[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/6W7bqko.png[/img]
[h2][color=FD0000]The Koopa Troop[/color][/h2]
[b][color=FD0000]wordcount:[/color][/b] 3,676 (+4)
[b][color=FD0000]Bowser: Level 13 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=FD0000]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (173/130)
[b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 13 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (61/130)
[b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Kamek: Level 12 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DeepSkyBlue]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (170/120)
[b][color=Aqua]Rika: Level 8 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=Aqua]////////////////////////[/color]////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (24/90)
[b][color=FD0000]Location:[/color][/b] The Under - Termite Kingdom Ruins
[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]

[hider=level ups]
Rika: 
Electro-swarm Hangers (Dark Magic Lampyre): Rika can now use SP to launch small swarms of insects (that look a bit like fireflies) formed out of pure electricity from her gauntlet mounted hangers. For a small amount of Sp she can launch a diversion swarm, which buzz around a target and flash and blink distressingly, lowering their accuracy. For a larger SP cost, she can create a shocker swarm, which upon closing with the foe discharge their electrical charge in a series of small lightning bolts which can deal a hearty amount of damage if they all manage to go off, while also draining some stamina from the foe as well.

Bowser and Jr: 
Olympian: The one with this strength has competed in numerous summer and winter Olympic games, and has experience in and talent at all the various sports. They are proficient at any activities that are represented by those events. Notably it does not improve basic skills like running, jumping or swimming, but instead provides an extensive if esoteric list of talents from discus tossing to rowing to skiing, basketball, rhythmic gymnastics, bobsledding, etc.
[/hider]

[color=SpringGreen]”Oh phew”[/color] Jr sighed in relief when the additional information the travelers had acquired via following up troops lead turned up that he was off the hook due to being a minor. 

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”That is good. Nine thousand nine hundred less points we need”[/color] Kamek calculated, before turning to Rika and asking [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Or possibly twice that? How old are you exactly, young mistress?”[/color] and then feeling a little guilty he’d never asked this. Or when her birthday was, which he did ask as well, but unfortunately the answer to both questions turned out to be the same.

[color=Aqua]”I dunno. Don’t really remember much in detail before a few days ago when I became Rika instead of just another abyssal mook”[/color] she replied, before thinking about it a moment before getting an idea, saying [color=Aqua]”oh, I know!”[/color] before trying to snap her fingers like she’d seen it demonstrated, only to fail to make any sound.

[color=Aqua]”Oh. Um. How do you…?”[/color] she asked while trying it a few more times

[color=SpringGreen]”like this!”[/color] Jr jumped in to demonstrate, only for Kamek to point that [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Your using your claws young master, she can’t do that, plus that’s not quite how you’re meant to do it anyway”[/color]

This seemed to surprise both Jr and his papa (who also just used his claws), and soon enough all three royals were getting rapid clicking lessons from Kamek, filling the air with flubbed clicks till they all got it, all four clicking at once, resulting in only Bowser having a number appearing above his head. 

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”There we go, well done all of you”[/color] Kamek praised the royals, before realizing another implication of the situation, saying [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Ah. I hope no one saw that I don’t have a number”[/color] quietly, before more loudly stating [color=DeepSkyBlue]”But it does indeed look like you are indeed exempt, young mistress. Good news indeed”[/color]

Rika declared this [color=Aqua]”Neat”[/color] before adding that [color=Aqua]”I’m glad I don’t have to do it. I’m not sure I’d have been any good at it”[/color] sheepishly

[color=FD0000]”I’m sure you’d have done great”[/color] Bowser assured her with a reassuring clap on the shoulder before suggesting [color=FD0000]”But yeah, being forced to by some rhythmic schmuck would be a pretty crummy way to learn, that’s for sure. You can always try it out for fun some other time instead though? You know, for fun. Because that’s what it's supposed to be”[/color]

[color=Aqua]”That… might be neat?”[/color] Rika agreed, a touch hesitantly, before pessimistically adding [color=Aqua]”Assuming we can get out I mean. Getting from one hundred to ten thousand is a lot, right?”[/color]

[color=FD0000]”Eh it’s just numbers, and we only need nine more hundreds”[/color] Bowser assured her, confidently, before brushing off Kamek’s correction that it was [color=DeepSkyBlue]”actually ninety nine more hundreds, sire”[/color]

[color=FD0000]”Well, whatever. Either way, all we need to do is take on one of those big bosses to get everything we need. Should be no problem for the king of dance!”[/color] Bowser declared confidently. 

