[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/6W7bqko.png[/img]
[h2][color=FD0000]The Koopa Troop[/color][/h2]
[b][color=FD0000]wordcount:[/color][/b] 4775 (+5) 
[b][color=FD0000]Bowser: Level 14 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=FD0000]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (179/140)  (+1 bonus pending)
[b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 14 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (64/140)  (+1 bonus pending)
[b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Kamek: Level 13 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DeepSkyBlue]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (59/130)  (+1 bonus pending)
[b][color=Aqua]Rika: Level 9 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=Aqua]///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]////////// (80/90)  (+1 bonus pending)
[b][color=FD0000]Location:[/color][/b] The Under - Mercy Dreams
[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]

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Ah. Right. Gloating, taunting and threats followed by ultimately getting away to fight another day. That does indeed shape up to most instances of being at the mercy of villains”[/color] Kamek sighed with very retroactive hindsight. Not that anyone in the troop was going to learn from at this point if they hadn’t already.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”At least no one started monaloging and we got some answers out of him, vague as they were”[/color] he added, on for Jr to pipe up that [color=SpringGreen]”Well he didn’t answer mine! I want my treasure!”[/color]

He hadn’t answered Rika’s either to be fair, but she seemed like an exception to their number given that her take away was: [color=Aqua]”So should I just shoot him next time?”[/color]

[color=SpringGreen]”Next time!? We shoot him now!”[/color] Jr insisted, and while Kamek were both about to say about how he was gone Jr had an idea, no matter how foolish, and that was that Kamek [color=SpringGreen]”Make me a beetle. Make me a bunch of beetles! We dig!”[/color]

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Young master I’m not sure if-”[/color] Kamek began to object, only for Bower to clap him in the back and command [color=FD0000]”Jump to it Kamek, my boy’s got a plan!”[/color] which prompted both grumbling and compliance as the mage began to create a small herd of tunneling beetle steeds for the troop. Rika went without, as she popped on a pair of headphones, clicked on a music track, transformed into The Beast and then got to using that mega centipede's burrowing capabilities to help try and track down where F had dug off too.

While the Troop got ready to bug out, Nadia watched them with brows upturned, her head still cradled in her lap as she leaned back with her palms on the ground. “I wanna tear that jerk a new one as much as the next girl, but he could be anywhere. You dig?” Even if F had resorted to other, more subtle means of egress when it came to making his getaway, Nadia hadn’t forgotten that he could teleport. That notwithstanding, he could have tunneled in any direction. Tracking him down would be like finding a needle in a haystack the size of the entire Underground, and for her part, Nadia thought Sectonia’s idea of rest and relaxation sounded pretty sweet.

Still, she knew her words wouldn’t get through to the stubborn Koopas, and as the dirt began to fly the feral skittered away. After getting to her feet, she saw that the excavators’ progress was nothing to shake a stick at, and tried to think on the bright side. They’d just beaten a Guardian, after all. A victory like that could bring on a serious rush, and if the Seekers could do that, maybe they really could do anything. “Good luck down there!” She held her head out over the hole in order to call down after the delvers. “If you do catch that creep, give him a noogie for me! I’ll burr-owe you one!”

As if on cue, however, the Troop’s luck took a sudden turn. Digging straight down carried an inescapable element of risk, and as it happened, the pursuers dug straight into a section of loose, loamy, clumpy earth. Already disturbed by F’s sudden passage, the dirt began to shift beneath and around them, sweeping them up in a crumbly tumble through a twisting, turning tunnel like a tube slide at a water park. After a few moments the decidedly unfortunate excavators burst from the roof of a cavern in a shower of earth, entering freefall as they plunged into somewhere new.

