Piper was pleased and surprised to find that the boss more or less did as he was told and rather than pissing off their host or blowing a gasket at her. Instead he turned his back to her and began talking to himself. Either that or to someone one the other end of an unseen radio. Piper assumed, and hoped, it was the latter. With little else to be done other than wait for the inevitable retribution Piper dusted of her hands and turned her attention back to the conversation between Bentley and Dormin.
That conversation seemed to have gone well. A deal had been struck. Kill these new colossi in exchange for information, one question answered for each target eliminated. She really hoped that these assassinations weren't going to turn out to be of the morally questionable kind. Bently and Delsin certainly took no issue with the prospect of slaying these unknown invaders so Piper didn’t feel the need to voice her doubts. That could wait for later once they were out of earshot of Dormin and found out what exactly they were supposed to be killing.
As bently outlined his plan Piper sighed at the prospect of getting stuck with the boss as the only appointed leader around, but agreed regardless. “Works for me I guess” she said as she walked back over to the Boss. She hoped he was done sulking.
The steambot was fairly sure she’d never be able to co-opt leadership of their small team while keeping the boss a part of it, she expected his ego would not stand for such a mutiny and he might even fight her over it. Also, colossal ass he may be, the Boss did at least seem competent when it came to combat, so losing him would put a real dent in their already limited firepower. That said, there was no way she was just going to fall in line like some good little soldier-bot, particularly after the stunt she pulled with shushing him. So instead she tried a different approach, working with the boss rather than for or against him. Time would tell if either of them would be able to stand that kind of arrangement.
“So Boss. If they’re going to the west how do you feel about trekking back across the bridge to the Old Temple in the north?” she suggested “It’d be easier for us link up with the other team if they get in trouble from there compared to the other places.” she based this assumption of the river separating the west and south, and the distance between the west and east being greater than the suggested pairing.
“Also is it possible to link whatever radio/phone your using right now to Bentley's Binocucom?” she suggested after overhearing Bentley's description of his kit. “It’d be useful to keep in touch with the other team’s leader.”
She told the young human after he introduced himself. He was followed in this by the rest of the squad's as they all made their way inside the Ragnarok. She didn't really get the understanding of what they could do from said introductions like she had wanted unfortunately. Alica and Cloud where straightforward enough to guess however, the former used guns and the latter their immense sword. Joker she was less sure of, but perhaps he was a brawler like slayer, or perhaps a magic wielding person like her? Basically she had no idea.
At any rate, there were slightly more important things to focus on, like the rather vague explanation King Dedede gave when questions about what had happened to bring them to this stage where directed at him. Naija, very familiar with the feeling of being left in the dark, decided she should to try and shed some additional light on the situation.
“Just to, uh, add to that a bit. Meta Knight's ship attacked the castle. Then he came in and stole this bag one of the virus monsters from the attack on the smash arena(which is a place in the city) had, as well kidnapping this guy who was part of organizing the fight at the arena. The bag has.. Other worlds in it? Or… um. Can go to other worlds? And is also infected by the virus, but the worlds in it aren't.”
Naija struggled trying to remember what little Dr Solus had told her when she had been hanging around the lab yesterday evening. Then she glued that together with the briefing information.“but I guess the bag can infect the worlds now? Something like that anyway. Basically it’s bad. Also Guile got stabbed by meta knight by a sword that destroys pixels. Which we’re all made of. Which is bad because they can heal him. So they froze him to stop him from dying.” there was definitely something to be said for how succinct king Dedede’s explanation had been when compared to Naija's rambling“then meta knight ran away in the ship and fox chased him. That's... Basically all you’ve missed I think?”
By the time she was done her exposition they were preparing for take off. Copying the rotund penguin she got herself strapped into one of the chairs after a only a few failed attempts. Then they were off into the sky. If she hadn’t seen the halberd disappearing into the night she would never have believed the hunk of metal they where in could fly, but fly it did. Naija did her best to enjoy the strange experience as they raced towards their destination. She still got a bit plane sick though but she did her best to pay attention to the subsequent addendum to the briefing regardless. Despite thinking that vault boy was talking about turtle shells instead of cannon shells she mostly got the gist of it.
