DracoLunaris

World of Light

wordcount: 1,015 (+2) (+1 from Primrose colab)
Midna: level 1 EXP: ///////////// (5/10)
Location: Sandswept Sky (desert)

Having abandoned her former shadow ride for the sake of introductions, Midna rode along the trail atop one of her loyal Wolfos. She creature’s fur made for a decent cushion for her royal behind, (though riding all day would eventually take its toll no matter how comfy the mount) so the worst thing about the experience was the sunshine. It might not be lethal for her anymore, but as a creature of shadow being in the light still made her skin crawl, and it was only going to get worse.

As they crested the hill and reached the end of the trail Minda was forced to raise a hand to shade her straining eyes from the almost blinding glare emanating from the crack they had to traverse. She sent her ride home for the time being and floated her smaller form through the crevice others were having to squeeze through before making it to the other side where the deserts of the Sandswept Sky spread out endlessly before them.

”Eyugh, It's not only too bright and hot but and its huge too,” Midna complained, still shading her eyes. Still, if the mirror of twilight is going to have landed anywhere, it would be here, she thought. She’d gladly bare the heat if it meant there was a chance to find her home and ensure it was intact. As if to add insult to injury, not only was the sun beating down, but so too was a light glaring down from atop a distant mountain. The round creature that would later introduce himself as Tora pointed towards the light and suggested that there was a great beast circling it that must be the guardian they sought. She took his word for it. The shining beacon was unbearable. As was the heat. Which made the masked teen’s cats’ bizarre transformation into some kind of self powered cart a massive relief. She didn’t bother questioning how it worked, if it offered shade she didn’t care.

”So seeing as I’m floating and not flying you don't mind if I” Midna said, not bothering to finish her sentence before slipping first inside the vehicle, and then straight into the shadow cast by one of the vehicle’s sun visors, vanishing from view in the process. Her disappearing act allowed her to hide in the cool shadows without cramping the vehicle even further, but she did miss out on the personal cooling ant’s offered by the giant bee queen in the process. Midna didn’t mind this too much, the fact that both she and that ant-like minions were similar sizes would have made cuddling up to one rather awkward looking, or so she thought anyway.
.
Now that they, or rather the rest of the vehicles riders, weren't focused on walking they started to make some proper introductions at the prompting of Tora. After introducing himself and his flying machine woman companion Poppi, he told them of the remarkable world they came from, where people lived on the backs of colossal titans who waded through an endless ocean. It was an absurd concept and yet with all the insane things that were going on in the world of light it seemed that none thought it deserved comment. For all Midna knew that was an entirely normal way for a universe to be.

The cheerful fluffy creature’s openness was repaid with name only responses from the masked teens who’s ride they were using while Primrose’s guarded response continued to show her to be a lady of few words. It was somewhat funny to watch Tora’s attempt to make friends get shot down by the jaded bunch, or so Midna felt. It didn’t mean she needed to continue the trend. What, really, did she have to hide from these people? Her people's dark past had little meaning to people to whom their crimes had no meaning and her cursed form was no-longer a mark of shame, simply a nuisance.

”Kinda a dower bunch aren't you all” she said mockingly as she appeared once more in the light. She drifted in the center of the van near the shady ceiling as if it was filled with a shallow pool of water, hands resting behind her head ash she looked down at them.

”I’m Midna, Princess of the Twilight Realm, which is the... a” she corrected herself, who knew how many worlds had their own dark reflections, ”shadow realm parallel to Hyrule. The same Hyrule Link and Linkle are from, though they are both from a different time than me, and each other I suspect.” She directed this last comment at those who had arrived in Alcamoth alongside the Hylian heroes and as a result would have any idea what she was talking about.

”I can do shadow magic, and this fourth of the fused shadow I’m wearing lets me do this” she told them, before her hair transformed into a massive orange glowing arm tipped with an equally large hand. She used the vast power power granted from the ancient artifact of her people to offer to shake one of Tora’s equally large ear hands, ”Pleased to meet you,”

”Well that’s me” she said once she was done, her hair returning to normal, before concluding with a ”I’ll see you later,” before popping back into the shadows to avoid the heat and light. From there she listened to any introductions that followed hers to pass the rest of the time.

She didn’t pay much attention to the world outside, there was little to see but harsh sunlight and monotonous sand in her opinion, so instead of noticing the figure watching them from the dunes she first saw Primrose's reaction to spotting her and decided to investigate what had caused it.

”What’ve you seen?” she asked as she appeared from the shade above the woman before drifting down behind her once her presence had been noticed to squint out the same window. As much as she had played it off at the time, Midna did not want to have the woman’s knife pointed her way for a second time and so made an effort not to spook her again when doing this.

Into The Depths!

In the end everyone accepted, and the group was led to the place that would be their home for the next month. Little more was divulged as to why their mission was a secret, instead they were given explanations as to what they would be doing, namely, training. Training that among other things would allow them to form a bodily shield that would protect them from the fog of the abyss, a prospect that interested Ioxeia greatly. Anything that could ward against corruption was another tool to her arsenal, and a skill that would interest her order a great deal.

After a bit more information from Virgil about their rooms, financial situation and schedule for the coming month the group was left alone together and were able to introduce themselves to one-another.

“My name is Ioxeia, a Disciple of Panacea. I’ve come here from a monastery a day away from this city, though my family and order both originally hail from the city of Constantinople,” She informed the others when her turn came to introduce herself, feeling little need to hide what she was and perhaps oversharing in the process “As I mentioned before, I am first and foremost a doctor, and I will do all I can to ensure Petra’s prediction does not come true,” The masked doctor spoke with conviction despite knowing how all to possible such an end was.

She followed suit with the gender split of the rooms. Despite the obvious occupancy discrepancy this created, it was likely for the best. People who were about to face death sometimes desperately tried to find intimacy and even though a month was not long enough for this to cause an issue, and so in her opinion it was best to reduce the risks. The corruption of the abyss was not somewhere a new soul should be developing.

The first thing the doctor did was put her bag down on her chosen bed, and, after rummaging around in it for a few moments, retrieved a stick of incense and a jar to place it in. These were put on a nightstand near the bed she claimed and then lit. “For purity,” she explained succinctly if questioned as the pleasant scent slowly filled the room. Once the smell was suitably suffused into the air of the room, Ioxeia carefully removed her hat, boots and long gloves. The fabric covering her face was pulled down, and the mask was clipped to her belt, keeping both her most vital protection close at hand just in case. The rest of her protective ensemble remained on, but she would change out of it to sleep.

After her various other belongings were packed away, securely in some cases (you did not leave any kind of alcohol, even that intended for medical purposes, unsecured around soldiers, even the chosen of god) Ioxeia found herself at a loose end as to what to do, which made the Priest's offer to lead an evening prayer a reliving bit of familiar structure in what had been a rather tumultuous experience up until that point.