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Perhaps you should warm up sire? Challenge, say, a skeleton or some other undead perhaps”[/color] Kamek suggested, already thinking about all the ways this could go wrong. 100 points was barely a margin after all, and if he lost by any amount at all, that would be the end of it.

[color=FD0000]”Nah”[/color] the king replied dismissively, before turning and calling out  [color=FD0000]”Hey, Cadence!”[/color] once again startling the blond woman, and this time putting on guard for a moment to boot, perhaps believing he intended to challenge her, but instead he simply followed up by asking [color=FD0000]”Where’s the nearest boss I can stomp?”[/color]

Naturally she too, tried to dissuade this course of action, but ended up getting off on the wrong foot when she thought he was being noble (as in not wanting to knock people down to rise himself up) rather than egotistical, and so was near effortlessly steamrolled by the King’s villainous charisma in a matter of moments. 

“If you really do want the closest one, then he’s just through here” she nodded her head towards the door she was leaning next too before beginning to exposit about how “He’s the one that knocked me out and cost me my soul-” only for Bowser to give her a thumbs up and a [color=FD0000]”Thanks”[/color] as he stomped past her to take a look inside the room.

What he found inside was an [url=https://i.imgur.com/eXpiNJM.jpg]undead parish[/url], which you wouldn't exactly think made for a good dance floor, if it weren't for the way the pues had been cleared away to make place for a horde of skeletons to get down to the electro-gothic music pumping through the air.

[color=FD0000]”Soooo who’s the boss?”[/color] Bowser started to ask, before spotting the man at the front of the ‘congregation’ and correctly ID’ing him as who he was looking for. No normal person would ever dress like that after all.

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/2mkdWKn.png[/img][/center]
[right][h2]Dead Ringer![/h2][/right]

The king took a long look at the man and then gawfed [color=FD0000]”What kind of getup is that! He’s got a bell on his head?!”[/color] which caused the man in question to snap his head to the side and to fix the king with a single eyed but incredibly intense stare.

[color=FD0000]”Oh yeah, real intimidating”[/color] Bowser taunted as he stomped on into the room [color=FD0000]”You ain’t got nothing on me, pipsqueak, so bring it! You and me bell head, let’s do this thing. Best dancer wins!”[/color] 

Rather than give a verbal reply, Dead Ringer disconcertingly jolted his head to one side, cracking his neck and setting the bell encasing his head ringing as its edge hit one of his shoulder pads, a low endless chime that seemed to reverberate through the rest of his brass armor. In response, the dance floor was swiftly cleared, and four large [url=https://i.imgur.com/u0gcfKE.png]bells[/url] where placed around it on equidistant spots on the dance floor.

[color=FD0000]”What’s this, some kinda gimmick? What have these got to do with dancing?”[/color] Bowser asked, right as the dread ringer reached behind the church's pew and pulled out his massive signature hammer. He spun it once, before raising it up above his head, and laughing a deep and dreadful laugh as his music began playing.

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNh7wxRsOyE[/youtube][/center]

And then rather than start dancing the dead ringer began advancing (though his every step was flawlessly on the rhythm), hammer held high and prepared to strike the king down. 

[color=FD0000]”Coming at me? Oh so it’s a fight you want?”[/color] Bowser snarled, putting up his dukes even as he bobbed to the beat [color=FD0000]”Tough luck with that, I’m even better at those!”[/color] 

“Wait! You can’t fight back or you’ll void your contract and he’ll eat your soul!” Cadence shouted out from, which for some reason prompted a few shouts along the lines of “hey come on!” and “spoilsport” from the other neutral observers.