Then they arrived and had about 10 seconds of peace before they came under attack. Kirby went out to confront them and, Ignorant about how space worked, Naija was ready and willing to follow him out of the airlock but was stalled by the fact that she struggled to get the seat-belt undone. This gave her enough time to register Vault boy’s disbelief at Kirby’s actions and intuit that going outside was probably not a good idea.
“So uh. If we shouldn't go out there is there any way to help form in here? Or should we just go get into those shells?” she asked instead of venting herself out into the void.
The ravages of the Phoenix had left the island desolate and ruined. What had once been a thriving ecosystem had been reduced to ash and soon the souls of the creatures and plants that had lived here would also be burnt to cinders in the sky pyres. Yet this ash would be the fertilizer for new growth, a growth stronger and more vibrant than what had come before. Helping this process along where Azura’s gemstone gardeners, the four species of parrots she had made to react to just this kind of disaster and they did their best to fulfill this purpose even though there were fewer of them now than there had once been. The colorful forms of the Parakeets, Keas and Macaws fluttered too and fro, working together to plant and fertilize the replacement seeds that would soon grow into a new jungle. As they worked the Parrots sang to one another in a beautiful yet crude conversation. This conversation was lead mostly by the Onyx Cockatoos as the stone breakers had been left with little to do in the already soil covered fields.
Mostly they sang of purpose, of their given task to bring nature to barren lands, but this song was punctured at intervals by sorrow, for among the charred remains of feathered and scaled beasts they occasionally found one of their own who had been caught up in the phoenix's rampage. They sang of hope and fear spurred at the sight of the two gods battling the burning monster, a contest of strength so great that compared to its combatants the parrots like but feathers in the face of a hurricane. The Kea’s particular bemoaned their inability to help, their failure to protect as they had been tasked to do. The Cockatoos meanwhile added anger and frustration to the verse, fueled by a minor emphatic link to the creator of the Orvium in their bodies and by their current idleness.
Individual songs from across the island slowly coalesced as the work continued, tunes and melodies stinging together until all sang with one voice with one aim. Simple minds with simple hopes and fears all called out for their goddess.
Azura, protect us
Azura, morn us
Azura, strengthen us
Over and over they sang until the work was done and the first prayer slowly dwindled way. Their task complete, the gardeners turned north towards Kalmar’s new continent. The Gardeners left the Eye of desolation for the first time to continue their work on new shores and soon after the southern tip of the new land began to sprout its first growths thanks to their tending.
Azura heard her creation’s prayer as she fell and it added to her misery.
High above them in the black void, beyond even the sun where she had spoken with Asceal and Aelius, she had seen the souls of their dead along with billions of others all slowly being burned to ashes in Katharsos’s pyres. She was first of the living to see the fate that awaited all souls with her own eyes and she deemed it an abomination. An attempt to break the death row inmates had been made, and it had failed. The lord of death’s power was simply too strong even in his absence. Azura did not even consider attempting to pluck individual souls from the masses even though that might have succeeded where a mass prison break had failed. Driven to exhaustion by the attempt and fearing that she would be discovered Azura had fled the sky pyres in disgrace. As she did so she saw a great beast, like a combination between a worm and an octopus, traveling in the opposite direction. She had a lot of time to ponder what Vakk was doing approaching the pyres, but lacking any knowledge on the Lord of Talk the only conclusions she could draw where based on his appearance. Needless to say the theories drawn from the monsters looks were as unfaltering as her opinion of his chosen aesthetics.
From there she had fallen back to the sun first and had spoken with Aelius briefly to confirm what Asceal had seen in the stars was true. Then she had headed back down to Galbar, using her air bubble both times to avoid incinerating herself. Now she found herself home once more in the Blue and bore witness how it had been ravaged by Ovius’s unseen passing and the fall of his moon fragments. Thousands of Sky slugs had been obliterated from existence while many of her temples had been reduced to rubble or completely knocked out of the sky. Unlike her parrots however the creatures of the Blue did not have the capacity for sadness or loss and so continued to cluelessly flutter too and fro around the morose bird. In her sullen state Azura found that frustrating and in her mind a division began to form between which souls need saving and which was not. It was a rationalization that made her task easier certainly, but it was also a cold one by her standards, one reflective of the slow hardening of her heart that witnessing the evils of other gods had caused.