“I would be glad to join you, Brother Alistair”, she replied with an appreciative nod when the offer was made, unwilling to entirely drop the honorifics of the priest. Partially because she was a true believer and partially because her order had a complicated relationship with the church’s orthodoxy (their focused reverence of Saint panacea and their opinions about the nature and threat of demonic corruption rubbed some of the faithful the wrong way), and so it always paid to be polite to it’s Inquisitors. The last thing this expedition was arguments about minor doctrinal disputes.

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 857 (+2)
Bowser Jr: Level 6 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (99/60)
Kamek: Level 6 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (34/70)
Location: Edge of the Blue

The plans made and teams organized, there was little more left to do other than to bid farewells. The Troop’s was short and sweet, the unearned confidence of father and son meaning neither was particularly worried about the dangers of going their separate ways, while Kamek made the more serious promise to ensure the young prince's safety no matter what. Peach’s name was also added to the list of people to protect before Bowser headed off to join the deadzone crew.

More unexpected was Queen Sectonia seeking out Kamek again, both to tell him how to summon her via portal should he need her aid or find something magical to discuss and to not so subtly return the Wand of Pocus he had given her to gain her aid in hauling Bowser out of the Devil's Casino. The mage retrieved it with a nod of acknowledgement and decided, optimistically, to treat it’s return as a sign of respect for a fellow mage rather than a rejection of the gift.

With the wand safely stored next to his own the mage joined an impatient Jr and together the pair headed for the Edge of the Blue along with the rest of their party, hoping through Jr’s portal network and then riding down through Gneidxick's portable hole on an elevator to the Casino. After brazenly walking past the cleaning crew who were picking up the mess they’d left the place in they made their way outside and found themselves on a lovely chain of islands they’d soon learn was called the Inkwell Isles. After hopping across a railway track that did not seem like it had anywhere to go on the island they found themselves in a lovely seaside town. A quick investigation of the place led them to conclude that it was not home to one of the guardians and, baring a junkyard Jr made a mental note of, lacking in anything really useful store or facilities wise.

Sticking with the rest of the group the Koopas found themselves down by the docks taking in the view when they, or rather Peach, was ambushed by another hooded figure dressed in leather robes like the Masters who decided it was his palace to start doling out questionable advice on how they should proceed despite their negative run-in with Gneidxick.

”Nobody is what you are, not who.” Kamek noted when the hooded figure speaking with Peach failed to divulge a name, unable to resit flaunting the knowledge he’d gained from the Master of Masters. The Nobody recommended they travel to the town across the water, help them fight some monsters and then to trick a number of its citizens into acting as bait for a sinister cruise ship.

Unsurprisingly, Peach and some of the other heroes voiced the fact that they were not too fond of the idea of using live bait for some kind of malevolent ghost ship. Kamek was mostly nonplussed by the suggestion, as using bait was classic bad guy stuff. He’d even acted as on at least one occasion by dressing up as peach to lure the Mario Bros down the wrong oath, but he could see the way the wind was blowing and decided against trying to convince the party to just use fools as bait. Instead, he decided to try and think o f ways to make the idea more palatable.

”If we were to try to lure the ship, then perhaps I may be off assistance. I may be able to devise a way to disguise individuals, either something more expendable or much more dangerous (the best kind of bite is the one that can bite back after all), as these, ah, repulsively described Guests. It would take some time to recall the correct spell of course, It would be the one used to disguise minions as Lord Bowser which we haven't used in quite some time, and then I would need to modify it to suit the correct appearance.” Though as the mage thought about it, the king would have fit the hunger bit of the gust’s description to a tee. It was, he thought, perhaps a very good thing the King had not come with them.

Jr meanwhile was equally as instances and the other party members, but not by the suggestion they use innocent bait, but rather about the idea of sneaking onboard ”Stow aboard like rats?! Yeah right, not happening. Either we storm this place and take it over or its not worth the effort of getting it to show up.”

“Mimi kyu kyu” the boy’s little ghost mon agreed from its perch on his shoulder, before flexing its noodle arms.

Jr grinned at his minion’s response before suggesting an alternative. ”Besides, if they're being plagued by sea monsters over there then there's plenty of way’s that’d let us make the trip ourselves. Either we absorb some sea-monster Spirits or we capture and tame some and use their powers to take to the sea” he said before patting Mimikyu’s pokeball where it was stored on his bandolier with one of his wrist horns for emphasis.

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 1,308 (+3)
Bowser: Level 7 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (27/80)
Location: The Dead Zone

Bowser insists on going first through the portal to the Deadzone, and that was probably for the best for everyone except the king himself, who wretched at the sight and smell of the Flood. His son and advisor, the king thought, had not been over exaggerating when they said how bad the place was when compared to the last two locations. Or, at least the outset of them. The king didn't really have time or inclination to examine the fact that horror seemed to have lurked around every corner since they left the delightful grounds of Peach’s castle, and instead focused on what was important. Namely not dying and clearing the way for the rest of the team.

As the gibbering hord of warped flesh began to charge the invader in their mist the king inhaled, and then let the fire flow. Bowser’s flame breath swept forwards across the front ranks of the incoming undead, flash frying the smaller faster multi legged once in an instant, their round bloated bodies bursting like flaming popcorn kernels. Bowser swept his flame breath across the foyer, cleansing it clean of the little runners as he drew in dark magic and increased further in size till he stood a head taller than even the largest of the abominations. It made him a very obvious target.

As Bowser’s flamethrower sputtered out due to the king having expelled his lung capacity in his opening attack those flood still capable of wielding weapons and who actually had them at hand began to return fire, bombarding the large and obvious target of Bowser with an inaccurate hail of small arms fire.

”Gahhh!” the king roared in pain as a bullet stabbed into his face, perilously close to his eyes. He brought his mecha-mit up to shield himself, the small orange shield allowing him to withstand the onslaught for a few moments longer. His suit, so recently patched up by Sectonia’s ant minions, had no such luck as it began to be perforated by their gunfire.

”GET IN HERE AND HELP” Bowser called back as larger masses of flesh closed the distance, trampling the scorched bodies of its allies as they went. With a hammer of his fist the king struck forth, scaled fingers crunching into the torso of the first of the monsters with a massive secondary clawed hand growing over its first, sending it flying backwards, its crippled body colliding with several others, sending them all sprawling. Then he grabbed another up in front of him to further act as a shield, only for its still writhing form to launch disgusting feelers from where its head had once been, attempting to infect him with its taint even as the other combat form’s weapons tore into it’s back to shreds. The king hurled it aside before kicking another with his steel capped boots. Yet even with his devastating blows the swarm were numerous, and before he obliterated or burned them away their clawed hands slashed against his scales, leaving gashes and bruises in the softer flesh hidden below.

