike missiles stabbed into the giant hopper again, perforating its gut further, before violently exploding. They did so right at the top of the arch of its leap, causing it to hang there in the air for just a moment longer, and leaving it as still as it had ever been. Perfect for a bit of clay shooting. Electroballs, homing fire balls, magic blasts, super scope and sniper shots from strikers, and even some gunfire from the airborne and awake Rika all blasted fourth, hammering into the already wounded hopper, and ensuring that the only part of it that ended up touching the ground was ash and its spirit. [color=SpringGreen]”Yeah! We did it”[/color] Jr cheered, joined by a [color=Aqua]”Woo!”[/color] from on high by Rika and a [color=FD0000]”Good job troop”[/color] from Bowser as he picked himself up and dusted himself off. Not that it improved the appearance of his, rather wrecked at this point, suit. Said outfit would most certainly do with 3 washes and a fair number of patch jobs. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”mmm, yes, and look what we have to show for it”[/color] Kamek added sardonically, referring to the broken remains of the restaurant they had entered perhaps a minute or two ago. [color=Aqua]”So while I was up there, I saw some word blinky cylinders sticking out of some of the rubble, maybe those are good?”[/color] Rika informed them as she flooded down to the ground, to which Jr added [color=SpringGreen]”Plus there’s all the spirits and that box thing in the basement”[/color] [color=DeepSkyBlue]”True. Though we will have to dig those up”[/color] Kamek agreed, before pausing for a moment, sighing, and getting ahead of a request he knew was coming [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Or yes alright before you ask, that I’ll have some minions dig up”[/color] A little while, and a whole lot of drybone digging, later and the spirits of the hoopers had been recovered, as had the two cylinders and the way into the basement. Sadly it did not contain any sort of way down to the cavern layers below, but it did contain some food surprisingly enough: a few [url=https://i.imgur.com/Hb8cHs0.png]mite burgers[/url] and packs of [url=https://i.imgur.com/grFnNsA.png]spicy fries[/url] ready to be reheated. While Bowser started a small, controlled, fire to warm up the food (using some dug up kitchen equipment), jr had a look at the container crate, and, after a bit of work, worked out that he had to attached the two blinking cylinder, and then after a bit of tinkering using his toolkit the machine dramatically popped open, launching stream of colorful minerals up into the air. [color=SpringGreen]”Woooow”[/color] Which promptly hailed down on the boy, giving him yet more comical head trauma [color=SpringGreen]”Ow ow ow ow! Who thought it was a good idea to build this thing this way!?”[/color] That certainly hadn’t been what they had been expecting to pop out of a restaurant’s storage unit, and neither was the hologram of some rather [url=https://i.imgur.com/U5ZeomR.png]classy looking outfits[/url] that was displayed afterwards. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”What a strange assortment of things to have down here”[/color] Kamek commented as he eyed the costume, that was, he assumed (correctly), a bit like the alt costume things they’d seen every now and then, one of which Rika was currently wearing. [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Perhaps it would suit you, sire, considering the, ah, less than perfect condition of your current attire?”[/color] The king looked over with a [color=FD0000]”Huh?”[/color] having been more focused on cooking than his son’s tinkering, but now approached and gave the outfit a look up and down[color=FD0000]”Oh. Hmmmmm.”[/color] before shrugging and saying [color=FD0000]”Sure”[/color] and reaching out and claiming the alternate costume. In a flash it displed his current getup, and replaced it with the Bnabra Set, the king’s body being covered with the tasteful lilac getup, the outfit automatically modifying itself for his large and inhuman body plan, leaving his shell exposed and fabric free, while modifying most of the masculine outfit’s parts to fit him, other than hanging the multi tipped coat tails from the feminine set around his waist. [color=FD0000]”Huh not bad”[/color] he commented as he examined himself, before suddenly spinning with a call of [color=FD0000]”oh no the food”[/color] Fortunately, the distraction had not been long enough to do more than slightly singe some of the fries, and so the troop got to tuck into some elevenses while keeping an ear out for any calls reporting the discovery of a way down to the bee kingdom below.