[color=FD0000]”Gah the boxy lady was riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight”[/color] 

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vozawAYk4BM[/youtube][/center]

Just a second later they landed, unharmed, on what looked like a cliffside promontory blanketed by dark, cushiony grass. A huge open space stretched out in all directions around them, not nearly as large as Ash Lake, but still impressive in its misty, pale green vastness. Out in the empty space, alien trees loomed large, each composed of multiple trunks threaded vertically through what appeared to be giant lily pads. The land beyond this promontory itself looked like a high-altitude maze, sheer drops on all sides, their opalescent turquoise stone crowned by inky purple-black foliage and more [url=https://i.imgur.com/hiqAvvR.png]strange plants[/url], from tubular stalks to perfectly round bushes to small black trees that smoldered like sticks of incense, their smoke oddly fragrant. [url=https://i.imgur.com/DsPbJ1v.png]Swamps[/url] of mint-colored water could be found all over, in many cases feeding waterfalls that led straight into the abyss where [url=https://i.imgur.com/cIFRz8x.png]lantern bonsai[/url] floated, and wherever the newcomers looked the waterways offered still more [url=https://i.imgur.com/bD6yplG.png]fascinating flora[/url]. They could also see movement all throughout the alien archipelago, creatures familiar but a little weird. No sign of F, but if he’d dropped down here before them, there was only one direction he could go.

Bowser and a centipede body’d Rika uncurled themselves from where they’d protectively wrapped themselves around the smaller, squishier, members of the digging crew. Unlike them, the beetles that they’d been using to dig had not survived the fall, and had insead acted as functional, if not very soft, cushions to soften their impact with the ground.

[color=FD0000]”Urrrgh… everyone good?”[/color] Bowser asked, as he rubbed his head and sat down his son, who murmured an affirmation, before getting another pair from Kamek and Rika, the latter of whom dropped her Beast form to do so.

[sub]“You guys okay down there!?”[/sub] Nadia’s echoed voice called down from far above, to which Bowser yelled [color=FD0000]”Yeah! Takes more than a fall to do the koopa troop in!”[/color] in response.

As he pointed his focus back up, the rest of the troop focused it around.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Well, it looks like we found something down here at least, but not our escaped F”[/color] Kamek noted as he glanced around the chamber, taking in its beauty [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Still, it makes a nice change from all the barren caves and the mining pit above”[/color] 

Jr meanwhile, rather than admiring what was around him, was looking beyond, and assessing that there was [color=SpringGreen]”He must have gone over there!”[/color] as he pointed across the maze of cliffs to an outcrop flanked by two carved pillars with pink crystals on them. If there was an end goal to the wall-less maze, it was there.

Rika seemed to agree, in that by the time Jr had made that assessment, she had run forwards, leapt out over one of the pits and then with a set of mid air jumps and grapples, landing on the other side. Not one to be left behind, Jr called [color=SpringGreen]”Hey wait up!”[/color] before pulling his grapple worm out of his duffle bag, and using the strange bug to latch onto and pull himself to one of the lanterns. From there swung under it, grappled to a weird tree, formed a platform out of iron on it and then leapt into the void, summoning his vespikan strikers to hold up their massive cleavers to act as a quartet of stepping stones before he used one last grapple to finally clear the same jump Rika had just effortlessly made.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Children wait!”[/color] Kamek called after them, but it was already too late, and so he was forced to float on after them with an [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Oh dear oh dear oh dear”[/color] leaving Bowser still shouting up at those still above, the king having entirely forgotten about the link pearls they all had.
  
[color=FD0000]”There’s a whole cave down here, wet and swampy but kinda nice I guess? Goes on for ages but there’s some kind of end goal over one end and-”[/color] he was calling up when he noticed, and only then realizing that the rest of the troop were moving down [color=FD0000]”Gah, and now everyone’s run off, I gotta go!”[/color]

After those closing words, there came a little jingle of a bell as Bowser hooked one to his spiky collar and transformed into Meowser. In it he took his own singular running leap and launched himself off of the cliffside after the others. He missed the other side, but his claws dug into the cliff face when he hit it lower down, allowing him to clamber back up it and continue his pursuit.

