DracoLunaris

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 770 (+2)
Bowser Jr: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (64/70)
Kamek: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (61/70)
Location: Edge of the Blue – Open Ocean

”She… She just jumped,” Jr said as they first heard and then saw Sakura’s descent, a ever so briefly dumbfounded by her decision.

”Heroes. They never change” Kamek sighed only for Jr to point out that ”You just do that though like two minutes ago”

”That was our battle to win, this is ours to lose” Kemek insisted. There wasn't time to go over the nuances of his actions, but he would certainly try and impose the wisdom of knowing when to pick your battles to the prince later.

”Yeah, well, we're still turning back” Jr told him. In fact he’d already started turning them back the moment he’d gotten over the surprise of the schoolgirl tossing herself out of the ship and down into the ocean.

As the ship turned in an arch and they had nothing but the sounds of battle to go on to tell how things where going, Geralt asked what they had on them to help him help her. They might all not be the pure hearted heroes that Sakura was, but there was no question among them about simply abandoning her down there now.

What they had was three toadies carrying spirits. There were the three in one spirit of the imps, the remains of the turret pile, and two of the simplistic machines that looked like torpedoes with teeth.

”Well you could absorb those” Kamek suggested, right before Ranger scooted into view of the bridge’s windows, plucked an abyssal spirit from the water and absorbed it, having quickly learned from Sakura’s example. The resulting transformation aptly demonstrated the ugly result that that option had in store.

”Or we could make weapons. I’m sure the one with the pile of cannons would produce something more powerful than that little pea shooter” he suggested instead

”Or if you wanna go bobbing for apples like the cooler looking ship-girl. Just slap this on and go for a swim. Bet with those funky eyes of yours spotted something even better down there” Jr said, holding up the blooper hood for a moment, which allowed the wearer to breath under water, with one hand while still steering them round with the other.

At the end of their turn Jr brought them to a halt again, side on to the battle (forcing them to cram into the very front of the bridge to actually see what was going on) and a further distance away this time. This brought the battle into view just in time for them to see the hooded figure who had advised them against this entire escapade in the first place to launch herself out of a portal to try and stab the princess in the chest with a vaguely familiar looking knife, before kicking her into a trio of abyssal ships the princess had brought in to aid her.

---

“Ah, and finally we come to a stop. Our new reptilian master doesn’t seem to know the first thing about sniping does he?” the old liver-spotted sniper said, releasing his death grip on the ruined railing as the ship slowed and then began to hover in place once again.

“-”

“Still don't want to talk?” the End asked his fellow sniper, before guessing “hmmm, or perhaps you can’t”

Quiet bobbed her head to one side to indicate that he was sort of correct and then lined up her shot. They were running out of time.

“I see,” the End replied, raising his tranquilizer rifle “Well, I’m sure we’ll have more times together in future. I’ll take the one which shares your fashion sense”

Quiet rolled her eyes and silently chose and lined up her own target, barely reacting to the sudden appearance of the member of the 13 and instead taking the chaos she inflicted in the ranks of their enemies as the perfect opportunity to take her shot.

Two triggers were pulled and then the snipers faded away.

---

Two shots sang out as the enemy formation went sprawling, one loud as thunder, the other quiet as the breeze. Quiet’s high caliber shot flew fast and true at one of the princess’s more armored escorts, while the End’s tranquilizer shot danced with the currents of the ocean air, gracefully sailing through the air, aimed at the sprawled form of Heavy Cruiser, aiming to bite into her plethora of exposed flesh and deliver its payload of tranquilizer.

The loud shot snapped Kamek’s attention away from simply watching the spectacle unfold. Sakura was closing in, preparing to go toe to toe with the monster that had so far shown itself to be able to annihilate anything it could hit in a single strike.

”Choose quickly” he told Geralt, stepping back from the console and heading for the back door while Jr gripped the controls tightly, frustrated about not being able to do anything but watch things unfold from a safe-ish distance.

World of Light

wordcount: 406 (+1)
Midna: level 2 EXP: //////////////////// (18/20)
Location: Sandswept Sky (desert): Vah Naboris at Lakeside

”Goddesses! That’s not good” Midna said, suddenly jerking upright from the relaxed pose she’d adopted after Primrose and her steed had headed off to the pyramid, leaving her and Tora to keep watch with the princess relaying what she saw to him as they sat together in the titan’s shadow. As far as Midna was concerned, had been going well over with the scouting team. With her lack of audio it wasn't clear exactly what was going on, but the conversation had looked to be going the yellow team’s way right up until someone fired a warning shot. That, at least, she definitely heard. As, undoubtedly, had Tora.

”No one is dead or hurt, but things have just gotten real dicey” She explained quickly to her ally. At the same time she impulsively reached for the magic that would allow her to re-summon her wolfos, only to stop herself before she could rip it away from the depths of the temple. Ripping the beast out from under Primrose was not a good move even if it would alert her to things going sour up top. The last thing she wanted was to accidentally drop the woman into a spiked pit or the like.

Instead she spurred Vah Naboris to life, the bright glow around its hooves flaring up and the beast taking a half step forwards in anticipation, primed to move in to assist. When Fox scattered the team to cover and Queen Sectonia began to race back towards them, the princess ordered the titan forwards and moved to intercept.

”Queen bee’s coming back and fast. Jumping to meet her, try to keep up!” she told Tora before vanishing from sight, leaving small square particles of darkness behind her, before reappearing in a burst of more particles in the shade of a palm tree beyond the shadow of the Divine Beast. From there she blinked to another shadow, and then another and another till she had moved so far ahead that Sectonia was almost on top of her.

The princess moved out from behind the rock she’d arrived at and into the light, shielding her eye from the harsh desert sun as she summoned her massive magical third arm from the back of her head to wave the queen down and shouting ”Down here! What went wrong!” up to her.

Behind her Vah Naboris had begun to stomp its way around the oasis, giant stone hooves kicking up a cloud of sand as it moved to get into lightning striking range the battlefield.