Down below her she saw another one of these evils racing across the surface of Galbar. A vast storm that tore across the world at unimaginable speed, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake, both physical and spiritual, as countless souls drifted free of the ocean behind it. She noted that these souls all seemed to drift across Galbar’s surface rather than right up to the pyres as she expected them too. She also noted to her horror that the storm’s westward path took it dangerously close to the eye. Fear for her Parrots lives was enough to push her to act once more despite her emotional exhaustion.
Azura descended back to Galbar to confront the desolate storm.
Azura’s parrots replant the burned islands of the Eye of desolation while singing to their goddess. Then they travel to the southern tip of Kalmarland to start planting there.
Azura hears the prayers of her creations while she descends from the sky pyres. She also sees Vakk on her way down but the two don't have time to speak as she hurtles on by him. In the pyres she witnesses everything Seihdhara did up there, tires and fails to free those waiting to be burned, and then runs before Katharsos can show up and ask her what she is doing poking around his sphere.
Then she returns to The Blue, gets a bit cross with her sea slugs for not being sad about all their dead comrades and ruined temples and also spots the Gateway to Veradax wrecking its way across Galbar. She ceases moping and goes down to intervene.
In response to his confused question Bowser received an avalanche of abuse. He was utterly stunned by his double’s cutting character assassination and it left him standing in shock. Bug eyed, with his mouth standing agape, Bowser’s jaw hinging up and down slightly as he tried and failed to work out a retort while the Megadragon move onto fresh pray.. By the time he had managed to figure out any kind of response his doppelganger had left them in the company of the… of a Master Hand. Along with it where more Galleem controlled puppets, ones supposedly familiar to some of the others, that they would need to face to proceed. Ratchet running over and hugged one made him quite sure they where a non issue however. Instead of getting involved he focused his attention on the hand and proceeded to yell at it. Most of what h shouted was what he wanted to shout at Megadragonbowser, but hadn’t been smart enough to come up with while his double was still around to hear it.
“SCREW YOU OVER-SIZED MITTEN. UNLIKE YOU AND THAT LOSER COPY OF ME IN THERE, I WON’T BEND A KNEE TO SOME DIME A DOZEN JUMPED UP ONE-OFF VILLAIN LIKE GALEEM FOR A CHEAP POWER BOOST. THE LIKES OF THEM ALWAYS SHOW UP ACTING ALL HIGH AND MIGHTY WHILE WANTING TO DESTROY THE WORLD OR UNIVERSE OR WHATEVER. THEN THEY GET THEIR BUTT’S KICKED JUST ONCE AND THEN THEY NEVER COME BACK. ME THOUGH? I’M STILL RIGHT HERE, WHILE EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM HAS RUN OFF WITH THEIR TAILS BETWEEN THEIR LEGS AFTER THEIR FIRST BEATING! YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE THEY’RE QUITTERS WITH ZERO GUTS WHILE I’M THE TOUGHEST, MOST TENACIOUS, MOST AWESOME BAD GUY OF THEM ALL. SO BUZZ OFF BACK TO YOUR STUPID LIGHT BEFORE I CRUSH YOU MYSELF!”
Bowser sucked in air into his lungs, flames licking at his lips before he spat a roaring fireball at the Master Hand. Sadly (or perhaps fortunately because provoking the titanic glove would likely have made the situation ten times worse) the hand took its leave of them before the king could pull off his attack. The flaming bolt ended up soaring harmlessly over the heads of the stationary figures it had left behind and splashed harmlessly against the castle wall.
“YEAH THAT’S RIGHT, RUN YOU COWARD!” the dragon turtle yelled, shaking his fist at thin air.