Linkle was the fastest and most obvious of the squad entering the fray, her bombs and rapid fire crossbows tearing into the swarm, while her ice formed barriers to shield her from the infected’s fire. Between their aoe, the pair had put a significant dent into the first press of foes trying to reach them, but as the sound of battle echoed out into the dead zone, it drew more and stronger foes towards them from inside and out. A titan of flood power had lumbered into the fight, its massive tentacles smashing a hole in Linkle’s ice wall and refused to go down even as its lesser allies fell around it as they tried to swarm the breach.

Bowser moved to assist, taking a short run up, shoving combat forms aside with his weight, before diving forwards onto his belly and retracting his arms and legs inside his shell. Spinning like a top, the spiked turtle shell plowed through several lesser minions before colliding with the tentacled beast, smashing it backwards and into the wall of the building. The wall cracked with the force of the impact, but the beast was still intact, even as it batted the spinning shell away, but it was clear of the ice wall. For now.

Uncontrollably, the king spun on, leaving a trail of devastation as he plowed through the lobby till, eventually he came to a stop next to a doorway. He popped back to his feet and almost immediately let loose another gout of flame, incinerating yet more flood fodder with his fire.

Surprisingly, it wasn't just the Red Team who came to back him up, but also another mysterious hooded figure akin to the Master of Master and the former King Dice who came in and flash froze a flaming zombie in time before complaining they were late. The team had their hands full, and Bowser was done wasting breath when it could be used for frying their foes.

Suddenly, steam filled the air. A torrent of putrid water struck the king’s flames, extinguishing several flood forms and forcing the flames back, before punching through the king’s fury breath, hitting him in the mouth. The king gagged and coughed, cutting off his attack as he tried to block the water. Then when it died he growled, trying to identify the source. Said source charged right at him, firing concentrated streams of water from it’s shoulder mounted cannons as it did so. It was a hulking, if smaller than him turtle, flood forms extending from its slack mouth, unable to push its rigid scaled head aside. The infected Blastoise cleaved at him with massive oversized claws growing on its remaining hand. Bowser turned his back to the side, blocking its blow with his own shell, before driving his own mecha-mit claws into the creature.

Something about the turtles constitution seemed to shrug off the heat damage of the weapon and, worse, Bowser now saw that the infected pokemon wasn't alone, as a writhing mass of tentacles pulled themselves through one of the tower’s doorways right beside him, ripping the hinges aside as it forced its bloated head into the room. As Bowser tried to fend off the Blastoise the Tentacrule, flood tendrils poking out of a missing eye, grappled him, dragging its massive lower pincer towards him, locking the colossal jaw around his shell before beginning to crush the thoroughly trapped turtle like a nut in a nutcracker.

”GAAAAH!” Bowser roared with fiery rage, yet as his flames licked at the giant squid it seemed to be as ineffective as the mecha-mit had been on the other undead water Pokemon. As to add insult to injury a muscled human flood dressed in a sailor’s uniform joined the battle, the dead trainer clawing at the king alongside his infected Pokemon.

”MINIONS! HELP ME!” Bowser roared, summoning every striker he had. Mallet, Sledge and Heel all appeared inside the writhing scrum and were immediately waylaid by tentacles that wrapped around them. The two hammer bros and the Rabbid supporter did not go down easily however, hurling hammers and bombs at the Tentacruel, causing it to loosen its grip just enough for Bowser to free an arm and punch it hard in its missing eye where the flood core lived, while Carri the Trowlon swooped under the Sailor, hauling them into the air and slamming them into the ceiling, pinning him there and drawing the Ire of the Blastoise.

The turtle disengaged to chase after the Trowlon, blasting it with a hydropump, destroying it and causing it to drop the infected trainer to the ground while the Tentacruel was smashed away from Bowser by his desperate blow. Bowser was free, but was deeply wounded, cracks marring his shell and both the fire resistant flood were still at large.

”Blazermate! Heal me!” the king demanded loudly, failing to hide the pain in his voice as he pushed himself to his feet to face the flood closing in on him.

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 4,008 (+3)
Bowser: Level 7 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (24/80)
Bowser Jr: Level 6 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (97/60)
Kamek: Level 6 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (32/70)
Location: Smash City Alcamoth

And Introducing
Midna
wordcount: 800 +2
level 1 EXP: //////////// (2/10)

”GAHAHAH, CLASSIC WALUIGI“ Bowser replied when told about the shifty gent in question’s behavior. A couple of the others actually introduced themselves to the princess while Daxter went about petting Isabell like the adorable dog she was, leaving her somewhat flustered but not enough to stop her announcing that there’d be a meeting in an hour about relaying the state of the world to the other smashers, leaving the team sixty minutes to kill.

As some of the others wandered off to explore the rest of the complex the king and his resting advisor remained in the lobby waiting for Jr to get back. The boy returned fairly quickly, complaining about the lack of any kind of concrete reward for the final quest other than the admiration of the town (which he admittedly seemed pretty pleased about receiving even as he whined about it). After they’d caught Jr up on the plan the troop had a brief poke around the city to doubly confirm that the building was indeed the safe-haven it seemed to be they felt safe enough to go exploring the city.

Of course, in a city filled with smashers, conflict was never far away.

---

“Mimi!” Mimikyu squealed, before hiding behind Jr’s head. The boy had been roaming the halls on foot, with the mascot mimicking mon riding his shoulder as she now so often did, when something had spooked the soft spook.

”Huh? What?” Jr glanced around in alarm, but couldn’t spot anything unusual in the area, just a few people hanging around discussing the circulating news about their newly arrived team and the meeting that had been called as a result of their arrival. Or at least that’s what Jr assumed they were talking about. The main group in the area were all pokemon, so it was hard to tell.

”I don’t see anything. What's the matter with you?” Jr asked Mimikyu belligerently, and received a tentatively pointed finger slinking past his vision and indicating to the head of the poke-gang. The one, the only, the most iconic Pokemon of them all. Pikachu. The electric rodent was sitting casually on a park bench and was speaking, unintelligibly to Jr, with Jigglypuff and a few others.

”What. Pikachu? What about them?” jr asked as he turned around to face her, the mon scooting round him to avoid coming into line of sight of the mascot before jumping down onto Jr’s hand once he was looking directly away from the group of mon.

Mimiktu was the picture of nervousness, or as much of one as a ghost hiding under a homemade Pikachu doll could be.

“Mimi, kyu kyu mi kyuyu” the mon tried to explain incomprehensibly

”What, are you scared of them?”

“Kyu kyu” Mimikyu replied, unclearly communicating a mixture of confirmation and rebuttal of that statement.

”Uh.... Well. want to leave?” he asked, to which Mimi resolutely shook her head, before peaking round him to look at Pikachu again before flinching away when he seemed to look her way

Jr frowned at this, then rolled his eyes. ”You’re being weird. We’re just going to go talk to him now Ok, so you can stop being weird about this” Jr told her, before turning and striding towards the Pokemon and calling out ”Hey Pikachu!”

