DracoLunaris

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Shadows of Irenia

I've modified the middle of Rose's history (basically the bit where she learns about her fatther's fate) mainly to fill in the pile of plot holes it had. same structure, just a bit more detailed/logical

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Shadows of Irenia

Our trio of stocky punchy bois (of which lu can be an honorary fourth member) need their own fun sub team/group name at this point like the burly bash bros or something.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Shadows of Irenia

<Snipped quote by DracoLunaris>

And Draco's here now? Super blessed! Welcome friend.

Too bad (Or maybe it's good?) That our characters exist as moral opposites when it comes to a fight. I'm sure that won't cause any sort of conflict or issue, none at all.

@Potemking

Aye, it's good to see you too! "And such a little thing has to pull out all the tricks in her bag to even have a fair fight in the first place we suppose"

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Shadows of Irenia

A knight who is her own steed

Rosalinda la Punaise rescuing a Burmy from a dungeon

Pokémon Species: Scolipede
Nickname: Lady Rosalinda la Punaise (or just Rose to her friends or anyone who refuses to use her full name (which is basically everyone because its a pretentious mouthful))
Types:Bug-Poison

Desired Rank: Ace

Notable features: Carries a sword made from a scyther’s blade, and wears a set of courier saddlebags (that come from her side job, and which generally hold provisions when she’s doing her main profession) that also includes a scabbard for her weapon.

Personality:

Rose is a bit uptight, prideful and pompous all things considered, while also being very by the book. That book being one on chivalry. As a result she is also kind, generous and polite to a fault, leading to an odd mix of hard edges and a soft center.

She is unflappably brave and gallant and is a stickler for honor. She refuses to lie and finds deception and trickery abhorrent (while also being rather susceptible to them). She hates bullies and will shove herself into confrontations no matter how wise that might be. She also hates unfair fights, and has been known to hobble herself to ensure that a battle is an even one.

History:
Rose was born to a family of self styled bug knights, who claim a long and fruitful legacy dating back all the way to when Irenia still stood, though a lack of any actual historical texts or data means that only the family's oral tradition is the only evidence of this fact. Still, while their ancient history might be in question, the Punaise family do have a well earned more recent reputation as skilled warriors of the blade. Which made Rose’s father(Malcolinus)’s decision to follow his heart and marry his mother (Elise, whom he met after the woman performed a rather daring delivery of much needed supplies to his party while they were in middle of a battle) a somewhat conscientious one, considering the fact that their children lack the blades of their father, let alone hands to wield artificial ones with.

Still, despite this natural born disadvantage, and the disinterest/failure of her older brother(Joscelin) and sister(Emblema) to take up the blade, Rose has done everything she can to embrace her knightly heritage, up to and including rejecting her poisonous nature as a dishonorable form of combat. When she was young the sight of a Venipede attempting to learn how to wield a wooden training sword earned her the mockery that drove her older siblings from her path, but Rose soldier on regardless and was rewarded when it turned out that a Whirlipede rolling at you while holding a sword is actually rather dangerous. Like a runaway chariot wheel coming for your shins.

Just when she was getting the hang of things, however, tragedy struck when one day her father left on a secretive quest with a few other members of her family, and then never returned. The loss struck Rose hard, and for a time she fell off the path to knighthood, first relying on her family while stuck in a bout of depression, and then, once fully evolved, bitterly joining her siblings profession, namly as members of her mother’s courier service, to help make ends meet.

It was only months later, when she followed rumors to find one of the mon (a Galvantula spearmaster named Fenri) who had been father’s band living in self imposed solitude in a cave in the mountains, that her fervor returned. Though Fenri would not speak of what had occurred at first, Rose kept badgering him until she eventually got him to admit his guilt, and the reason for his exile. The band of knights had come under attack by a mysterious foe who fought with overwhelming power shrouded in smoke and darkness. Standing thorax to thorax they fought a valiant yet losing battle against the darkness, but in the end Fenri’s nerve broke when he lost contact with the others in the smoke, causing him to flee for his life, abandoning her father and the rest of the mon to their unknown, but most likely grim, fates while Fenri barely escaped with his life.