After a few moments of continued shaking he dropped his hand back down with a frustrated sigh and then turned away from the castle and the arrayed frenemies guarding it. “ALRIGHT TROOPS, GET ON WITH THE LOVING REUNIONS OR POWER OF FRIENDSHIP NONSENSE OR WHATEVER IT IS RATCHET’S DOING SO WE CAN GET A MOVE ON. GALEEM’S GOING TO REGRET GETTING A FAKE ME FROM SOMEWHERE WHEN WE BEAT HIM, TAKE ALL MY STUFF BACK AND TURN IT AGAINST THEM.“ he ordered his minions as he stomped towards Mario. It was only then that he noticed that the pig mask wearing man had apparently picked a fight with some scrawny bomb lobber. As the two rushed away from the group trading fire Bowser summoned Heel from his shell. “KEEP THE FAT MAN ALIVE” he ordered the Striker that had formed in his un-clawed palm, before lobbing the Rabbid after the retreating roadhog.
Heel soared through the air noisily. After barely avoided being impaled on the spiked tire Roadhog wore over one shoulder he ended up instead clinging to the back of his shoulder straps. From there he pulsed his healing ability to help the junker recover from the grenades that had pounded him, before chucking one of his own far weaker bombs back at Junkrat. Concerningly ducky grenade only managed to slow down their pursuer for a brief moment, its explosion having barely harmed the triple powered grenadier. Heel, deciding that his mount was doomed, proceeded to lob his remaining grenades as fast as possible before bailed on the situation, the Striker de-materializing and returning to the safety of Bowser’s shell.
Bowser meanwhile continued onward to where Mario was, fairly certain everything was under control even though it most certainly wasn’t. Once the pair met up there was a brief moment of tension before the king laughed dryly.
“IT’S FUNNY, NORMALLY THIS WORKS OUT THE OTHER WAY ROUND.” he commented, ”WELL ANYWAY, WELCOME TO MY ARMY MARIO. TRY NOT TO GET IN MY WAY.” Then he looked over his shoulder and yelling at the small child the master of masters had just freed from Galeem “THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO TINY HAT WEARING PERSON. YOU’RE ONE OF BOWSER’S BADDIES NOW.”
Once again Azura soared through the heavens after having fired herself out of Galbar’s atmosphere. Once again her target was a sun hanging high above it. This time however that sun was intact, shining brightly down on the world below. This time Azura had wanted to make sure that she would not inadvertently ram the active sun like she had the debris field of the dead one. As a result her approach was a cautious one, one intended to pass by the sun so she could scout out a safe landing site, if one where available, instead of simply aiming herself at it and hoping for the best. It was though this measure that she was one of the first people to actually be able take in Heliopolis at their own leisure rather than being in a rush or too away from it.
At first Heliopolis was simply blinding light, the ray of sunshine emanating from the boxed star and projected by its lense dissuaded any closer inspection. The transition from that sunbeam and into the darkness beyond was a sudden one that took Azura by surprise. Once her eyes had adjusted she she got too take in the majestic city for the first time. It was, in a word, magnificent. She had seen creations of others down on Galbar and she had seen the ruins of a sphere before, but neither had prepared her for the beauty that her fellow gods were capable of when allowed to work without any constraints. Heliopolis was a vast metropolitan planetoid floated in the center of the sphere. It was a shining white cityscape, made of artisan carved marble that had been masoned into the finest architecture and then polished to an immaculate sheen. Stout columns stood in regimented rows along the sides of buildings, holding their great triangular roofs aloft. Yet despite its magnificence the city was empty of life, its pristine condition unmarred by the passage of the living. The emptiness of the lonely city spoiled its glory in a way, but perhaps, Azura thought, it was a home for those who had not yet been born.
It was certainly not what she had expected, but it did make landing a far easier task than it would have been on a giant super hot ball.
Azura had angled her launch so her flight would send her up, over and eventually around the sphere rather than straight into it, so she used some of the air she had brought with her to alter that trajectory, blasting some forwards to lower her speed so that when she began to descend she dropped onto the top of sphere. With far more grace than she had entered the Lustrous garden Azura breached Heliopolis’s outer barrier and was delighted to discover that there was air inside it, allowing her to cancel any left over momentum with just a few flaps of her wings.