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 986 (+2)
Bowser Jr: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (62/70)
Kamek: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (59/70)
Location: Edge of the Blue – Open Ocean

Kamek’s aid saved the beleaguered ship girl, his white mage clone restoring her vitality while the red clones and the magikoopa himself bombarded the muscular ship with fire magic till it sunk beneath the waves. In comparison the green one’s fortifying spell was functionally useless as the girl was not struck again, though this was possibly for the best for everyone bu the green one's sense of self worth. While the battle was going on, Kamek’s toadies hovered about, fishing for spirits out of the water and attempting to avoid being eaten by stray shark minions.

”Glad to hear you’re alright miss” Kamek called down ”If it’s weaponry you lack, then might I suggest crushing the spirit of that ship I just killed?” he added, pointing towards where the muscular vessel‘s spirit was drifting down into the water. He was about to explain the ability to crush spirits in more detail when an explosion rocked the back of the Atomos. Jr and Geralt were buffeted by the tail end of the shockwave rolling in the still open back door while those on the back were rocked by the full force of the mortar. Primid’s were scattered and annihilated while the diminutive Mimikyu was sent blasting off through the air with a cry of “Miiiimiiiiiii!”

”Oh blast!” Kamek cried out in alarm, turning his broom and soaring upwards while directing the two red clones to attack the turret pile, aiding the two newly arrived ship-girls in taking it down. The mage meanwhile flew higher and snatched the light and cloud-like Mimikyu out of the air before she could be lost to the wind or sea. The little mon herself seemed unharmed, but her disguise had been busted by the attack. The ragdoll-like outfit was covered in soot and its ‘neck’ was broken which agitated the little creature greatly. It looked around angrily to find the culprit of its besmirched appearance and then, when it found and watched the turret pile get wrecked, became deftly shy and quickly ran to hide inside one of the pockets of Kamek’s robes.

”Oh dear. Don't worry. We can get it fixed up as soon as we get back.” The mage told the mon, whom he saw to be acting a bit like a shy guy who had lost or damaged its mask.

Inside the ship meanwhile Jr sighed in relief as he saw his minion was safe and then yelled down at the floor at Sakura to ”Close the freaking bay doors you’re going to get us all exploded!” as the girl tossed fireballs out of the open bay doors, unaware that she intended to block any bullets coming her way.

After a bit of helpful fireball bombardment from Sakura and the red mages the two ship girls had taken care of the turret pile and then they proceeded to speed over to Ranger(the aircraft carrier girl)’s side to warn her about a ‘water princess’ who had appeared among the enemy ranks and who had prompted a retreat by the ship-girl forces. Jr didn't have to be told to start leaving. All around them, the battle was ending, with the abyssal fleet clearly having won as their remaining forces harried the retreating ship-girls. Those in the airship’s impromptu escort wasn't exempt, as the airship’s hovering position on the outskirts of the battle rapidly became the center as the ship girl's line collapsed.

Kamek was already returning to ship when things went all the way south to Antarctica as what he was guessing was the water princess crashed in and smoked one of the newly arrived ship-girls before taking aim at the other one with a massive tail mounted maw cannon. The bespectacled ship girl in the line of fire seemed to have been utterly stunned by the sudden death of her comrade, forcing Ranger to rush forwards to try and save her. Kamek could see what was going to play out immediately, one ship would trade her life for the other, and there were a lot of calculations that could be made into how he should intervene if at all. Hatakaze was catatonic but still armed, he thought, while Ranger was a sunk cost who was more alert but she'd lost her weapon earlier in the conflict.

In the few moments Kamek had to make the decision of who should live and who should die Ranger covered the distance and shoved her ally aside, only to be herself pushed aside as well by the green clone that had (alongside the white mage) been sticking to her side like glue this whole time. Its limited mind felt a facsimile of joy to have finally been useful before it was promptly annihilated by the princess’s cannon tail shot.

”Distract it!” Kamek shouted, driving a finger towards the water princess, sending the two red clones to attack it while he simultaneously retreated. It was time to go. The red mages brandished a pair of stereotypical magician’s wands, black bars with white tips that Kamek had stolen from Hopus Pocus all the way back in the devil’s casino, and used them to call forth two spinning rings of rabbit skulls around the spot where the princess was hovering above the waves. They rotated around her for a moment before, with another flick of the clone’s wands, they began rapidly closing in on her.

Kamek meanwhile landed atop the scorched deck of the Atomos as it was finishing its turn away from the battle and back towards Limsa. With a snap of his fingers called forth Quiet and The End. ”Keep the tailed one busy”! he commanded while hurrying into the back door of the ship and slamming it shut behind him, leaving the two snipers to glance at one another and then take up point on the back of the ship. Each hooked a leg through the remains of the railing on the deck of the ship to brace against the incoming acceleration before opening fire on the princess, firing their two very different sniper rifles between the Atomos 's twin engine pods.

Below him, three of his toadies had already slipped in through the still open bay doors and headed upstairs carrying the spirits of the turret pile, the imps and a pair of the lowly underlings of the abyssal fleet. Now the final one flew in just as the fate of the ship girls vanished from Sakura's sight, carrying Arashio’s spirit, having snatched it from the winds after she died. It flew right past Sakura just as the bay doors began to close, Jr having found the cockpit’s own controls for them at last, the spirit of the dead ship girl's spirit held in its palms.

”Time to leave, young master!” came a call from above as Kamek slammed the door to the deck shut behind him.

”No kidding? Already on it!” Jr replied, before the ship began to accelerate even before the bay doors were shut, leaving the ship girls to their fate as bait and Sakura with a dilemma of her own.

---

The Koopa King

wordcount: 458 (+1)
Bowser: Level 8 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (72/80)
Location: The Dead Zone - Hell-bent City

Bowser didn’t catch the shadow but his wreck-less dousing of the flame, empowered by Blazermate’s kritz, did let him vaporize hordes of undead, including one of the tougher buggers their foe had just summoned up. Eventually however the eight seconds of super powered striking came to an end as the supercharged medibeam returned to its usual state of healing and storing up power, gradually charging up another tide turning powerup.