[color=FD0000]”What?”[/color] Bowser shouted back as he snapped his head around to double check if he’d heard her right, only to get bonked on the head by the hammer blow as the deceptively quick Dead Ringer reached him. The king stumbled back, head reeling, and just entirely off beat, and getting several boos from the crowd as a result.

Rather than follow up on the blow however, the dead ringer stepped away from the king and strode towards one of the bells. Upon arrival he raised his hammer and struck the bell, causing it to toll loudly, after which then seemed to lose its color, turning from gleaming brass to a dull gray. 

It also summoned a hulking [url=https://i.imgur.com/H1oZqZK.gif]green dragon[/url] near as tall as Bowser was, towards which it started to stalk (on the beat) while the dead ringer moved in the opposite direction to go ring another bell, which would no doubt have a similar miniboss summoning effect.

[color=SpringGreen]”What! Oh come on!”[/color] Jr cried out in dismay, before demanding to know [color=SpringGreen]”How is that not against the rules!”[/color]

“The bosses aren't contractors, they don’t have to follow the no fighting rule!” Cadence told him, before shaking her head in dismay at their foolishness.

[color=SpringGreen]”Wait…. But I’m not a contractor either… so I don’t have to follow those rules either!”[/color] which prompted a whole bunch of questions to be shouted by the non troop members watching, all of which Jr answered by shouting [color=SpringGreen]”I’m a kid”[/color] as he leaped into the fray.

[color=SpringGreen]”Get away from my Papa you overgrown lizard!”[/color] the prince yelled as he formed and then hurled an iron javelin with practiced skill at the great beast, striking it right in the eye. It roared in pain and staggered back, only for the roar to be joined by the ring of a bell, as the Dead Ringer summoned a [url=https://i.imgur.com/i4C88AT.png]hulking ogre[/url] into the fray.

[color=Aqua]”Hey, stop that!”[/color] Rika shouted as she also stepped onto the dancefloor as well, and then proceeded to open fire on the Dead Ringer with all her firepower. The crack of her rifle and thump of her rigging turrets laughing disruption blobs drowning out the music, prompting yet more boos from the audience. 

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Oh no no no no no”[/color] Kamek panicked, as he realized that the kids off beat actions where not crowd pleasers [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Even if we can fight back, doing so is making it harder for his grooviness still needs to win the dance off ”[/color] 

Worse, her shots seemed to have no effect, being slowed by some invisible barrier right before striking, and then vibrating in the air for a moment before being spat out onto the floor.

[color=Aqua]”Uh oh”[/color] was Rika’s rather understated response to this major set back, while Kamek proceed to freak out even more, snapping his gaze to the side and beginning to cry out [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Sire you still have to win the dance-”[/color] only to pause when he saw he’d been beaten to the punch on that turn of logic [color=DeepSkyBlue]”-huh?”[/color]

[color=FD0000]”What, you think this is the first time I've danced after getting smashed by a hammer while dancing? Compared to last time, this is nothing. Mario’s was ten times that big! Also rocket powered”[/color] Bowser replied to the shocked gazes at how smoothly, if a fair bit dadishly, he was getting down to the beat, before blowing a fair few minds as he kickflip out of the way of a club strike coming from the summoned oger.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”I. Well. I suppose that solves that part”[/color] Kamek acknowledged, before addressing the kids, saying [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Now we just have to back him up in style, troop! Move and fight to that beat just like the summoned monsters are doing!”[/color]

[color=Aqua]”Argh, this is exactly what I didn’t want to have to do!”[/color] Rika complained, before she tried her best to block a hammerswing from the Dead Ringer that was coming her way in a rhythmic fashion. 

She failed, and was sent tumbling into the crowd.

As Kamek flew to assist the girl, her brother was having a much better time. Tapping into his rhythm gymnastics experience the prince gracefully stepped out of the slow dragon’s reach, spinning and then jabbing it with a pair of iron spikes he’d formed to use in place of the clubs that performance usually involved. It involved quite a few unnecessary tosses and flourishes of the spikes, but the tumbles and pirouettes he did worked well as synchronous dodges of the dragon’s own slow on beat strikes.