In a matter of minutes, Azura’s feet landed on white marble and she was in the middle of Heliopolis proper. She stood in front of the central palace, from which the sun ray cascaded across the stars and to Galbar. She took a moment to marvel at the sight, when a voice from behind startled her.
“I know you to be Azura,” Aelius said. “Welcome to Heliopolis.” Asceal and Liana stood at his side.
Azura’s startled head twitched to the side to bring them all into view, but it quickly became clear that they weren’t overtly hostile to her intrusion she calmed down enough to strike up conversation, abit one that started rather clumsily.
“Hello! Yes, I am Azura. Love what you’ve done with the place by the way. Ah, If I’m remembering rightly you’re Aelius, Asceal and...” here the parrot paused, floundering monetarily as the architect given knowledge failed her “who might you be?” she concluded, her gentle inquiry directed at the unfamiliar figure made of vines who accompanied the two gods.
Liana, who had been busy admiring Azura’s multi coloured feathers and ignoring her words, jumped at the question and pointed to herself uncertainty as if seeking some confirmation before replying sheepishly, “I’m, uh, Liana. Hello.”
“Liana is still adjusting to her new form,” Aelius explained. “Asceal saved her and crafted her a body. The rest… could not be saved,” he said, suddenly sombre. “Forgive us if we seem out of sorts.”
Azura cocked her head to the side and, her voice touched by concern, asked “Saved her? From which disaster?”
“The only one that matters,” An expression of anger crossed Asceal’s face as she spoke, “Katharsos’s massacre of the souls that accompanied us to this universe.”
Azura was shocked by this information. The massive parrot’s beak opened and closed several times as she attempted to respond and failed to find the words each and every time. After a dozen or so attempts she finally managed to utter an almost uncomprehending “what?” followed moments later by a mournful “Why?” as the horror of such an act began to set in. Finally, after her mind had fully wrapped itself around the monstrous piece of information the same anger that had crossed Asceal’s face gripped her as she asked “how?”
“Asceal saw it for herself,” Aelius answered. “She told me Katharsos was pulling souls away from Galbar against their will. They were burning - billions of them.”
Part of Azura wanted to doubt, to reject the notion that she had been brought into a reality where such cruelty existed. If this was true however, then there was no time for doubt. “But can we save those that are left?”
Asceal felt some small measure of hope rise in her as Azura spoke. It was heartening to see another god feel as she and Aelius did, even if it didn’t change a thing in the moment. When she replied it was with a somber tone, “A few, but not enough.” She shook her head and hesitated, it was painful to admit her powerlessness, “Even saving one, saving Liana, it wasn’t easy. I’ve sworn to do whatever I can to help others, but until we know what Katharsos has done to ensnare and destroy so many I fear we can only pluck the occasional soul from his grasp.”
Azura tried to mull this over in her head, thoughts swirling around her mind like a hurricane but one thing stood clear in the eye of the storm: the memory of her conversation with Parvus. Though most of the discussion had been poisoned in her mind by the god’s manipulations he had spoken of the dangers of war with what she felt was sincerity. She had agreed with him that it should be avoided, for the time being at least, and yet here she stood on the precipice of divine conflict.
“If they are suffering and dying as you say, then I will do all I can to help them break free of his tyranny. If you don’t have answers I can help look for them and I can help spread word of this heinous act.“
Aelius nodded. “The more allies we have, the easier our task will be. The other gods must be made aware of this tragedy. In the meantime, we should investigate. The more we know about Katharsos’s methods, the easier it’ll be to stop him.”
“I agree. A good place to start investigations would be share what we already know? There is so much going on that I have not seen. So much destruction and chaos that could add to this crisis that I don't want to be blindsided by anymore. As things stand, i worry this sun might explode the moment I leave it.” Azura finally brought things back to why she had come here in the first place. She had learned of but one disaster. Greatest of them all it may be, but there were still so many others left to uncovered.