In the meantime however, Bowser had swept the area around himself clean of foes and had a straight shot at the diminutive skeleton queen, which he took. He wasn't alone. The team had pushed through the hordes of minions and now looked poised to converge upon the girl from all sides. All she had was her shadow, which was admittedly a piece of work, of that there was no doubt, and whatever she managed to pull up in the moments before she was overwhelmed. Unfortunately, what she had time to summon was an ace in a hole.

The diminutive, casually dressed skeleton was not much to look at and Bowser’s arrogance meant he initially ignored him as he closed in on their main foe. Unfortunately San’s looks were incredibly deceiving, which he apologetically demonstrated when with a flick of his wrist he hauled everyone into the air, in which the king helplessly flailed for a moment of utter confusion, before slamming them back down into the ground.

The king undeniably hit the ground belly first, his shell absorbing most of the impact. Unfortunately for him, all his armor did nothing against what came next. The wave of spectral bones rolled forth from the small skeleton, rising up front the ground and then stabbing back down, the wave driving straight through the king as he was trying to stand. The bone that hit him ignored his armor entirely, piercing through the massive turtle, touching him for longer than it did anyone else who got hit thanks to his size, and wrecking his body to the core.

Only his equally large vitality prevented him from being crippled immediately, but Bowser could feel the damage burning away, rapidly eating away at his life-force. Others were not so lucky. With three of them going down front his first attack alone, this skeleton was no laughing matter.

He retaliated with a trio of fireballs, but Sans casually sauntered around the slow moving shots while keeping an eye out for other threats. Bowser lurched as the burn came to an end, claws hitting the deck and finding purchase on the crystalline platform they were fighting on and then, instead of breathing out, inhaled. A vortex of air swirled in towards the king’s maw as he used his vacuum breath on the small skeleton man.

World of Light

wordcount: 422(+1)
Midna: level 2 EXP: //////////////////// (17/20)
Location: Sandswept Sky (desert): Vah Naboris at Lakeside

After she’d waved at the people looking at her Midna sat down on the camel’s head and watched as the queen, the machine and the fox approached the formerly fighting red and blue teams without any sign of hostility from either side. Then the two groups got to talking, but as she couldn’t hear what was being said, and couldn’t read lips, she quickly got bored of just sitting there and watching them flap their gums at one another.

Instead of continuing to idle in the sun she drifted back down from Vah Naboris to join the rest of the backup team, namely Tora and Primrose, who were chatting about how Poppi worked.

”You built her? Impressive. Maybe if we have time and trust I could take a more intimate look at her and see how much this ‘ether‘ is like magic?” Midna commented on what she’d overheard while floating down and hovering just above the ground, reclining a little in the airs with her arms folded.

”Either way, I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that they’re talking to each other over there. Not sure about what, though the red and blue people seem a bit grumpy judging by their body language,” She commented before her single eye focused off of the people she was talking and into the floating Sheikah eye that glowed in front of her own to watch more closely as the Heavy suddenly broke ranks and approached the team after Sectonia’s speech.

”Oh. Except that one. Big bald guy’s approaching. Proud look on his face. Others seem to be arguing with him going over but don’t seem mad enough to stop him,” she commented before bringing her focus back to where she actually was ”If I were to guess, I’d say they’re good over there. If things were gonna get heated they’d already have kicked off, or are just about too. I’ll keep keeping an eye out, but if you want to take a look at what the thieves are up to you’ll probably be good to go,”

Midna snapped her fingers, summoning one of her masked wolfos before telling them that ”If you want to go, you can take this one with you” before speaking to the creature in her native tongue, after which the large furry beast padded over and then sat in front of Primrose, ready to act as her stoic and noble guardian. The way it was happily wagging its tail distracted from this image somewhat, which Midna just rolled her eye at.

World of Light

The Koopa King

wordcount: 623 (+1)
Bowser: Level 8 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (71/80)
Location: The Dead Zone - Hell-bent City

Things started out well, at least from Bower’s limited perspective. With Blazermate’s kritz power and his claw tips he’d rendered through the undead hordes and unleashed a massive ball of blue sparking flame that rolled forth towards the skull girl without any indication that it’d stop or that she’d try and get out of the way of it. He also wasn’t alone in his push towards the girl. Banjo and Kazooie vaulted over his slow advance and then went their separate ways, each one leaving a trail of havoc and mayhem as they cleaved or rode their way through the hordes to either side of him.

Linkle too went for the kill, but this is where the trouble began, as Marie showed off the true potential of her skellie summoning. The hylian hero had been getting the best of her at first, her waves of arrows, ice and bombs perfectly suited to this kind of battle, trashing undead and overwhelming Marie’s defenses, but it all came apart when skeletons suddenly grabbed up out of the floor. The undead grabbed her, preventing the nimble hero from dancing away from danger as she had been. Then she summoned a team of gangsters and the tommy gun toting goons filled her with lead.

”LINKLE!” Bowse roared in alarm as she hit the deck. He wasn't the only one to see her fall. Nero raced to her side and avoided the same fate Linkle (likely due to other threats having gotten closer) and proceeded to try and pull her to safety.

”HEEL, GO HELP HER!” Bowser called out, before summoning the titular Rabbid support in a large claw and then tossing him up over the skellies to land next to Nero. Heel, once he got a grasp of the terrifying situation, ran screaming obnoxiously after Nero. Using a combination of grenades and healing pulses the Rabbid attempted to make sure that Nero would be able to make it out and that Linkle would be able to survive her evacuation.