This slapdash chase could have been a call for calamity had the environment contained many dangerous beasties, but fortunately for them all the cave system seemed to have avoided infestation by anything particularly dangerous. The little [url=https://i.imgur.com/OGVXQFZ.png]Barracuda Plants[/url] where only really a risk to a fool who stuck thief fingers in them, while [url=https://i.imgur.com/Q8kHsfm.png]Stalking Molds[/url] where much to slow to pursue, and one that did pull off an ambush more or less only delivered a hug while doing so. Indeed that might have been what it was trying to do rather than harm or kill. It was unrequited regardless however, and the mold found itself tossed off a cliff for its efforts.

A few obstacles floated through the air, but the oversized [url=https://i.imgur.com/uijmuf6.png]Rotfly Mutants[/url] mainly made for convenient grappling hook points rather than threats, as much as they tried, while the rather strange [url=https://i.imgur.com/kzssa8v.gif]Glimmets[/url] drifting around where simply left in the dust.

Somehow the worst thing managed to be outcroppings of [url=https://i.imgur.com/4ZXlYR5.png]Cosmic Quartz[/url] which when approached emitted a multitude of overlapping sounds, like an entire universe of sound all both uninterpretable and somehow still distinct, which was not the sensory overload you wanted while platforming.

Well. those and some [url=https://i.imgur.com/MvTCFHW.png]xeno grapes[/url] that gave a trying to restock his stamina Bowser a tummy ache.

Still, other than those nuisances, the lush environment and freedom of movement was a welcome change of pace from the claustrophobic black egg temple and somehow simultaneously claustrophobic and agoraphobic dream realm with its narrow platform hanging in an endless void.

Eventually however, it came to an end as the troop gathered up at the 2 crystal pillars Jr had identified as the exit, and found themselves looking down yet another long drop. It looked like a pitch-black hole in the green mists that hung over the swampy cavern floor down below, much deeper and much darker than the hole they’d tumbled down to get here. None had seen hide nor hair of F on their way through this beautifully bizarre marshland, and if the Consul truly had gone this way, jumping in after him seemed like an especially risky proposition. That aside, of course, staring down into such an unknown abyss could give practically anyone pause.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Given how long that took, and that we did not see him at all, he must be far far ahead of us by now”[/color] Kamek pointed out as they, indeed, paused at the precipice.

[color=SpringGreen]”Yeah, but this is the only way he could have gone, and if he didn’t see us following, maybe he’s slowed down now. Or his lairs right down there, ready for looting”[/color] Jr retorted, more enamored with the latter prospect than the former, it seemed.

[color=Aqua]”Or he’s gonna ambush us like those monsters did when he dropped us down the start”[/color] Rika added, not really for either side, but more because it was the obvious tactical thing to do, especially with how they were now split from the others. Unfortunately she didn’t point out the latter issue, having assumed it obvious, and so it led to Jr declaring [color=SpringGreen]”If it’s a trap, we should spring it! It’s the last thing he expects us to do”[/color] and her being entirely confident in accepting his take on the situation. 

Bowser was about to agree with this when is belly rumbled, once again complaining about the xeno grapes, and so instead started to say [color=FD0000]”We should wait for a bit-”[/color] but by that point [color=DeepSkyBlue]”It’s too late, she’s already jumped in”[/color] 

Indeed Rika was already dropping down the hole, though admittedly doing so like a feather rather than a stone so they did have time to spare before she reached the bottom. Time enough for Jr to insist Kamek [color=SpringGreen]”Make me a dragon so I can fly down!”[/color]

A few moments later, Kamek and Jr had joined Rika in her drifting down, while a doubly grumbling Bowser hung back for a few moments before simply leaping after them, following them down into the dark. 

This time, they descended/fell for several seconds. They flew pasts the mists and into the darkness, finding themselves surrounded by waterfalls on all sides. Then they spotted water below them, and the next second splashed down into a clear, rather warm basin. When they surfaced, they found themselves somewhere new yet again, darker than the alien swampland but by no means too dark to see. And what they saw amazed them.