Mimikyu panicked, but, not wanting to look like a coward or a fool now that Jr had gotten the attention of the group she sat stock still on Jr’s palm as she was brought closer.

”Hey, uh, little guy. Cool to see you.” he said, earning a little wave and a “pika” from the mon before he introduced his own ”This is Mimikyu, say hi Mimi”

Mimi looked at Pikachu sheepishly. She had earned a few strange looks from the other mon for both her mimicking outfit and Spaak modifications warping her form, but the famous Pokemon took the entire situation in stride, smiling warmly at her and even holding out a paw to shake in greeting.

Mimikyu reached out a hand to shake the legend’s paw, but failed to maintain any semblance of control over the stretched limb. The over eager noodle-arm rushed the distance separating them, overshot the mon’s own outstretched paw and smacked Pikachu straight in the face.

A look of shock crossed ever-mons face, including Mimikyu’s own. Before she could recover or attempt an apology Pikachu wiped off their own shocked expression and nodded seriously.

And it was this way that Mimkyu found herself facing off against the living legend in a smash arena.

---

“Oh wow, this is so exciting” jabbered the young shorts wearing boy who had ended up being the one who would referee the upcoming match, “you know I’m a trainer too. I’ve been wanting to have my Rattata compete on one of these stages, but I always get turned down when I ask for a match. I think they're all worried I’ll show them up. See, my Rattata like, in the top-”

”Oh would you just stop talking and start them already!” Jr barked back at the boy, who’s name was Joey. The two of them were standing in a spectator stand overlooking a large and for the moment empty room where the bout would be taking place.

“Ok ok. Sorry jeez,” the boy replied before heading for the controls of the room, “Touchy much?

The other mon Pikachu had been speaking with were scattered among a few spectator balconies along with a few others who’d heard of the fight, including, Kamek, Bowser (which was half of what was giving Jr nerves) and an intense looking Pokemon trainer clad in red (who was the other half).

While his father wasn’t actually doing anything to deserve Jr’s unfounded fear of disappointing him (after waving and yelling some supportive words down at him the king had spent the setup period lounging on a large chair eating a pizza he’d gotten from somewhere) the trainer in red had only ever taken his unnerving gaze off of jr to look down at the combatants.

Mimikyu and Pikachu stood a few meters apart, the mascot waving at his fans and stretching while the mimic looked like she was trying to hide under their cloth disguise even harder than she normally did. She didn’t have to stew in her embarrassment for much longer however, as Jr’s snapping at the ref had finally got the chatty boy to fire up the stage. Various machines around the darkroom fired up, forming first a softly white shimmering bounding box and then pulling the stage into existence.

Rising up into existence out of the floor, the pokemon stadium ascended, raising the two mon into the air atop it till it hung above the floor in perfect view of the onlookers and, of course, of Jr, who gripped the banisters of the referee box as the ref stepped forwards to start the match.

“Alright. Let’s start this thing!” the Joey called out, getting everyone’s attention before beginning a count down.

“3”

”You can do it Mimikyu! Don’t let me down!”

“2”

Mimikyu had been busy regretting basically their entire life up until this moment, but Jr’s yelling brought her focus back to the room just in the nick of time.

“1”

The trainer in red nodded at Pikachu as the mon squared up to fight

“Go!”

Pikachu burst off of the metaphorical starting block with frightening speed, a streak of yellow racing across the artificial grass as they charged the startled Mimikyu. She lashed out in response with her noodley shadow arms, trying to block more than she was trying to strike her incoming opponent. With peerless skill Pikachu dodged over the first limb, and then under the second, breaking past her guard in seconds. He skidded to a halt before her, leaving her staring at him with panic for what felt like a moment frozen eternity before Piachu’s paw came down and slapped Mimikyu’s face. Her actual face, not the false decoy sat atop her body.

She blinked in surprise, stunned by the move and lack of follow up.

“Pika” the mon said, smiling with surprise warmth before making a come at me action.

They were even now, Mimikyu realized, everything else after this was just for show. Saving face. An accident turned into a show of bravado. Mimikyu felt her embarrassment die, nodded and furrowed her brows as she properly got into the swing of things. She quickly reeled her long limbs that had fallen to the ground back in trying to grapple Pikachu, only for the mon to quick attack upwards, escaping her bind. She looked up, seeing him hanging there with an energetic smile before he dashed away again to land back at his starting point.

Now the fight could begin for real. Nothing on the line, just the thrill of battle that burned within the hearts of all Pokemon.

Pikachu came in again, but instead of panic and sit in place Mimi moved, grappling an arm up to one of the floating platforms hovering above the stage, swinging themselves upwards. Her hand sunk into the platform as she landed atop it, stretching her shadow out in the process. It raced forwards towards Pikachu, dashing under him as he turned towards her escape route and then rising up as a shadowy copy of her that lashed out with its own dark claws.

Pikachu darted to and fro, dodging claw after claw and gaining only the smallest grazes as a result before electricity sparked from their cheeks and he hurled a ball of lightning up at Mimikyu, forcing her to move and dispel the shadow sneak. She hit the ground running, or scooting, but Pikachu was right on her tail, getting in close again despite her best efforts at warding him off. She backpedaled, bringing her tail stick up to block his own tail swipe while driving her other claw up in an arch and then down at him, trying to spike him with strikes from above. Pika narrowly dodged to the side of this swipe before driving his head forwards in a skull bash, the impact launching her towards the edge of the stage.

She hit the ground but rolled back to her feet as pikachu came at her again. The melee that would likely have played out the same again was changed as the stage suddenly began to morph, flat artificial grass turning to hard stone that rose into the sky, transforming the stage into a tableau of a quarry. Mimi was raised into the sky, while Pikachu was left at the bottom with a series of platforms they would need to traverse to reach her.

Or so she thought. Instead the mon launched a barrage of sparks at the cliff face, each electric ball striking the ground and then bouncing forward, and upwards, the lightning racing up the mountain towards her. She dodged to and fro to avoid them but Pickachu wasn’t done with such puny sparks and instead brought the thunder. With a cry from the electric mouse a stormcloud formed above them both, down from which a bolt of pure lightning hurtled, its impact obliterating the mountain top as Mimikyu half jumped and half was thrown from atop it towards the center of the stage.

Rather than plummet down into pummeling range she grappled to a steel platform, swinging over and then under it, coming back into vision of Pikachu while charging an electroball. She hurled it at the surprised Pikachu, who took almost the full brunt of the shock attack and vanished beneath a shower of dust.

“Oh wow! I didn’t think Mimikyus could learn that move. Or any electric moves.” Joey shouted excitedly.