Aid given to the fallen, Bowser pushed onward as his fireball hit home, something that honestly surprised him. The girl had arrogantly stood her ground against the kritz boosted mega fireball, attempting to shield it with a destructible shield of packed bones that the ball had plowed through like it had plowed through everything else. Even after it swept over and scorched her it kept going, rolling onward out into the open air behind her, before floating onward above the dead city like a tiny sun.

Bowser wasn’t done with just that, but unfortunately neither was Marie. The girl seemed to still have plenty of minions in reserve and also seemed to be more than happy to let them do her dirty work for the time being. The part of him that wasn't fuming about what she’d done to Linkle approved of this. It was the proper villainous way to do things in Bowser’s opinion.

Against Nadia she brought up the remains, or facsimiles of the remains, of her dead family to inflict a psychological blow. Against the rest of the squad she brought out a band of five skeletal powerful warriors. Against Bowser however she used something off theme. A shadow. That alone would have taken Bowser off guard but the specter flash stepping in front of him and winding up and then unleashing a full body punch took him entirely off guard.

Fortunately, as he was twice her height and several times over her mass so what would have decked a human merely caused him to stumble backwards, holding his bashed snout in his claws.

”GAHHH. YOU’LL REGRET THAT!” The king roared before releasing his bleeding nose, which despite Blazermate being in the process of being simultaneously attacked by a surprise floor spawned giant rapidly healed up just like all the other wounds he'd taken, and unleashed a wave of fire directly in front of him, before sweeping his head to and fro, turning the burning breath on the surrounding undead, trying to wash away the shadow woman with his burning light wherever she might warp too.

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 1562 (+3) (+2 from colab for Kamek)
Bowser Jr: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (60/70)
Kamek: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (57/70)
Location: Edge of the Blue – At Sea

“What’s a whoreson anyway?” Jr muttered to Kamek as Sakura took issue with Geralt’s favorite insult/curse.

”I don’t know. Someone who’s the son of a ‘whore’ I suppose, but I’m not sure what that is,” Kamek replied with quiet honestly ”Seems to be a rather rude thing to call someone however, so it perhaps best if-”

“Hey. So. What’s a whore?” Jr asked, cutting off and ignoring his elder’s advice and butting into the human’s dispute with the curious arrogance only a child could have.

---

The Atomos held up to its merger sales pitch. It was as maneuverable as a flying brick, but it was a fast flying brick. The stiff controlling ship had an impressive top speed despite having the aerodynamic properties of a lorry and, while Jr dreaded to think what it would be like handling wise if the holds weren't completely empty like they were now, it got them where they needed to be quick as can be.

The party arrived at the site of the naval engagement not long after it had begun, and found it to be just as strange as the ship-girls who were currently engaging the abyssal fleet had given the impression it would be. The enemy fleet turned out to consist not of rival ship girls, as the Koopas had assumed, but instead of horrid metal shark fish head things and other monstrosities that looked like they had maybe been intended to be ship girls, but had come out of the oven half baked or had been barely baked at all.

”Wow. Nasty looking aren't they” Jr commented, as he ship slowed down to get them a better view of the action. Closest to them one of the ships was engaging with a pack of cybernetic children, her plan firing weapon getting the better of them.

”Odd. Those, ah, infantile ones looked like they turned to dust like most things in this world do? I don’t suppose any of you have better eyesight than me and noticed if they dropped a spirit or not?” Kamek asked as the ship girl achieved victory, summoning his toadies and mentioning that ”If so, these might be able to collect it, or something else, to help us”

”What? No sorry missed it” Jr said, having turned his gaze elsewhere after deciding he did not enjoy looking at the weird robot shark baby monsters.

A little while ago while they’d been approaching the fight Kamek had unbuckled himself from his chair and had summoned 4 illusionary clones of himself. To each he’d proceeded to toss a colored orb, each one imbuing the mimics with additional powers and limited independence before shooing them into the back room so they wouldn't crowd the bridge. This preparation now turned out to have been time well spent when the ship girl, who had light red hair and was wielding a miniature aircraft carrier like an arbalest (not that the koopas knew what either of those were) got in a spot of trouble. A triple headed, burly armed abyssal ship rose up from the waves and, after trading fire with the girl, charged her. Kamek could already see where this was going before the two collided, both for the girl and potentially for them if she went down, and so quickly shuffled through the back of the bridge and flung open the door to the outside.

”Go go go!” he yelled over the wind rushing in through the door as he waved his doppelgangers (two red, one green and one white) through the door. Each in turn stepped outside, mounted their broom and took off before Kamek followed suit, the quintet of magikoopas clearing the vessel just as it attracted attention and took fire.

Kamek glanced back worriedly, but the ship seemed to have survived the shots and so he left it in the capable hands of those onboard. He had a damsel to rescue. An odd situation to be in, the old mage mused to himself, but she was a better distraction alive than dead and if she did bite it, well, then he’d be in the perfect position to get one of the spirits they needed, free of ethical concerns. The flock of mages swooped down towards the ship girl who Kamek saw had, as he’d predicted, gotten the worst of the close combat encounter and was now at the mercy of her foe. White and green clones flew low in, diving down and raising their wands, glows of magic matching their own hues flaring up around their wands and then, sympathetically, around first their new horns, which empowered their magic skills, and then the ship girl herself. Several of her worst wounds closed in a flash as a green shielding aura surrounded her that would help her resist further injury. The two clones slowed down and hovered by either side of her, ready to act as assists and to cast their supportive magic again once their magic reserves built back enough.

Kamek himself, flanked by his two red clones, stayed flying high and fast and attacked the offending triple ship monster. All three wielded brandished their wands, now tipped with fire materia, and unleashed a triple shot of fire magic, all three shots draining the mage’s personal mana reserves. The three quick shots, far faster than the bouncing fireballs or slow triple shape spells the mage generally used, lashed out and detonated against the monster in a trio of fiery explosions.

”Are you alright miss?” Kamek called down as he swooped overhead, his team keeping their speed as they banked around for another attack run.