Aelius frowned at the mention of suns exploding. Heliopolis wouldn’t come to that, would it? As far as he was concerned, it was their last bastion of hope. No - he saved it once, from Mel. He’d do the same as many times as necessary.
“Agreed,” he said. “No more surprises. Come, we can talk more inside.” Aelius gestured to his citadel. The gods and their companion climbed the steps before disappearing into the hall. While they spoke of the past the unseen moon was born and shattered below them, the eye of desolation burned and conniving gods set traps for mortals yet to come.
Azura flies into the sun and meets up with Aelius, Asceal and Liana. From them she learned of Katharsos’s massacre of the void souls and vows to aid them in stopping his executions. The trio have little information to go off of when it comes on how to stop him however and so agree to share what they already know of this and other events before they go hunting for answers.
The heroes, however strong, could not find it in themselves to step forward, or to raise a weapon
and tried to avoid breaking that aura of dread to hard. Also I wandered of into crack theory territory before also just rejecting said theory before i even finished the post but wanted to get it out for people who where waiting.
defiantly not my best work but I guess I'll leave it as it stands to avoid disruption. maybe he's gone soft hanging around with heros for a whole 20 minuets lol.
That is completely irrelevant to my joke, however, when you consider:
<Snipped quote>
No other members of his species? When he's the King Koopa? You can't even say that he's the only member of some elite breed of Koopa on account of the Koopa Kids all being unique koopas themselves. Everything about that line just feels... Off.
the horns are unique to bowser and jr... maybe i should change that to focus on the horns. hang on. edit: changed that, though honestly maybe i should remove that whole thing now that I am reflecting on it
Din decided to be a far more helpful and informative person than Bowser had been, telling Geno about the master of masters, the keyblade and kirby’s heart creation skill. This last bit was new to bowser and he actually took it in even as he responded with her suggestion to try it after she failed with: “NO WAY I’M DOING SOMETHING THAT SILLY LOOKING”
The Master of Masters added to this discussion a lot more mushy stuff that mostly went in one ear and out the other. The king was however quite certain he had a great deal of inner strength, certainly enough to to match his outer might and that he would, if necessary, be able to make a heart.
some claw tip based trigger pushing later
Bowser was unsurprisingly rather displeased that he only got two minion souls out of his explosive outburst. He was sure he had seen more when he got close to the moat after rescuing the master of masters, but it seemed they had all fled in the interim. Or just been smart and escaped the mines before they went of. Nonetheless the king berated them as cowards under his breath as he popped the two souls in the jar that had once held the hammer bros and stuffed them in the pocket of his now rather battered jacket.
That plan might have not gone well, but it seemed that Geno had actually done some scouting while he was off on his own. Apparently, despite the exterior looking like it had the last time he had seen it, the castle had not escaped the twisted remaking of the world, and the fairy tail palace now featured wicked dungeons within which vile experiments were conducted. Definitely an improvement in Bowser’s opinion and he made a note to add just such a set of dungeons when he finally took over the mushroom kingdom. He was less enthused to hear about the presence of the mighty Donkey Kong. The king had replaced the rambunctious ape’s father and grandfather as Mario’s nemesis when the youngest kong had shown more interest in bananas than continuing the family feud. The two had met occasionally over the years, mainly in sporting events and also during that one time when he and Kamek traveled back in time to kidnap a bunch of babies, including his young self and baby dk, in an attempt to steal the stars of seven star children to become ruler of the universe. Speaking of Kamek, and ignoring the possibility of his kidnaping obsession being the result of a self inflicted stable time loop, he was very disappointed and a little hurt to find out that the koopa who had raised him was serving some new king. Sure, his minions got turned against him all the time but this was a new low.
“WHOEVER THIS WANNABE KING IS, THEY'RE IN FOR A WORLD OF HURT” the one true koopa king guaranteed.