Following the shamed mon’s directions to the site of the battle, and ignoring his warnings, she descended into a mystery dungeon, seeking her father. Whatever danger had struck the cadre of knights within seemed to have vanished, along with the knights themselves. The only trace she found of them was one of her father’s blades, embedded into a stone and surrounded by a burnt out field.

Yet danger still remained despite the disappearance of her father’s foes. Enough at least to threaten the out of practice young knight and, having lost her own she was forced to use her father’s blade to escape the dungeon. Having unwillingly used it at first, once it had saved her life her opinion of using the unsavory blade changed. She fashioned the blades into a proper weapon and vowed that she would never again lay down the sword till she found what had become of her father, before returning to Fenri’s cave and demanding he continue her training in her father’s stead.

Years have passed since that day, and the young woman has grown into the very image of the knight her father always wanted her to be, who braves the dangers and depths of the world to save others and seek the truth. The money she gets that helps grow her family’s courier business doesn't hurt either.

Strengths:
As befitting a knight who is her own horse, Rose is strong, tough and fast. Her heavy chitin is tough as steel, while her four legs can carry her at breakneck speeds and let her move with surprising agility despite her size and weight. She’s also capable of curling up into a ball like a pillbug, either for increased defense or a devastating rolling attack.

Rose’s most notable strength however, which sets her apart from her kind, is her sword. Fashioned from one of her father’s blades she holds the sword’s handle sideways with her mouth, wielding it a highly unorthodox yet deadly style, putting her entire body weight behind heavy blows or dexterously parrying and countering swifter opponents.

While using her horns (front and back) and ‘hooves’ in combat is not out of the question, as a knight she considers poison to be dishonorable, and as such never uses her neck spines in combat. Indeed, said spines have been filed down as a commitment to this ideal, and are as a result entirely blunt.

Rose generally gets stronger as the fight goes on, with her blade striking harder with each slash as she dances from blow to blow, each strike swifter and stronger than the last. When badly wounded, she can reach inside herself and find additional power to win the day as she ‘stops holding back’ and delivers some truly titanic blows.

Reputation wise she is known for being straightforward, reliable and is known for taking on jobs for less than they are worth if it's for a good cause. Connections wise, her mother and two siblings run a local courier service, transporting goods from town to town (and sometimes to parties mid adventure, though these days that is mostly Rose’s job) quickly and safely. All three of them are proud of her, though they do wish she’d stop undercharging for her knightly services.

Her extended family meanwhile are well renowned knights who can be found across the land, though her relationship with many of them is a touch strained due to their reaction to her father’s marriage to her mother. There are a few exceptions: the only member of her party to return (a Galvantula named Fenri) is one, having helped continue her training after her father disappeared, and a few of her younger cousins aren't old enough to remember, or simply don't care about, the family drama dividing Rose’s little branch of the family from the rest.

Weaknesses:
Rose has a strict code of honor as a knight, and abhors deception, trickery, lies and all things dishonorable. The ethics side of things do not particularly clash with her chosen profession, other than her refusal to tell even the whitest of lies sometimes making her come off as blunt, but when it comes to combat her refusal to use her natural poisons is considered wasteful by some and downright negligent by others. It also results in her lacking in ranged options, though with her speed the enemy is never going to be at range for long.

Her vows to protect others come first, of course, but it would take a great deal to get the knight to embrace her toxic nature (and if she did she would be incredibly bad at using it). On the other side of things, she will often insist on ensuring her opponents have a fair fight, and refuses to use, and becomes outraged by, underhanded tactics. She has, as a result, something of a weakness to dark type’s strategies.

More generally, she has trouble hurting a lot of types with her biological blade and though most of those can be taken down with a good kicking she has a lot of trouble even hurting steel and ghost types. She doesn't exactly have a lot of good offensive advantages either with her limited set of bug and normal moves. She also has nothing to handle fliers, teleporters or speedsters who stay at range, and her biological armor doesn't stand up well to fire.

Learning to understand what she is saying while talking through the sword is a skill in and off itself, so she doesn't make a particularly good shot caller in the heat of battle.

She has a mixed relationship with her extended family, many who see her as the shiny wooloo of the family, more so even than those who have simply abandoned their knightly ways, due to her being emblematic of her fathers ‘poor’ choice in partner and her mouth based sword wielding being considered an insult to their fighting discipline.