Behind him Jr was busy dealing with the aftermath of being shot at, or rather, of the ship being pummeled by gunfire. The Atomos had managed to tank the shot, likely only because the ship attacking them was built for hitting small fast moving ship girls and not the comparatively massive floating hunks of metal that was their airship, and the boy had managed to prevent the jolt from capsizing them, but their foe wasn’t going to leave them with just that one greeting. Said attacker was also horrendous; a person sized pillar of guns with a bedraggled looking metal headed woman half emerging from the lower half of a titanic jaw that made up its base. Her guns were almost certainly not finished firing and Jr wasn’t in any mind to just sit around getting shot at till it hit something important, like him or the engins, or simply filled the ship with enough holes and shrapnel to cause it to crash.

Jr slammed the controls of the ship to the side, causing the Atomos to demonstrate one of its many failings, in this case it’s inability ability to turn in place at speed. With the lethargic grace of an overweight hippo the ship began to turn on the spot as jr tried to make it so that when he gunned its powerful engines they wouldn’t just be ramming straight into the heart of the battle or the storm crackling to the north of them.

”Turn you hunk of junk!” Jr yelled at its agonizingly slow turn, smacking the control board with a mix of frustration and restlessness before turning and, still holding the controls in one claw, pointed the other out the unclosed door

”Primid patrol, get your shooters and fire back!” he ordered, summoning a gaggle of subspace striker minions in the backroom, who proceeded to pile out the back door and out onto the banistered airstrip like section found out on the back of the ship. Jr tilted the top of the ship towards the foe as he turned, allowing the minions to line up next to the railing and begin returning fire with their retro super scopes, their clunky oversized rifles charging up and then unleashing a volley of energy shots on the tower like ship.

”Mimi, go out there too and use electro ball on that thing! Tyrant, stop running around and panicking!” Jr yelled at his minions. The freaking out Behemoth ran to hid under his trianier’s chair, while Mimi hopped off the dashboard and scooted outside after the last of the Primids, before grappling up onto the top of one of banister with one long arm, wrapping that arm around it to keep herself steady and then reeling the other arm out directly behind her. Summoning electricity from her back mounted battery she sent it racing up her arm to form into a beach ball sized ball of lightning which she held in her shadowy claw for a moment, before lashing forwards, slingshotting it past herself and letting the fastball fly towards the slow looking pillar ship.

”Hold on!” Jr called out in warning when, after what felt like an eternity but which had only actually been a few seconds, he’d gotten the ship pointing the way he wanted too and gunned the accelerator. The ship lurched forwards and took off at speed, racing off behind where Kamek and the ship girl he was assisting were, aiming to put both them and some distance in between the poorly armored airship and the battle. Primid’s cascaded off of the back of the ship and then poofed as they either timed out or hit the water, while Mimi clung on to her banister with all her might, the bridge somewhat shielding anyone on the back from the wind, but still demanding whoever was back there cling on to something lest they end up like the Primids.

World of Light

wordcount: 841 (+2) (+5) (+3)
Midna: level 2 EXP: //////////////////// (16/20)
Location: Sandswept Sky (desert): Vah Naboris at Lakeside

Midna had a bit of time to reflect on her conversation with Fox during the remainder of their travel but eventually Vah Naboris arrived at their destination and Minda had it set down to let the party dismount.

”I hope you enjoyed your royal chauffeurage” she told them as she made a performative show off showing them off of Vah Naboris and down back into the sands before following them back into the harsh light of the sun. After the cool interior of the beast, it was a harsh reminder of the land they were traveling through.

The thieves wasted little time in heading into the pyramid they’d come here to investigate, seeking whoever it was they were seeking within its ancient depths. Primrose later mentioned that she thought they were looking for a friend but Midna wasn’t so sure that was all there was to it.

”Have to say, it’s a little odd that they never said exactly who or what they were here for,” she said offhandedly as she sat herself down on a rock while they talked, not wanting to come of as overly paranoid even as she sowed some seeds of doubt ”Might be good if someone goes to keep an eye on them, just in-case. Make sure they don’t get into any trouble” she suggested.

The rest of the team spent a fair bit of time debating whether they should follow the thieves or go investigate the battle going on in the distance. So long, in fact, that by the time the discussion was drawing to a close the battle seemed to be over (judging by the petering off and then absence of any of the explosive sounds that Midna assumed had belonged to weapons like the one Joker was using), which was, in Midna’s opinion, probably for the best. Strolling into a warzone did not seem like the best plan, and doing so to scavenge the dead as Joker had suggested seemed beneath the likes of her.

Eventually Poppi and Fox set out to investigate the battle site, with the fox insisting she stayed behind to act as backup for them in case things went wrong. Midna consciously decided not to read this as him trying to stop her from stopping him from being hopelessly optimistic and trying to free people who freeing wouldn’t change.

”I’d rather not put Vah Naboris in harm's way at all if we can, so don’t do anything stupid ok? It’s tough, but also a big target. Seeing as it’ll be a big help against Gannon or the boss of this zone thanks to its main weapon it’s best we try to keep it intact,” she insisted. She wasn’t entirely pleased with being ordered about, but on the other hand this way she could backup whichever party ran into trouble and she wasn't going to disagree with a good plan just because she hadn’t come up with it.

As people departed Midna ascended, floating up alongside Vah Naboris as it got to its feet, ready to react if things went really sour. Midna traveled all the way to its head and found a spot in the shade in the back of its head containing another smaller control center like the one in the main room. Ignoring this, it seemed to be some kind of override she didn’t need, she instead did what she came here for and turned the mighty weapon towards the battle. Not to fire, it would be a waste to do so especially unprovoked, but instead just to look through its far gazing eye now that it was both standing and stationery (trying to look through this eye while moving had given her motion sickness, the beast’s motion bobbing the view up and down horrendously). The weapon could fire at great distance and with incredible accuracy, or at least that is what the aiming systems were telling her because it let her zoom right in on the area and get a nice close view on the area her teammates were on their way to investigate.