”Yeah? Well mine’s special.” Jr gloated as he grinned down at the stage

“Shame it’s not very effective though.” Joey said, right before Pikachu dashed out of the dust cloud, quick attacking left, then right and winding right next to a bamboozled Mimikyu before delivering a kick to her face. Mimikyu fell from the steel platform right as the stage morphed again back to its flat grassy field.

She picked herself back up, tiring but ready to fight back, as Pikachu kicked things into high gear, using quick attack to circle round her in 6 point dashes, looking for openings to strike. She was unable to keep up, and once he was sure of this Pikachu started harrying Mimikyu, darting in to strike with foot, paw or tail before darting away again. Mimi cried out as she was struck again and again, and her clawing, shadow sneaking and electro-balls all failing to strike back at the fast moving mon.

Practically crushing the banister under his claws as he tried to keep up with the action Jr called out ”Stop letting him walk all over you! Use copycat! see how he likes it!”

For a moment it looked like she hadn't heard as she was struck again in the back, but when Pikachu darted away again, Mimikyu suddenly lurched off in the opposite direction. Pickachu paused for a moment at the end of that dash, helpful giving her just enough time to re-orientate herself, before a lightning fast battle commenced. Every dash Pikachu made, Mimikyu copied, the two dancing around each other in near perfect unison, darting in to exchange flurries of blows before darting back out to resume circling. It looked like it was going to be a stalemate or at least an endurance match, Pikachu having a slight advantage in always making the first move, but Mimi’s range advantage let her keep up with her opponent. This all changed when the stage started to morph once again. Fans opened up beneath them, hurling both fighters skywards for an arial battle

Mimi gripped the edge of her doll disguise, clinging to it so that it wouldn’t be blown off her cloud like body. Neither of the lightweight mon was able to maneuver very well in the billowing winds, but here Mimi had the advantage, her long limbs and electro balls far better at crossing the open air between them and warding Pikachu away from her, preventing him from getting stuck in in melee where he had the advantage. Pikachu attempted to get close, paddling through the air slowly, but was repeatedly slapped or shocked away. He glanced to the side at the man at red and, after a silent communication, began to rapidly charge themselves with electricity.

”No No No!” Jr panicked, recognizing the attack as a Volt Tackle. Even if by the looks of things the attack wasn’t going to be anywhere close to the final smash powered shock, Jr knew how dangerous the fast moving shock attack could be. ”Quick, Copycat again!” He called out in a panic, hoping she could match him dash for dash like she had with quick attack.

“Mimik!” the ghost cried out in response and began to charge with power too.

The two mon finished charging mere moments later, and around the two spheres of electricity flared. Though weaker than the final smash fueled variant, the two powerful electric attacks still coursed with destructive energy, raring to be unleashed. Without a moment's hesitation the two rammed at each other with joyfully determined looks on their faces, the two balls crashing together. Electricity to spark around the room, causing the lights and even the hard light stage itself to flicker as lighting raced through the metal fans covering its floor. They zoomed apart after a moment and then came racing back in and slammed together again, and then again and again before drew back again for one final head on blow

The two spheres of power sparked in a crescendo of power, and then the stage died beneath them, shorted out by the climactic final clash of their roaring electrical discharges. The pair’s charges died a moment later, causing them to sail lighting free through the short distance between them before mundanely bumping into one another. With the light show cleared, it was clear who had come out worst off from the battle.

Lightly smoking, Mimikyu had suffered greatly from Piachu’s electric type synergy with the move, while the mon himself had resisted the worst of her own tackle’s damage thanks to that same typing. In the end, that final collision was too much for her, causing her to faint and they bumped into one another. While this might make Pikachu the winner, the now rather large drop below them threatened to put a damper on that victory. He grabbed Mimikyu as she started to fall, intending to try and protect her from the fall as best he could, but instead her cloud-like body softened his own descent, slowing it enough that Jiggly puff could get into position to act as a crash-mat. Pikachu bounced off of the balloon like Pokemon and then landed on his feet on the ground just as Jr came running, having jumped down from the balcony as soon as he saw Mimi falling.

Picakchu held Mimikyu up for Jr to retrieve, giving him an approving nod as a judge of her performance as the boy, both concerned and frustrated at having, indirectly, lost to him, snatched her from his hands. Holding Mimikyu close, Jr glared at Pikachu, saddening the mon’s expression, before turning and fleeing, the gaze of the trainer in red following him as he fled.

Jr scurried to Lumbridge's Pokémon Center, protecting the exhausted and fainted Pokémon from further harm.

---

Mimikyu awoke in a place unfamiliar to her, but that would have been a familiar sight to many of her kind. The warmly lit beige and red walls of the Lumbridge Pokemon center greeted her as she blinked her eyes and the events that had led her to be unconscious came back to her. First embarrassment and then excitement flashed across her expression, before she suddenly became concerned and glanced to and fro cautiously till she found Jr looking down at her, along with his elders.

”See, she’s fine. Tough little minion you’ve got there Jr“ Bowser told his son while ruffling the boy’s hair.

The prince bore the gesture with a mix of embarrassment and affection, but once it was over a complicated expression came across his face that worried Mimikyu.

”We’d best be going if we want to get a set of seats of the meeting Sire. We’ll go ahead, but make sure to not be a late young master.” Kamek said, giving Jr a look, before hoping down from the stool he had been seated on and heading for the door with Bowser, leaving Jr and Mimikyu alone at the little table in the corner of the center that Jr’d brought Mimikyu out onto after healing her at the main desk.

”So.” Jr said, before pausing for a long drawn out moment before finding his words, ”You lost, and you made me look bad,” Jr said, causing Mimikyu to shrink down under his gaze before he continued ”But… I’ve been there. A lot. There's this plumber called Mario, and Pikachu’s kinda like your Mario I guess? We’ll get stronger, and then beat him next time, ok?”

The boy held out a hand. Mimikyu, lacking the context or the words to explain how fighting her idol had not been the plan and that the situation had nothing in common to the koopa’s constant battle against the Italian plumber, nodded enthusiastically, then hopped onto Jr’s hand to be raised back up to her regular spot on his shoulder. One thing Jr had said rang true however. She would get stronger.

Together, the two hurried after and caught up with the rest of the troop, before the four of them headed for the meeting in smash city, regaling Mimikyu with tails of their misadventures battling against the Red clad plumber.

---

For the Troop more or less everything in the meeting was old hat. Baring some quiet grumbling about the unsurprising rejection of the idea of forming an army in favor of the traditional heroic party and Kamek being called up to put their map on display there was little for them to add till it came to choosing a place to go.

For another however, all this was new and yet also also familiar.

Same song, different songstress Midna thought for herself as the Princess told them about what had happened to the world. It was Cia all over again, though this time it was different worlds rather than different times. Like a certain dancer, Midna had little interest in sitting idly in the reserves. She had a kingdom to reclaim and a people to lead. So she hitched a ride in Primrose’s shadow once she spotted that she was one of the people going down to the front table where discussion of deployments were ongoing.