Greatest Fear:
Rose is scared of losing anyone else, which can make her rather overprotective, sometimes to a detrimental degree, of those she is close to. While protection is part of her shtick, sometimes you don’t want a mass of chitne throwing itself in your way, especially if she is already hurting badly or is stopping you from dealing with a problem.

More directly, she is deathly afraid of fire, both due to her natural weakness and because it was likely her fathers’ end.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Shadows of Irenia

hope its ok just dropping a sheet outta nowhere

I ain't great at personality descriptions, but hopefully the rest gives you an insight on who she is better than it

bug horse bug horse bug horse

Rosalinda la Punaise rescuing a Burmy from a dungeon

Pokémon Species: Scolipede
Nickname (if applicable): Lady Rosalinda la Punaise (or just Rose to her friends or anyone who refuses to use her full name (which is basically everyone because its a pretentious mouthful))
Type(s):Bug-Poison

Desired Rank: Ace

Notable features: Carries a sword made from a scyther’s blade, and wears a set of courier saddlebags (that come from her side job, and which generally hold provisions when she’s doing her main profession) that also includes a scabbard for her weapon.

Personality:

Rose is a bit uptight, prideful and pompous all things considered, while also being very by the book. That book being one on chivalry. As a result she is also kind, generous and polite to a fault, leading to an odd mix of hard edges and a soft center.

She is unflappably brave and gallant and is a stickler for honor. She refuses to lie and finds deception and trickery abhorrent (while also being rather susceptible to them). She hates bullies and will shove herself into confrontations no matter how wise that might be. She also hates unfair fights, and has been known to hobble herself to ensure that a battle is an even one.

History: Rose was born to a family of self styled bug knights, who claim a long and fruitful legacy dating back all the way to when Irenia still stood, though a lack of any actual historical texts or data means that only the family's oral tradition is the only evidence of this fact. Still, while their ancient history might be in question, the Punaise family do have a well earned more recent reputation as skilled warriors of the blade. Which made Rose’s father(Malcolinus)’s decision to follow his heart and marry his mother (Elise, whom he met after the woman performed a rather daring delivery of much needed supplies to his party while they were in middle of a battle) a somewhat conscientious one, considering the fact that their children lack the blades of their father, let alone hands to wield artificial ones with.

Still, despite this natural born disadvantage, and the disinterest/failure of her older brother(Joscelin) and sister(Emblema) to take up the blade, Rose has done everything she can to embrace her knightly heritage, up to and including rejecting her poisonous nature as a dishonorable form of combat. When she was young the sight of a Venipede attempting to learn how to wield a wooden training sword earned her the mockery that drove her older siblings from her path, but Rose soldier on regardless and was rewarded when it turned out that a Whirlipede rolling at you while holding a sword is actually rather dangerous. Like a runaway chariot wheel coming for your shins.

Just when she was getting the hang of things, however, tragedy struck when one day her father left on a secretive quest with a few other members of her family, and then never returned. The loss struck Rose hard, and for a time she fell off the path to knighthood, first relying on her family while stuck in a bout of depression, and then, once fully evolved, bitterly joining her siblings profession, namely as members of her mother’s courier service, to help make ends meet.

It was only months later, when one of her family who had left with her father returned suddenly bearing great wounds, that her fervor returned. Following the wounded mon’s directions, and ignoring his warnings, she descended into a mystery dungeon, seeking her father. Whatever danger had struck the cadre of knights within seemed to have vanished, along with the knights themselves. The only trace she found of them was one of her father’s blades, embedded into a stone and surrounded by a burnt out field.

Yet danger still remained despite the disappearance of her father’s foes. Enough at least to threaten the out of practice young knight and, having lost her own she was forced to use her father’s blade to escape the dungeon. Having unwillingly used it at first, once it had saved her life her opinion of using the unsavory blade changed. She fashioned the blades into a proper weapon and then vowing that never again lay down the sword till she found what had become of her father.

Years have passed since that day, and the young woman has grown into the very image of the knight her father always wanted her to be, who braves the dangers and depths of the world to save others and seek the truth. The money she gets that helps grow her family’s courier business doesn't hurt either.

Strengths:
As befitting a knight who is her own horse, Rose is strong, tough and fast. Her heavy chitin is tough as steel, while her four legs can carry her at breakneck speeds and let her move with surprising agility despite her size and weight. She’s also capable of curling up into a ball like a pillbug, either for increased defense or a devastating rolling attack.