As she looked, she saw the peculiar sight of the red and blue teams both alive and well and, seemingly, socializing with one another. A far cry from the battle Poppi had described and that they had all heard going on earlier. She also saw that two of the people, one fat one thin, were looking right at her Vah Naboris as she looked down at them. Midna scratched her chin thoughtfully for a moment, and then floated right to the front of the beast, perching on one of its “horns” and forming a massive magical hand, one larger than her entire body, out of her longer hair using her fragment of the fused shadow she wore.

With it this mighty hand that could and had been used to crush squads of soldiers into paste, she waved at them. They knew it was here, after all, so Midna felt she might as well see if they were friendly enough to wave back.

World of Light

The Koopa King

wordcount: 1061 (+2)
Bowser: Level 8 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (70/80)
Location: The Dead Zone - Hell-bent City

Blazermate seemed to be on Bowser’s side in this, at least partially. Enough that she was open to talking to the girl and maybe even working with her after she's ripped up the root. Unfortunately the idea that they could just let her deal with the root had a pair of interlinked snags. First was that she was taking an age to get through it, which explained how she was still here, and the second was that they didn’t have that time

”WAIT WHAT? DISAPPEAR? WHY DID THIS NOT COME UP EARLIER?” Bowser roared at Nero when he told them about the timer they were only now learning they were under, ignoring the cat ladies’ insistence that he stop talking about the Skullheart. Cursed artifacts were one thing, dime a dozen really to the koopa king, but the threat of being disappeared was... well when it came down to it that was also something of a common threat the king would have had to admit if asked, but it didn’t make it any less of one.

He’d already done the damage by running his mouth off anyway, so telling him to shush didn’t help. Marie knew Nadia wanted the Skullheart, and now she also knew she, like they, had limited time. Unfortunately, rather than deciding she would now welcome their help in breaking the root, she instead decided she would simply kill them and take their power for herself.

”Kid, if its revenge you want we can help with that too, you don't need to-” Bowser said, but it was too late. The conversation was over. The undead maid girl made her first move, ripping the catacombs apart, the ground shaking beneath them, causing Bowser to wobble on one leg with his arms spinning as the vibrations rocked the party. Then the ground started collapsing beneath them into a deep pit that Bowser instinctively assumed ended either in lava or nothingness. The heavy king quickly dropped out of sight, his weight cracking his part of the floor much faster than that supporting the lighter and nimbler members of the party.

For a moment he was out of view until suddenly he reappeared riding Carrie as the Trowlon did what she did best. Ascend.

The king rose up after the catgirl, weaving past or smashing aside debris until he too arrived at the boss arena Nadia had created. He shoved the ruins of the library aside, the mimic’s lair they’d so carefully cleared had reduced to ruin in an instant, and stepped onto the glowing platform as the cat and the maid were finishing their brief exchange about their shared homeworld.

”You’ve got guts kid, but you don’t know who you're messing with” he warned the girl as she armed herself with a bony vacuum, but it was much too late for talk. Her eyes flashed red and it was do or die time.

Dark magic filled the koopa king, increasing his size from a building navigable bulk to proper boss fight size. The towering dragon turtle, twice the height of a man, stepped forwards in front of the rest of the party and then pivoted on one foot and put his shell in the way of the barrage of skulls, giving them a face full of spikes and shell to careen into. Some were blunted by the shell alone or impaled on its spikes, while those that tried to sneak past got elbows, boxing gloves and crushing jaws in response. With the barrage either dealt with or out of his reach attacking the other, the king pivoted back to face the Skullgirl and her now rising legion of skeleton warriors.

The undead horde came at them, armed with a chaotic assortment of decent weaponry but, for the most part, they lacked any kind of defensive armaments. Not that armoring them would have mattered much against the brutish might of the koopa king.

He stomped down on a skeletal wolf that materialized out of the vines to try and bite him with a steel capped boot, then began advancing. He stomped forwards, backhanding a skeleton with a huge braincase that was leading the back, shattering it to pieces in one blow before washing fire over a gang of human skeletons in bowler hats trying to shoot him with tommyguns. Then, leaping up over a giant ‘s fist as it tried to punch him, the king grappled onto the massive metal mouth guard of one of the massive bone horrors with one claw and his tentacles before he hammered it in the skull again and again till it shattered and the entire thing fell.

The king cashed back down into the melee, crushing an unfortunate bone horse in the process, before grabbed an ork skeleton that was trying to cleave him with a sword twice as big as it needed to be, blocking the bow with one of the spiked steel bracelets, and then chucked it at a halfling aiming a tube full of fireworks at him, causing both fantasy creature skeletons to explode in a colorful light show.

After the mimics and Dante it was nice to fight things you could rely on just standing still and letting you punch them in the face rather than hiding or dodging all over, or Bower felt, but it wasn't really getting them anywhere. Even he could tell they were basically just going to have to put up with endlessly spawning swarms of undead forever if their master wasn’t made to stop spawning them.

Much as he didn’t like it, he’d have to go after the child. With so many allies, Bowser briefly considered leaving that to others. But if he did, well, then the cat would end this her way.

”Cant have that,” he growled to himself and then after a deep inhale he unleaded a mega fireball towards the skullgirl. The giant orb of flame, as grand as he was, lazily floating across the platform. It wasn't hard to avoid, but it did not stop, it did not falter, it plowed through anything foolish enough to get in the way, blackening bone, melting plastic, super heating steel and detonating ammunition. Behind this ball of death Bowser advanced, fists swinging, hat mounted boxing gloves pummeling, water cannons blasting, blunt impacts one and all reducing the skeletal fiends to scattered piles of bone once more as he advanced on the Skullgirl’s location.

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 1319 (+3)
Bowser Jr: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (57/70)
Kamek: Level 7 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (52/70)
Location: Edge of the Blue – Seaward Bay

level up jr

Strength: Piloting Protege: from go-karts and motorbikes to his clown car and a variety of airships, Jr has driven an impressive number of vehicles and machines with a great degree of skill for someone who is far too young to have a driving license. As a result Jr has the ability to quickly master new machines and pilots those he’s gotten a feel for with a high degree of skill and reckless finesse.