Though she’d only meant to ride her coattails to the front desk to learn about where the heroes were heading out, but she stuck around long enough to listen in to her talk with the self proclaimed Master of Masters. The hooded figure and her chosen chauffeur discussed the magic involved with Spirits with far more depth than the short briefing he’d given to the general audience. It was unsurprising that there was more to learn, she imagined those without any magical aptitude would find the extended details a bore. To both the dancer and her shadow however, it was an interesting set of extra details. The ability to cheat death and the battle of spirits that resulted from a fusion. The cursed princess was certainly considering the prospects of being able to use this feature of the warped world both as a way to gain power and, perhaps, to reduce the indignity of her impified form by taking on the spirits of those with more dignified shapes. She’d never get her true one back, that would require taking the spirits of her own, and that was abhorrent, but an approximation could perhaps be achieved or at least something less fragile.

As for the rest of the Master’s words, his ability was interesting and offered up some philosophical questions on the nature of time, but it was his last two comments that he offered that struck Midna almost as hard as it did his intended target, though for very different reasons.

The dead coming back for Midna was nothing but trouble. It had happened before and the prospects of a repeat of the return of Zant and Gannon did not bode well. As for the Confessor, well, the knowledge of him and the presence of a Link among the party raised some prospects that she wasn't sure she wanted to consider. She had made her peace with her decision, and yet this place now offered temptations she did not know how to process. She was trying to sort through these feelings in the dark when the dancer joined the line for the counter. To distract herself she listened into the babbling of the group behind her, which consisted of a curious collection of humanoid turtles discussing where they’d go.

”How about the dead zone?” Bowser was asking

”Pass. That place is nasty” Jr said, while Kamek agreed ”I concur. It was quite a brutal place. Full of demons, eternal darkness and hordes of undead. I would not recommend it.”

”So the toughest place then? The one that needs the toughest guy to take on?” Bowser replied

”Perhaps, but how about this windswept desert?” Kamek instead suggested

”Sounds like a pain too.” Jr interjected ”Sand everywhere, it’d gum up my car. The Blue seems like the best one. It was nice looking, least from the casino. You can go wherever you want, I’m going there”

”Then so shall I” Kamek concluded as soon as Jr had made his decision before looking over at Bowser, wondering what the King would decide ”Sire?”

”Hmmm” The king said, scratching his chin and clearly undecided.

Midna took her focus away again when the dancer reached the end of the nine, and was surprised to hear her leave a list of names instead of attempting to forcibly sign up to a mission like the gang of masked teens had done. Still, a shadow tells more than some would like to let on. A fixation on a spot on the map told her all she needed to know. Midna gambled on her intuition being correct and it seemed to pay off as the Dancer left the hall to find a spot close to the exit to wait. It was perfect. Either she could ride her into the desert party or she could jump ship if the dancer failed to live up to her expectations.

Into The Depths!

Ioxeia left her father’s clinic behind and headed deeper into the city, the familiar sun beating down on her to no avail. Even if she had had no idea where to go, the currents of the city’s people were telling enough as they flooded towards the center. She walked in their mists, carefully weaving her small frame between soldiers, spectators and the blessed few. Her distinctive apparel drew looks of confusion and derision from some who noticed her, but also, rarely, a thankful nod or gesture from someone who’s life or loved one had been saved by her order. She held those looks of thanks in her heart as the trepidation mounted the closer she got to her destination.

And then all of a sudden, she was there. Ioxeia skirted past the front-line of the civilians who had come to watch the spectacle and was able to see it for herself. The blessed. Hundreds of them. From every walk of life and from all across the known world. To Ioxia it was a glorious sight to behold, one that drove down her fear and smothered it with awe. Yet even this paled in comparison to what came next.

After she quickly joined the ranks the speaker announced their purpose here, to descend, and then announced those who would be leading them down into the depths. Ten shining knights stepped forwards onto the podium and each was boldly announced in turn. It was, as a nearby gifted in priestly attire put it, quite the spectacle. Others might have seen through the display, but it had the intended effect upon Ioxeia, lifting her spirits so soon after the dread spiked by the mention of the descent. Those spirits slowly cooled once more however, as the long list of 300 names where slowly read out, the numbers of gifted still standing around her dwindling and dwindling till, at last, it was just her and 8 others standing before the announcer while the other 300 began to be lead away towards the castle.

Under the gaze of the onlooking civilians Ioxeia refused to let her concern or confusion show. A doctor, she reminded herself, must remain calm and appear in complete control of the situation, lest the scare or alarm the patient. She stood up straight and forced herself to patiently wait for an explanation.

Fortunately the 8 of them weren't left to stew for too long, as they were soon joined by their Sargent. The 11th. His late arrival or mockery by the announcer didn’t give the best first impression. He quickly led them away to what in retrospect seemed to be a hidden away part of the castle and then turned to explain himself.

He was new to his role, they were to be the first to truly enter the abyss, they would be doing so in less than a month and their mission was to be top secret. It was a lot for Ioxeia to process. The final question, however, needed no consideration.

“As the Lord wills, so it shall be. I am with you and you have my word as a doctor that I will uphold the confidentiality of this mission.” she said, with a bow of her head. She had to bite her tongue to resist the urge to bombard the Sergeant with more questions than he was already getting.

World of Light

Midna, from the legend of Zelda series (assist trophy)
Pikachu, from Pokemon red and blue (fighter)

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 1,431 (+3)
Bowser: Level 7 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (21/80)
Bowser Jr: Level 6 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (94/60)
Kamek: Level 6 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (26/70)
Location: the Land of Adventure - central island of The End

Once the temporary rest stop was set up numerous people took the opportunity to take a breather by the fire and fill their bellies, no doubt the cozy campfire was a welcome respite after the hard fought series of battles that had taken up their afternoon. Tora, Geralt, the hat wearing kid and more all took a sausage or two, and by the looks on some of their faces it was like nothing they’d ever eaten before. The standout, however, was Cuphead, who somehow managed to pile 12 of the processed meat tubes onto a single stick, along with an equal number of marshmallows, and then even more absurdly proceeded to eat them all in a single mind boggling gulp.

”What? How?” jr had to ask after the cartoonish display of gluttony took place. It was unsurprising that, after Cuphead’s stunt, they rapidly ran out of hotdogs, much to Bowser’s chagrin.

”got any-” he began to ask jr, who shook his head to indicate the complete absence of any more hot dogs ”ugh. Wells we’re gonna have to get the cars back at some point then. Somehow.”

They were also joined by Jigglypuff. The explosive nightmare puffball started singing almost as soon as it got to them, and had to be distracted via (pink) pokepuff and a bunch of marshmallows to stop it from knocking everyone out. Or at least that is what Jr assumed it was trying to do before he lobbed the cupcake straight at the demon’s noise hole.