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/t5oZhw0.jpeg[/img][/center]

They’d landed in a still pond, its surface interspersed with patches of water lilies and lotus flowers. More interestingly, this [url=https://i.imgur.com/Wz9eFN3.jpeg]pool[/url] seemed to be artificial in make, judging by the intricate, geometric marine tiles that lined its angular walls. Beyond lay a huge, misty cavern dominated by vast basins and surrounded by of well-preserved ruins, a sprawling [url=https://i.imgur.com/09FZIkL.jpeg]array[/url] of towers, walls, aqueducts, and columns with no clear path. Waterfalls and rays of light descended from the vaulted ceiling high above, sustaining trees, ferns, and prehistoric foliage of all kinds. Beneath the surface teemed the aquatic creatures of antiquity, primeval organisms long thought extinct, from the [url=https://i.imgur.com/3SaetOp.png]anomalocaris[/url] to the [url=https://i.imgur.com/Vxredh7.png]helicoprion[/url] to the [url=https://i.imgur.com/N05KOrF.png]elasmosaurus[/url], as well as equally ancient pokemon like [url=https://i.imgur.com/Gj7az2F.png]Omastar[/url] and [url=https://i.imgur.com/SwxoNyS.png]Kabuto[/url] . It was an incredible sight–and one utterly antithetical to the purpose of tracking down a singular runaway.

Bowser was the one who got the best look at these, as he promptly sunk like a stone down to the bottom of the pool below the drop, landing amidst a small garden of  [url=https://i.imgur.com/vGvr4FO.png]Lileep[/url]. They were quite spooked by the giant’s arrival, and began to waddle away in a panic as fast as their stubby legs could carry them. 

A curious elasmosaurus too crane its neck over at the commotion, but it was dissuaded by a perfectly able to breath water Bowser growling a bubbly [color=FD0000]”Don’t think about it”[/color] at it with his fists raised, ready to fight. Remarkably it decided to not indeed try it, and instead happily snapped up a poor lileep or two before they got to cover, leaving Bowser to start trudging his way up out of the water unmolested.

The rest of the troop, thanks to flight or sailing, had not taken a dunk like him, but that didn’t mean they weren't upset, Jr chief among them, the prince swooping around on drake back crying out 
[color=SpringGreen]”Gahhh where’d he go. Over there? Or over there or?”[/color] in frustration.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”I believe it may be time to give up and turn back young master, lest we leave the others thinking we have run off on our own, never to be seen again”[/color] Kamek said, already preparing to teleport back to the group to let them know they’d lost the trail and would catch up.

His plan was scuppered when Rika asked [color=Aqua]”Maybe we could ask whoever that is, peeking over that wall?”[/color] While pointing over to where an azure skinned individual was watching them some distance away. As she had said, they seemed to be peeking over the banister of a set of neary ruins, as only their head, adorned with long flowing hair and ribbons of some kind, and the red jewel necklace around their neck were visible.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”That is assuming they can speak-”[/color] Kamek attempted to reply, but Jr was already flying off at breakneck speed to try and talk to them by the time the mage was half way through his sentence.

The prince swooped over a number of large pokeball symbols embedded in the ground in the process of his flight, and then headed up towards the top layer of the ruins, calling out [color=SpringGreen]”Hey you! Have you seen a-”[/color] only to pause, raise a fist to his chin as he tried to think of how to describe the person who’d they only known as wearing a mask, and landing only on [color=SpringGreen]”-a jerk!”[/color]

Unfortunately, and oddly, when he looked back up the figure ducked down out of sight rather than respond. [color=SpringGreen]”Hey I was talking to you”[/color] Jr called after them, landing atop the ruins a few moments later, glancing around in confusion as to where they had gone, until spotting them peaking around the corner at the bottom of a flight of stairs a few moments later. 