All in all everyone looked like they were almost ready to get going into the castle to show the boss who was boss when its master decided to meet them prematurely. The herald of his arrival was rather impressive, their antagonist had wrecked some poor girl’s flying house and sent it carrening down towards them to announce his imminent arrival. Fortunately it did not crush anyone as it landed in the moat, but it did make an almighty splash that drenched those on the bridge. The people on the bridge mainly consisted of bowser, who was utterly soaked. It was somewhat deserved considering his bombing of said moat moments earlier. Then the cause of the calamity arrived, slamming down in between the castle’s front door and Bowser. Bowser recognised the winged beast as himself, while his Megabug possessed self showed no indication that the feeling was mutual and instead emanate an intimidating aura that stunned all before it.
Bowser was not a hero, but he was nonetheless unable to move forwards on account of a monetary headache resulting from confusion as to why there were two of him. Or rather that would have been his excuses if he could have read then narration. In truth he was briefly stunned by a combination of the same fear others felt in combined with the vietnam flashback memory of the time when he had looked just like the Bowser before them as a result of another mind control fiasco, namely that time he had come home from vacation early only to be possessed by a massive data bird thing that had been a result/cause of the rabbids rampage across the mushroom kingdom. Meanwhile his minions, who were already rather overworked as it was, where so spooked by megadragonbowser that they desummoned themselves, their items (the Necro Smasher, Slicer Cutter and Blazermate’s minigun) clattering to the ground around Bowser as they retreated inside his shell to cower.
The True King was brought back to his senses by the mutterings of the heros. Tora quiet defiance was one, driving him to push out of his dazed state for the sake of appearances. The other’s where direct questions at him. Bowser could not muster the courage/energy to explain that the suit was for a special occasion and question what was wrong with being naked anyway, but the first part about whether he had a brother did merit an answer.
“I don’t” the king’s voice was quieter than it had been all day and, even though it was normal speaking volume for others, it was clear that he was trying to whisper “No idea where the Bug on my back got another me from.” It was baffling. Sure he had had doppelgangers like dark bowser, but he there were none truly like the Koopa king. He had no brothers, no sisters, no mother, no father, no uncles, no aunts, no other members of species that sported those regal horns except for…
“JR?”
Bowser finished his train of thought out loud and at his normal volume, directing the question at the imposing possessed mirror image of himself. It something of a leap when it came to explanations, Galeem having power over time as well as space was more likely than the idea that Bowser Jr had suddenly grown up, yet this did not occurred to him mainly as a result of him mentally burying the consequences of such time shenanigans only moments earlier. The thought that Megadragonbowser was his beloved son stalled the True King’s hand far longer than the fear did as he awaited a response to his question.
Also, I should take this chance to remind everyone (but especially @DracoLunaris) how Strikers work. Bonding with a spirit to make it a Striker creates a relationship where its spirit is linked to your main character's for sustenance. Strikers have a set amount of effort they can expend, whether attacking, healing, or whatever, before they have to de-manifest. Just being manifested slowly drains this energy, but actingtakes more. In combat they're meant to act like assists in team-based fighting games, popping in for a moment for an attack, support action, or string of attacks before vanishing again to recuperate. If you're not familiar with assists, thinking of them as temporary summons might help. In a noncombat situation they can manifest for longer, but regardless they can't be around all the time. In exchange, they can't take permanent damage, instead simply de-manifesting if hurt too much.
oh shoot, was I supposed to be handling their duration? I guess I'll be paying for that by not having them around for most of this boss battle then. or was that a warning that you'd be poofing them?
To keep things from being too convenient, I'm going to say that heroes and junk falling in the moat scared away most of the aquatic life, and the Lakelurks and Toads remained near the bottom. Two blooper spirits, three bombfish spirits, and a biri spirit were all that came up.
fair enough. also I think i might save the pocket souls for bowser jr if we find him soon ish seeing as the only game he is controllable in is a simple strategy game, so him being a mook leader works pretty well. better to have him level up, get them and then combo the two turtles' powers than try and get all the minion team-ups in one/the remaining Bowser levels.
Fetzen
Frettzo
teenangstlife
Lord Zee
Neziul
Ariamis
rush99999
Simply Not Real
Shadowheart