Meanwhile the other two smash scouts, or rather mainly just Falco, chatted with peach and fox, although when called out by the king to join his army the bravado filled bird was having none of it and proceeded to bad mouth the king’s armies in response.

”YOU TAKE THAT BACK, MY ARMY IS GREAT!” Bowser yelled back as he lurched to his feet looking pumped and ready for a fight. Fortunately for everyone he was distracted from cursing out and possibly attacking the bird brained hot shot who kept needing his tail tailfeathers saved by Sectonia’s cleanup crew. The ant minions, who where either completely nonplussed by or totally ignorant of the fate of their larger comrades who had been left to fall into the ocean along with the island, certainly had their work cut out with Bowser. The king’s suit was a wreck and there haven't exactly been any access to giant turtle sized bathing equipment since the start of the adventure. Like Tora, the King showed zero shame about the fact that he was removing all his clothing.

”YEAH WEARING CLOTHES ALL THE TIME IS WEIRD AND UNCOMFORTABLE. I DON’T GET IT AT ALL” Bowser added to the fluffy mechanics comments while enjoying the scale polishing, earning a betrayed look from an almost unrecognizable de-robed Kamek. While the mage had not taken much of a beating, the old wizard’s robes definitely appreciated the laundering. The only real complaint about the actual scrub down was jr, who moaned about being washed and almost immediately undid the ant’s hard work by digginging back into the guts of his mini clown car, having taken copious amounts of the dispenser’s scrap to facilitate the final set of repairs the vehicle needed to become operable again.

Eventually however, the time for relaxation and repair came to an end when a massive dragon suddenly appeared on the horizon, heading straight for them. The troop, along with others, scrambled into a fighting position, but thanks to Falco’s falcon eyes it was quickly sussed out that they were not about to have to throw down with yet another dragon, and instead the imposing beast was humbly playing taxi for the fallen Euden and an enthusiastic newcomer. Sakura introduced herself as such and proceeded to oogle the ever living heck out of everyone in the group before asking who was in charge.

”WELCOME TO THE WINNING TEAM LITTLE LADY. I LIKE YOUR ENTHUSIASM. I’M KING BOWSER AND I’M THE BOSS OF THIS AWESOME ARMY” Bowser greeted and introduced himself to Sakura, 100% fitting the warning Geralt had given her (which Bowser had fortunately not overheard), before turning to Falco and asking ”WHY CANT YOU BE MORE LIKE HER HUH? I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO ASK OR PUT OUT JOB ADVERTISEMENTS AND SHE’S ALREADY COME RUNNING TO SIGN UP.”

After the reunion, introduction and discovery that their other losses where still stuck back at Lumbridge plans were made to head for the Smash building, which Bowser had to have pointed out to him before he claimed that going there had been his idea all along. Plans were also made to loop back to town once via setting up some fast travel once they were there, which jr agreed to do. Kamek meanwhile was silently affronted by the fact that Peach apparently didn’t know his name.

The troop set off towards the smash building, following along after Falco and using multiple teleport pads to warp themselves from island to island, turning what would have been quite the distance to trek into a relatively relaxed stroll. Or drive in Jr’s case.

Once they got to the tower it turned out to be a lot more spacious than it had looked from a distance. It put the old stadium to shame, eliciting an impressed whistle from Bowser, ”Nice place. Really moved up in the world huh.”

Falco led the party up to the front desk where they found the diminutive Isabella dogging the front desk. After a brief conversion, the assistant began making phone calls about a meeting Falco was wanting to have about the news about the world that they were bringing, leaving the troop with some time to kill.

Their arrival had caught the attention of few of the people who had been hanging around the atrium as they arrived. Four of them ambled over and one, Zelda, introduced herself to the group.

”YEAH HEY PRINCESS” Bowser replied dismissively before yelling at the lanky fellow loitering behind her and the ice climbers ”HEY WEEGEE. YEAH, I SEE YOU SKULKING BACK THERE. THEY LET YOU INTO THE BIG LEAGUES THIS TIME?”

While Bowser got to ‘talking’ Jr had work to do. Parking his car and leaving it in the care of Kamek, who took this as an excuse to sit down again, he got to work setting up the portal network they needed.

”Alright Lumbridge here we come. Just gonna stop by peach’s castle first though. Trust me, this stuff works way better when you have a hub level.” Jr announced before walking right back out the door and finding an inconspicuous place on the tower. Once there he brandished his paintbrush and painted a large stylized M with two umlauts on top onto the wall with it. For a moment it looked just like the usual pink-yellow-orange goop mess the brush left, but then it suddenly began to glow and the mess of colors seemed to clear and deepen, showing a scrolling view of Peach's castle within the M.

”Now you just gotta touch it and-” he said, before pressing a hand to the surface of the paint. Upon doing so the Koopa seems to dissolve into a myriad of mono colored spheres which hung in the air for just a moment, still representing his general shape and appearance, before they broke apart and raced into the artwork.

Miles away, right in front of Peaches castles these small spheres suddenly appeared, rapidly racing together again to reform jr into a solid state before the reformed boy dropped a few feet down onto the path leading to the castle's main entrance. Anyone who took the time to examine the portal after jr had headed in would be able to watch as he walked a little ways away from the landing spot and waited for the others to arrive.

Once they did he headed towards the castle’s foyer and, much to the displeasure of a toad who had been in the middle of cleaning it, painted two more warp M’s, one lending to Lumbridge and one back to the Alcamoth smash arena. Finally, he warped through to Lumbridge, the portal depositing them just before the entrance to the town, before heading to the statue that had been erected in honor of their defeating of the Brachydios and added a painting leading back to Peach’s castle.

His work done the boy dusted off his hands, ignored any complaints about his vandalism and headed for the Guild hall to make sure the Courier did not run hightail it out of town with their spoils.

Into The Depths!

Unlike some of the other pilgrimage recruits, Ioxeia had not had far to travel to reach the city that sat on the edge of hell. The monastery she had called home since the last crusade had ended was only a half day’s travel under the blistering sun away from the city, having been founded there to care for the sick and wounded away from the profane stench of the city and to create a space of spiritual purity nearby. Despite this, when she laid her green lens covered eyes upon the walls of Zion that day, it was the first time she had seen the city in years. Back then it had only just begun raising its walls, battlements and garrisons. Now it stood tall before her. It was a symbol of the indomitable human spirit, yet within its walls lay the darkness and corruption of the underworld from which the forces of darkness were always trying to escape in ways both brutally blunt and insidiously cunning.

The young doctor could not help marvel at the sights and sounds of the bustling city, her eyes darting to and fro, drinking in every new sight as her ears picked up every new sound. Her nose, however, smelled nothing but the floral scents held within her beak like mask. The pleasant scents were a reminder: there was corruption here, both insidious and bold. The fact that the guards could call someone a demon as a joke (a joke! Someone as pure and devoted as she!) was a brazen reminder of that fact, which hung with her as she moved through the wondrous streets.