”Huh. Yeah that would be even easier… Wouldn’t you need a whole load of computers for that though?” Jr said in response to Sakura’s story/anecdote/explanation of what credit cards were. The technology levels were rather all over the place back in Jr’s world, so it really wasn't ready for credit cards in general and it certainly wouldn’t work in the likes of the mushroom and koopa kingdoms. Sakura’s muddled comment managed to be entertaining at the very least.

All things considered, Jr had to admit he kind of liked the teen, she’d been fun so far, so he wasn't quite as cantankerous as he could have been when Kamek told her that ”Between myself, my minions and the young master’s clown car I think we’d be able to trundle back to the city or to shore if we survived the crash. It wouldn’t be an easy trip, but we do have an escape route should things go belly up” when she worried about what would happen if their ship went down, and the process offering up Jr’s help in transporting the ground locked humans if they, or more likely he, crashed their new airship.

”We’re not gonna crash anyway, because I’ll be flying this ship and I’m the best! Now let’s quit standing around talking about it and go get this thing. I wanna see it!” he insisted. The team didn’t need much prompting, they didn't have many other options after all, and so they were soon on their way.

With Peach and Kamek’s toadies lending a hand the last leg of their trip went far smoother than the slog it had taken to rejoin the group, and so in short order they’d purchased for their new ship and jr got to give it a complete once over.

The Atomos

”I thought you said it was a van! This is way bigger than a van!” he yelled down as he hovered around the ship, taking it all in.

”Well comparatively it is” Kamek replied, and it was true. The other ships in the yard dwarfed it in size, sleekness, armor and in some cases weaponry. Despite this it was still a decent size, comparable with some of the troops smaller airships. There would be no issue in fitting the squad inside, and indeed they could probably fit a small selection of smaller one person vehicles or mounts inside of the vehicles hold if they could get them if they wanted to make it into a carrier. Or a tone of gold, mercenaries or anything really. The ship might not be fit for challenging the bottomless depths, but it would be a massive boon to the heroes' operations should it survive the ordeals of the ocean, ”It’s weak and unarmed but its fast. And no, the blades on the side do not count as weapons please do no try and ram something with them”

”Boo! You're no fun. But whatever that's fine. We can still strap some weapons to it. Maybe a big cannon in the hold? Cutt of the blades and put robot arms there? Or build turrets on the deck. Shame Blazermate isn’t here that sentry would be super useful right now.” Jr said, buzzing to and fro, drawing up plans in his mind on how to turn the cargo hauler into something more suitable for their purposes.

”I’m not sure we have time to fix it up if we want to catch this sortie? It should be a scouting mission anyway. Observe, maybe get involved if we can safely, but the main point would need to be investigation,” Kamek said, outlining what he thought their goal should be ”I’ll be coming along in case things do go sour and also to take a look at this abyssal feet myself. The rest of you should consider whether you think you’ll be interested in observing or will be useful in a fight going on over the ocean when considering whether you want to come or not. Peach might not be quite as kidnappable as she once was, but I’m sure she’d still appreciate an escort around town.”

”Fine by me, coz I really wanna take this thing out for a spin now! See you inside!” Jr said, before going for the bridge, flying his car up behind the back of the top mounted bridge and entering via a back door. Kamek followed suit, while anyone who’d want to join them would need to go through the large front mounted cargo doors and then use a ladder found inside the spacious hold to climb up into the bridge from below. Inside they’d find jr who, after finding the pilot's seat (a rather ragged swivel chair affair bolted to the floor) too low for his young body had shoved his clown car into it to use as a booster-seat so he could reach the controls and was in the middle of fiddling with them. His minions, Mimi and Tyrant, were having an explore of the interior, the baby behemoth running around sniffing at everything while Mimi roamed around the controls and windowsill of the ship’s windshield, curious eyes taking everything in, inside and out.

Kamek meanwhile had taken a short look around the living quarters found between the bridge proper and the rear entrance, finding it stripped bare of whatever its former owners had kept there baring a rather old looking bed, but promptly sat himself in one of the passenger seats found behind the pilot's chair once he saw jr had gone straight for the controls.

”I suggest you all strap in,” he said to anyone who had joined them as he buckled himself in for the ride ”That goes for you too young master. Also I don’t suppose you’ve found a manual for-” he was saying when jr suddenly announced ”Found it!” before hammering a button on the control surface. The ship roared to life, whatever fantastical sorceries that powered it surging through its pipes and awakening the humble cargo carrier from its slumber.

”Ahahaha, listen to that!” jr cheered as the engines came online behind them, humming a song of primed potential and a yearning for the sea air.

”Now lets see, how does this thing work,” Jr asked himself before he jerked the controls, causing Kamek gripped the armrests of his chair in alarm as the ship lurched up off its ski like landing gears and into the air, before it began to wobble around chaotically above its landing spot for a painfully long series of moments while Jr got a feel for what he was doing. Unlike some, Tyrant and Mimi spent the whole time having a blast, Tyrant running amuck all over the cabin while Mimi was squeaking away happily as she slid back and forth on the dashboard.

”Young master, I’m quite sure there were better ways to learn how to fly” Kamek said, sounding rather queasy, once it was all over.

”Maybe, but none as fun. Now let’s see what this puppy can really do!” Jr said, sliding the controls forwards and pulling out of the airship hangar and hovering around the city with a fair bit more grace than he should have been able to manage after only a couple moments of practice.

”Now lets see, where are those.. Ah ha! There’s the girls” Jr said, after having a quick scan of the horizon to find the fleet of ship-girls heading out to battle the abyssal fleet. With their goal in sight, there was little to do but hit the gas, and when Jr did the Atomos lived up to its sale’s pitch. It was small, unarmored and utterly defenseless, but it had traded all those for speed, and that it most certainly had in bucket-loads. The little carrier raced through the ocean skies after the ship girls while jr cheered ”Look at it go! Hauling all that gold was so worth it!”