Bowser meanwhile was doing pretty well at keeping away from the ogre’s blows, right up until another bell rang and out sprung a [url=https://i.imgur.com/uL04M0U.png]minotaur[/url] with harp strings strung in between its horns. 

Despite the elegant instrument adorning its head, the bullheaded beast was just as brutish as its brawny body suggested it would be. The minotaur immediately charging towards Bowser upon spotting him, forcing him to slide to the left to avoid the charge, only for him to have to slide to the right to avoid another club blow.

[color=FD0000]”I could use some backup dancers over here!”[/color] Bowser shouted as he was forced to contend with two brawling brutes trying to club and gore him, a losing game if ever there was one. 

Fortunately Kamek had successfully retrieved Rika, and the two now re-entered the fray, the first indicator of which was a giant wasp woman who came buzzing across the rooms, crimson ribbons streaming from her antenna, to slam her oversized cleaver into the ogre’s back. The monster roared in pain once, and then again when on the next beat the ichor queen thrust her stinger into it, injecting a hefty payload of venom. 

As the striker turned to a mote and returned to its mistress, Rika (empowered by the poisoning) unleashed a second attack, launching a swarm of electrical insects from her gauntlet hangers. These formed a swift moving swarm who’s shape pulsed in time with the music, and then when they got close to the toxic stricken ogre, unleashed their eclectic payloads in a strobe light like series of discharges till the monster.

[color=Aqua]”How’s that!”[/color] Rika asked/taunted, as she bobbed on the spot, still not at all confident enough in her dancing skills to do anything but throw summons out that could feel the rhythm in her stead.

[color=SpringGreen]”A good start!”[/color] Jr called back in response, as he did a cartwheel out of the way of a lunging dragon snout, before perfectly timing his firing of a shower of iron knives into its brain with a rapid fire drumbeat in the song [color=SpringGreen]”But you’ve got a way to go till your good as me sis!”[/color] The prince clearing having gotten over any embarrassment his out of character dancing style was causing and into the swing of things. Employing it for violence certainly helped.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”But I am sure you will catch up in no time, young mistress”[/color] Kamek reassured Rika, as he used his magical fist spell to give the minotaur an on the beat beat down while sitting safely out of range of any harm, broomstick rising and falling in time with the music.

AS a result of these attacks, the three summoned monsters were taken care of in quick succession, the minibosses no match for the equal number of boss monsters Bowser had supporting him. 

Before he could gloat, however, the fourth bell rang, summoning forth a towering [url=https://i.imgur.com/9pjZtw9.png]nightmare[/url] wreathed in a shadowy aura. Red eyes glowed in those shadows depths for a moment as unseen stagehands jumped in and removed the bells in a flash. When some others tried to bring something on stage however, there was some kind of scuffle and a shout of “Don’t give 'em the gong, the spoilsports don’t deserve it” before they all cleared out of the arena.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”A gong? How would that help us?”[/color] Kamek asked, floating up to look for it. Yet when the shadows cleared there was no sign of the stage hands, nor the removed bells, nor any kind of gong.

The rest of the troop where a bit more distracted by what had caused the nightmare’s effect to clear, namely the Dead Ringer slamming forwards at light speed, road killing the monster in the process, and appearing right before Bower, who he promptly slammed with a hammer again.

[color=SpringGreen]”Wait what!”[/color] Jr called out in surprise, only for the Dead Ringer snapped his gaze around, tensed, and then lunged forwards again, flash stepping in front of the prince and smashing him in the chest, launching him clear into the crowd just as his sister had been a few moments ago.

Then his gaze snapped to that same sister, causing her to give a panicked [color=Aqua]”Eek!”[/color] as she proceeded to launch herself into the air like a startled bunny using her feather fall rune before he even charged, which the undead audience found hilarious. Thankfully her helmet prevented her from braining herself upon impact with the ceiling, and the slowfall effect of the rune kept her from simply dropping back down into hammer range.

As a result she had time to observe Kamek futility blasting the Ringer, as a barrier of sound caused by his vibrating armor tore apart or deflected any spells before they could hurt him. Worse, with only one target still on the dance floor due to Jr’s ring out, and the other two’s floating, he now only had one target. The hammer bearer moved to line up another charge on the king, who was still dancing even as he looked dazed.