[color=SpringGreen]”Hey!”[/color] he shouted down at them, only for them to duck away again, the prince missing the impish look on their face when they did so. Rather than be put off by this evasiveness, the prince instead dismounted and hurried down the stairs while demanding the figure [color=SpringGreen]”Get back here, I just wanna talk!”[/color]

Turning the corner, he found the figure peeking around another. They must have been quite a large figure actually given the size of their head, but that was hardly a concern for Jr, who was easily baited into another quick goose chase til he lost sight of them a few more turns down various corridors.

[color=SpringGreen]”Oh come on, I just want to know if someone else came down that pit is that soooo much to-”[/color] a panting prince started grousing, only for a presence to loom behind him and whisper in his ear “Flutter!” causing him to jump back and spin around in fright. Then he got a second fright as he saw that the person had [url=https://i.imgur.com/but53lg.png]no body at all![/url]

[color=SpringGreen]”Gah!”[/color] he cried out in alarm, scrambling back, but rather than attack the pokemon, for that was what this Flutter Mane was, simply curled one of its claw tipped tendrils below its mouth and laughed titteringly at him as it floated back, clearly highly amused by its prank.

[color=SpringGreen]”That was not funny”[/color] jr growled at it, but the flutter mane simply tilted its head, or rather body, to one side as if to ask “wasn't it?”

[color=SpringGreen]”No! …. Ok kinda a bit”[/color] he had to admit before insisting [color=SpringGreen]”But now that you’ve had your fun, are you gonna answer my questions or not?”[/color]

“Flutter mane” the creature replied unhelpfully, prompting jr to groan [color=SpringGreen]”Right. Pokemon”[/color] while rubbing his forehead, before snapping his fingers, grabbing one of his pokeballs and sending out Mimi so that she could [color=SpringGreen]”Explain what the deal is Mimi”[/color]

“Mi!” the mon replied with a little salute, before turning to the other, much bigger, ghost and “mi mi mi” ing at them for a few moments to do so. The Flutter mane “flutter”ed in response, as the two established that not only had the flutter mane not seen some jerk of a plant guy come down that hole, it hadn’t seen anyone come down it at all in forever. They had seen a snouty bug man wandering around with bits of paper recently though, but he’d been super elusive and thus not very prankable, so Jr was the first bit of fun it had had in forever.

They also established that it was a she.

Communicating this back to jr wasn’t exactly smooth, but they got to Mimi shaking her head in response [color=SpringGreen]”So it hasn’t seen anyone coming down the way we did at all?”[/color] fairly quickly despite that.

[color=SpringGreen]”Shoot”[/color] a disheartened Jr said while scuffing the ground with a foot in disappointment before complaining that [color=SpringGreen]”well this has been a complete waste of time.”[/color] He groaned, sighed, offered a [color=SpringGreen]”thanks or whatever”[/color] to the Flutter Mane and began the climb back up to his parked drake steed only to find the Flutter Mane following after him.

[color=SpringGreen]”Huh?” What do you want?”[/color] he asked, to which she just sort of bobbed to one side and then pointed at him unhelpfully. 

[color=SpringGreen]”Is it a reward or something? Jeeze fine here”[/color] he guessed, before offering up one of the pokepuffs he still had on him, which the pokemon happily scarfed down, but did not make her go away. If anything it made her stick even closer when he tried to get moving again.

[color=SpringGreen]”Wait, you wanna come with? Is that it?”[/color] jr finally caught on just as they were about to go up the last set of steps, and that got him some up and down nods of confirmation. [color=SpringGreen]”huh. I mean you are pretty neat. But are you tough enough to hang with my squad, huh?”[/color] 

Conveniently, a chance for her to prove herself was already in motion, as when Jr, Mimi, and the Flutter Mane reached the top of the stairs, the sound of combat met them. Hurrying over to the edge, they found the rest of the troop battling an ambush of [url=https://i.imgur.com/YOCbnFM.png]Brute Bonnets[/url] that Jr had flown over, the prince having not thought twice about their ‘disguises’ that only worked from that angle. 