World of Light

wordcount: 1258 (+3)
Bowser Jr: Level 6 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (114/60)
Kamek: Level 6 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (49/70)
Location: Edge of the Blue – Seaward Bay

”I’m not slow… ok fine I probably am, those ladies were quite nippy” Kamek said when Peach complained about the lack of fast fliers to chase after the ship girls. Neither Kamek nor Jr’s aerial transport devices were built to be the fastest in the land, just fast enough that it beat platforming around the mushroom kingdom.

After that the remaining heroes split up to investigate their Peach given task, with the airships being the one that was given to Kamek.

Unfortunately it turned out when Kamek had been completely wrong when he had said to Jr that they wouldn’t need the money yet. Not having cash on hand made it very difficult to get the time of day from prospective airship captains and crews, let alone begin discussing hiring their services or buying their ships for adventuring purposes. It seemed the summary of the situation they’d gotten on arrival had been entirely accurate. No one making money hand over fist running jobs for the merchants was the least bit interested in their dangerous quest.

This left Kamek with the bottom of the barrel, and down there he found a flying machine that was practically a flying van. While the ship itself turned out to be pretty unsuitable for racing thoughts storms, the owners of the airship turned out to be much more interesting than their transport.

”Oh yes, we’re all upstanding citizens here,” Kamek agreed when Balthier hastily denied any connection to piracy, not so subtly confirming that dealing with former pirates was not going to be an issue because when it came to the likes of Kamek, the pair were in good, or rather villainous, company.

”I appreciate you being upfront about the risks involved in using your craft like we need to,” he said after as he examined the machine and mulled it over and then decided that he didn’t need to decide quite yet. Indeed it would be rash to do so. Its not like he could pay anyway.

”My associates are currently looking into a few other possible options, so I’ll need to catch up with them before I commit to anything. I’ll be sure to let you know either way what our decision is by the end of the day,” He assured them, before bidding his farewells and heading back to meet up with the rest of the team so they could review their findings.

---

Over in Peach’s castle Jr’s hand scooping method was replaced by Sakura’s far more sensible methods of transporting the treasure, namly a hand cart and some big old sacks. Jr felt like he was a bank robber stuffing the sack full of gold, which was to him a very fun thing to think about while he worked away at shoving the heavy riches into the bag. The time it took for Sakura to get their new treasure transport gave the Ace enough time to get his trip to Lumbridge over and done with, the hunter returning with a little collection of new gear he’d gotten for his troubles.

The sword and hammer were neat, but his new horned headpiece was the real star in Jr’s opinion ”oh neat. Now you match” he noted, pointing from the horns down to BB’s own. Speaking of the piggo, Jr’s own behemoth managed to look awfully jealous of BB as the pig propped itself up on the gold cart with a new piece of ornamentation added to boot. This was despite Tyrant having been able to run around and play in the piles of gold with Mimi (who’d mostly spent her time surfing coins down piles of treasure) while the team collected their cash.

With everyone ready to go, jr grabbed his own overstuffed bag, hauled it up into his car. Then he jumped up and down on it a few times trying to shove it into the glove box before giving up and using the car (with its go kart wheels deployed) as his own little push cart. Tyrant immediately seized the opportunity and mounted his own gold filled chariot, sticking his nose up at BB’s own despite it being more fit for purpose. Then Mimi sat on his head in-order to use him as her own throne, putting the porker in his place.

”You bet I am” was Jr’s overconfident response to being challenged to arm wrestling, before they started the long hard trip out of the vaults and towards their destination. They picked up a small escort of mercenaries in the foyer, had to physically lift their transport carts for a brief moment in order to go through the paint portal with them, almost got squished from the drop at the other end of the warp, drew a lot of attention and urges to come shopping with their spoils that their escort were forced to shoo off while passing thought he shopping alley and then finally arrived back at the the spot they’d set off from.

As the mercs headed home and the party reassembled Jr flopped down onto the ground to take a load off his tired legs, ”Ok. I get the paper money those loot boxes wanted now, moving that much gold around is the worst!”

---

”I’m afraid the best we can get airship wise is an Atomos, which is functionally a flying delivery van,” Kamek infrared the group once they were mostly back together, ”It’s fast, but it won’t be able to take us through the storm unless we go close to the sea, and if we do it’s weaponless and armor less target for sea monsters,”

”That said, it doesn't need to stay that way. Ace and Peach's comment about feeding spirits to Shippy has me thinking. Even if we can’t buy what we need right now, that doesn't mean we can't get something decent and then upgrade it. Mechanically in the case of the Atomos or spiritually in Shippy’s or the sky hatchery’s case” Kamek hadn’t given up on the sky hatchery like Peach had. In his opinion getting some of the fighters their own personal flying mounts might be useful to let them get into fights rather than being stuck on the deck of some ship or other.

”There was a junkyard back on the islands the casino was on. We could fly it and see if there’s junk there I can use to soup up this titchy airship. If not that then the kart graveyard and whatever's making all those robots might work out instead I guess.” Jr said, interested in the idea but not not entirely convinced they had what the needed to turn the lame sounding Atomos into a storm chasing machine worthy of the Koopa Troop’s airfleet ”Shame we can't just crush spirits and get a compleat airship out of it huh”

”That seems outside the bounds of what they can provide yes, however on a more basic level it might be an option. If we acquire this airship, or avians, or Shippy, or any combination of the above, then we can use those as jumping off points. Roam the seas, gather powerful spirits for fusion or ship parts, and in doing so build ourselves up to a palace where we can face the final gauntlet of the storm. At the very least, if we want to investigate the abyssal fleet we need to get out there somehow and most of our options are likely up to the task of scouting the sea, even if they aren't up to facing the storms quite yet” He summarized.