[color=Aqua]”Don’t you dare!”[/color] Rika shouted down at the ringer, as she launched another wave of electrical insects from her hangers. Rather than zap the man she was now pretty sure they could not hurt, these instead flashed and pulsed right in front of his eye, partially blinding him, and throwing off his footing just enough that when he slammed forwards he sailed past the king rather than take him out.

The impact with the wall, and brief stun it caused gave the king the rest of the time he needed to recover, but he was still pretty worse for ware, and, worse, they couldn’t heal him without causing him to cause an explosion of damaging spores (due to a charm he had equipped) which would most certainly count as fighting back.

He managed to dance his way out of the next few flash charges, thanks in no small part to Rika’s follow up swarms repeatedly blinding him, but their luck, Bowser’s stamina, and Rika’s Sp reserves all weren't going to last. Even if the inevitable next blow didn't end him, Kamek was pretty sure that the rule of three would result in a third blow guaranteeing him a loss in the eyes of the audience anyway, which was just as deadly. They needed to end this on their terms, he was quite sure, and so after a few moments he called out. 

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”We need to find the gong they didn’t give us! I don;t know what it does, but surely it must have a use if they denied us it”[/color] thinking it the only chance they had, even if it was a longshot.

[color=SpringGreen]”Way ahead of you!”[/color] came a hoarse call in response, before said voice announced [color=SpringGreen]”I made us one!”[/color] as a massive disk of iron came rolling into the arena, pushed by the last of the prince’s stamina, the rest having been spent using feromancy to form the massive instrument on the fly.

[color=Aqua]”I got it!”[/color] Rika called, as she dropped down from where she had grappling hooked the ceiling to avoid being forced to dance dodge, and prepared to receive their incredibly heavy salvation. 

Unfortunately she did so just as she came into the line of sight of the dead ringer. He turned and  squared up to charge right as the princess focused on catching the custom made gong on beat, prompting all the other troop members to cry out in alarm. 

The Dead Ringer flashed forwards, his hammer crashing forwards like a comet before it struck the gong as Rika thrust it in front of her rather than abandon this linchpin to ending the fight. A final mighty knell tolled through the room, shaking its foundations to the core, and also sending reverberations thumbing into the Dead Ringer’s hammer. Down into his armor. Then finally up into his bell like hamlet that rang and vibrated like mad before it suddenly split in twain, twin halves falling aside and revealing a face that, while gaunt, was by no means dead like his name sake might suggest.

Amber locks fell around his face as he slumped to the ground, and prompted an expected cry of [url=https://i.imgur.com/AZ45wvg.png]“Dad?”[/url] from the crowd as Cadence rushed forwards out of the crowd and towards the fallen man’s side.

“Cadence, I’m sorry” the man who had cost Cadence her soul coughed as he tried to reach a hand out to his daughter “I was under his spell”

The unexpected family reunion was thankfully not cut short by an oblivious to what was going on Rika, as Kamek managed to shout out for her to [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Stop! Don’t kill him!”[/color] before she eviscerated the formerly enthralled man with her chainsaw bayonet.

[color=Aqua]”Oh, ok”[/color] she agreed, backing down without any questions asked, before finding an entirely different question to ask, namely [color=Aqua]”Soooo, now what. Did we win?”[/color]

[color=FD0000]”Music’s still going!”[/color] Bowser pointed out as he shimmied on over, before requesting [color=FD0000]”Kamek, give me some dry bones as back up dancers! I want to actually show these ghouls my stuff, and without any interruptions this time!”[/color] 

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”I… very well sire”[/color] the mage agreed, before doing just that.

The dance floor was cleared of all who’s souls were not on the line, leaving the king and his horde of skeletal koopas to strut their stuff, and really give the crowd a thriller they’d not soon forget for the remaining thirty seconds of the track. 

After those thirty seconds were up, well, there was nothing to do but bask in the candlelight glow of those sweet sweet 10,000 points. For the troop anyway. Cadence and her father were much too distracted embracing and catching up.