As much as the sights distracted, Ioxiea did not wander aimlessly and instead drove forth through the city streets with a purpose. She had directions, and she followed them to the letter. Through twists and turns she strode till she found herself before she found one of the city's healing houses. Pushing her way inside she entered into the clinic, and found its insides to be suffused with a faint mist, as expected. Gaining directions from some of the nurses she walked though its halls, the mist swirling behind her as she passed in such a way that if you saw it out of the corner of your eye you might see the faint impression of an angel guarding her back, till she found who she was looking for.

The man she was looking for wore a garb similar to her own, but with a jackal mask in place of her corvid one, and was just finishing talking to a patient about the splint he’d set for them when she arrived. She patiently waited for him to finish, then got his attention with a knock on the door-frame

“Hello father”

The man started and spun round to look at her. When he saw her his eyes briefly lit up, “Ioxeia!” before concern immediately overtook the joy, “You're here... Does that mean?”

She nodded and confirmed “I have been blessed by the lord, and I am ready to do my part.”

A minute or so later the two had moved to Ioxeia’s father’s quarters to speak privately. The room was sealed, as best as it could be, and incense was lit, purifying the room and allowing her to remove her mask for the first time since she had approached the city, revealing the face of a worried but determined young woman that had been hidden behind it. Her father did too, and face to face they spoke for a while, catching up and talking about the future. About family. About commitments. About pointless comfortable things too. All too soon however, the voice in the sky boomed out and it was time to go.

“Ioxeia. Before you go...” he said as she stood to go obey the summons, but faltered before he could complete the sentence

“I’ll come back. I promise.” she swore, and then no more was said. They embraced and then she stepped away, donned the mask once more, and stepped back out into the halls of the hospital to head for the castle.

Her father watched another of his family go to meet their fate, the young woman marching through the mists with the specter of an angel at her side and a raven on her shoulder, and prayed this time that the promise they had made to him wouldn’t be a lie.

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 836 (+2)
Bowser: Level 7 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (18/80)
Bowser Jr: Level 6 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (91/60)
Kamek: Level 6 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (23/70)
Location: the Land of Adventure - central island of The End

Bowser level up: Fireball Mastery:

Bowser can alter the size of his fireballs on the fly. Smaller fireballs come out rapidly enough to act like a thin stream of flame which drop to the ground and then race along it, forcing foes to jump over them (similar to his shockwaves). Large fireballs can rival the kings own bulk and are able to blow through destructible obstacles like brick blocks but generally are only fired on their own

Kamek level up: mega magic missile:

Kamek and his empowered clones work together to perform a ritual that creates a large hovering orb of magic above them which, when fully charged, is hurled at the mage’s enemies. Has an incredibly blatant windup that can be disrupted by taking out one of the caster's clones, causing the spell to fizzle out harmlessly.

There were a few close calls, Poppie and Tora’s narrow escape was particularly narrow, but in the end everyone managed to get clear of the island before it smashed down into the water down below. After a bit of playing around on his summoned airboard Bowser led the team towards the closest piece of solid ground they could find which ironically turned out to also be a floating island. This one seems right at home in the area and showed no indication of obeying gravity any time soon however and so after a tentative touchdown they set about exploring this new location. Even Jr opted to land, although that was mostly out of fear that his rapid repair job might fall apart at any moment, resulting in the boy awkward hauling the car above his head till his father spared him the indignity and tucked the machine under his arm.

The star shaped island turned out to host somewhat unusual reef themed foliage, but was otherwise blessedly unremarkable. There were no land sharks or dangerous monsters of any description to be found, and so the Troop took the opportunity to take the load off their feet after the boss battle. Bowser tore up and thoroughly obliterated a corral like tree with his claws, reducing it to firewood which he tje piled up in the middle of the reef’s central clearing. With a brief burst of lame from his lips he lit it alight, creating a cozy campfire for them to relax around.

”Got anything for cooking on the fire left in there Jr?” the king asked his son after he’d started the fire up.

When asked Jr extracted himself from the guts of his clown car, where he’d been using the tool box he’d bartered for in Hammerhead to do some more mundane and finely detailed repairs to his battered machine and then took a look inside its storage compartment. It contained, alongside a few carrier bags of Bowser’s convenience store shopping, various items that he’d not had time to do anything with after they’d been acquired from various subsapce minions and road kill spirits. After tossing his father a bag of marshmallows and a packet of hotdogs he decided to do a quick spot of spring cleaning. First a small battery was used to replace the one on the absorption of a Spaak Spirit had left on Mimikyu's back. He wasn't sure if this helped in any way, but it felt right.

After that he headed over to the campfire and tossed the (Tough black shell and a burning, paraytic sting. Even in death the scorpion's lethal injecting days aren't over) he’d gotten on the road to their parking spot to the Cadet. ”Here! For your tail collection!” he told the dragon tail hauling warrior before sitting down by the fire and getting a hot dog on a stick to roast from his papa. Mimikyu, who’d been watching jr work with casual interest, joined them and got to roast a little marshmallow on a twig once shown by jr how to do so.

While the royals roasted meats and mellows over the fire their herbivorous advisor was investigating the Fire Materia he’d gotten back at the beginning of this mission. The bright green orb was clearly magical and so the mage was performing some casual preliminary investigations of the orb as he rested while sitting on the grass with the others. This generally involved gazing into it contemplatively for a long while before he unscrewed the red crystal orb from at top his magi-koopa wand and replacing it with the fire materia. ”Yes. I do believe that will do nicely” he said to himself as he tested running power though he orb, feeling the new magic thrumming within the wand but not actually unleashing it quite yet.

The next few minutes were a mix of refueling and mostly meaningless banter and boasting from Bowser and Jr about the roles they’d played in battle vs the dragon. It passed the time, cooled the nerves and allowed them to relax after what had been a set of very vicious encounters. It was, they knew, only going to get harder from here on out, now was not the tiem for such worries. Now was the time to celebrate being alive and overcoming the second of Galeem’s guardians.

The Troops' relaxation was briefly interrupted by the surprise (to them) appearance of three smashers, which Bowser recognised by face, if not name, as Falco, Jigglypuff and Ness, via teleporter platform. The Koopas tensed for a moment before spotting that the eyes of the new arrivals lacked the tell tale crimson glow that denoted Galeem’s influence, allowing them to return to relaxing.

”OH HEY. IT’S YOU LOT. AND YOU’RE FREE ALREADY THAT’S CONVENIENT. YOUR ALL PART OF MY ARMY FOR ROUND TWO AGAINST THE GLOWBALL NOW, GOT IT?” Called over to them as they approached, getting the necessities out of the way but leaving most of the actual talking to those more familiar with the newly arrived heroes.