They were rather slow, but they’d popped up out of the ground around Rika when she’d come  after him (Kamek had stayed back and kept watch for Bowser emerging from the water), and they were pretty hardy and nasty at that close range, particularly with their powerful payback punches that they delivered whenever she got in close to strike them. 

[color=SpringGreen]”Rika! I’m coming!”[/color] Jr called out as he leapt onto his drake steed and took off, flying towards her as quick as it could go. He was entirely outpaced in this however by the Flutter Mane however, which casually raced forwards at blistering speeds that explained how she had so easily given him the runaround. She dived towards the bonnets, and then produced a pink flash from her necklace that scoured three of the dark creatures. 

They retaliated by blasting dark green life draining energy beams up into the sky after her, but the nimble specter managed to evade many of these. In the process, she distracted the ones shooting at her, and gave Rika the space she needed to target the others with her own brutal punches. After that, with Jr and Mimi joining the fray, and Rika grappling up to the prince’s steed to get fully out of their more dangerous melee range, the remaining brutes hardly stood a chance. 

By the time a dripping Bowser and worried Kamek caught up it was all over. The dark plant pokemon had been dispatched, Rika had collected their spirits, and Jr had a new team member [color=SpringGreen]”I’m gonna call you… Peeka! Coz you're like a boo. Get it?”[/color]

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Well I see you are in high spirits once more young master, despite F having gotten away”[/color] the mage noted, before hoping he hadn’t jinxed things. 

[color=SpringGreen]”Yeah… Peeka didn't see him come down, so I guess he musta gotten away some other way. She did see someone else though, right?”[/color] Jr replied, before nodding to the pokemon, who proceeded to use one of her claws to mimic a trunk, the other two miming scribbling on a bit of paper, and then the fourth to point over in a direction.

[color=SpringGreen]”Sounds like that map guy, yeah? Maybe we should check it out, in case there’s a way we can avoid going alllllll the way back up there”[/color] he said, to which the others agreed it was worth a look.

After a brief time spent traipsing through the prehistoric sanctum, aided greatly by the mobility of the party’s fliers, they picked up the curious cartographer’s trail. At that point his humming clued them in, and after that the searchers found Cornifer right away. Happy to see the adventurers again after so long, he offered a discount deal on his maps. For a very reasonable price, the Troop got maps not just of the Ancient Pools, but the Abyssal Forest above and Ash Lake nearby. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any connections between them. As beautiful as this place was, a way forward wasn’t one of the secrets it offered.

As such they were forced to head back up regardless of their finding the map bug, which caused a lot of grumbling that was for sure. Bowser used a combo of cat claws and Carrie the trowlon striker to ascend, while Jr and Kamek flew and Rika did some absurd wall jumping and grappling combos to slowly ascend out of the pit all under her own power.

The two fliers went a bit ahead of the climbers so that they could get into radio range of the rest of the team all the way back up at their digging spot as soon as possible. 

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Hello? Am I reaching anyone? We are all right and on our way back. We didn’t find F or even where he went unfortunately, he may have dug out of the chamber we found or had some other means of escaping from it, but we did get some more maps from Cornifer of Ash Lake along with the areas we have just been through. Also the young master made a new pokemon friend”[/color] Kamek began in a vague attempt to justify the delay, before offering [color=DeepSkyBlue]”If you’d like to go on ahead to Asgore, there’s no need to wait for us. We know the way ourselves after all, so we’ll catch up with you”[/color] which they’d at least not have that much trouble with if Kamek made use of his steed creation power, though he’d need to have a rest once they did catch up, that was for sure.

Speaking of catching up, the flying pair had a little bit of time to kill before the climbing pair caught up, time they promptly squandered picking, eating, and then freaking out as a result of the dark visions brought to life by the local [url=https://imgur.com/a/L12W3VH]Nightmare Pommes[/url].

Between that and the prior alien berries, the troop swore the entire region off as straight up the worst of the bunch so far, which was most inconsiderate of them.