Rose’s most notable strength however, which sets her apart from her kind, is her sword. Fashioned from one of her father’s blades she holds the sword’s handle sideways with her mouth, wielding it a highly unorthodox yet deadly style, putting her entire body weight behind heavy blows or dexterously parrying and countering swifter opponents.

While using her horns (front and back) and ‘hooves’ in combat is not out of the question, as a knight she considers poison to be dishonorable, and as such never uses her neck spines in combat. Indeed, said spines have been filed down as a commitment to this ideal, and are as a result entirely blunt.

Rose generally gets stronger as the fight goes on, with her blade striking harder with each slash as she dances from blow to blow, each strike swifter and stronger than the last. When badly wounded, she can reach inside herself and find additional power to win the day as she ‘stops holding back’ and delivers some truly titanic blows.

Reputation wise she is known for being straightforward, reliable and is known for taking on jobs for less than they are worth if it's for a good cause. Connections wise, her mother and two siblings run a local courier service, transporting goods from town to town (and sometimes to parties mid adventure, though these days that is mostly Rose’s job) quickly and safely. All three of them are proud of her, though they do wish she’d stop undercharging for her knightly services.

Her extended family meanwhile are well renowned knights who can be found across the land, though her relationship with many of them is a touch strained due to their reaction to her father’s marriage to her mother. There are a few exceptions: the only member of her party to return (a Galvantula named Fenri) is one, having helped continue her training after her father disappeared, and a few of her younger cousins aren't old enough to remember, or simply don't care about, the family drama dividing Rose’s little branch of the family from the rest.

Weaknesses:
Rose has a strict code of honor as a knight, and abhors deception, trickery, lies and all things dishonorable. The ethics side of things do not particularly clash with her chosen profession, other than her refusal to tell even the whitest of lies sometimes making her come off as blunt, but when it comes to combat her refusal to use her natural poisons is considered wasteful by some and downright negligent by others. It also results in her lacking in ranged options, though with her speed the enemy is never going to be at range for long.

Her vows to protect others come first, of course, but it would take a great deal to get the knight to embrace her toxic nature (and if she did she would be incredibly bad at using it). On the other side of things, she will often insist on ensuring her opponents have a fair fight, and refuses to use, and becomes outraged by, underhanded tactics. She has, as a result, something of a weakness to dark type’s strategies.

More generally, she has trouble hurting a lot of types with her biological blade and though most of those can be taken down with a good kicking she has a lot of trouble even hurting steel and ghost types. She doesn't exactly have a lot of good offensive advantages either with her limited set of bug and normal moves. She also has nothing to handle fliers, teleporters or speedsters who stay at range, and her biological armor doesn't stand up well to fire.

Learning to understand what she is saying while talking through the sword is a skill in and off itself, so she doesn't make a particularly good shot caller in the heat of battle.

She has a mixed relationship with her extended family, many who see her as the shiny wooloo of the family, more so even than those who have simply abandoned their knightly ways, due to her being emblematic of her fathers ‘poor’ choice in partner and her mouth based sword wielding being considered an insult to their fighting discipline.

Greatest Fear:
Rose is scared of losing anyone else, which can make her rather overprotective, sometimes to a detrimental degree, of those she is close to. While protection is part of her shtick, sometimes you don’t want a mass of chitne throwing itself in your way, especially if she is already hurting badly or is stopping you from dealing with a problem.

More directly, she is deathly afraid of fire, both due to her natural weakness and because it was likely her fathers’ end.

(basically the entire inspiration for this is that furry cutter is an egg move for Scolipede)

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 1,412 (+3)
Bowser: Level 9 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (155/90)
Bowser Jr: Level 8 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (88/80)
Kamek: Level 8 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (85/80)
Location: Bottomless Sea – the Maw - the Restaurant
Feat: Rika

The troop’s adding their spike backs to the one woman’s umbrella barricade protecting Bella from being eaten by the wizard had its pros and cons. On the upside, they initially moved together to take the palace of peach’s umbrella once it got zapped, ensuring the blockade remained and the princess herself was safe as well. On the downside the wizards were a bit quicker on the spell casting draw than they expected, resulting in Bowser getting deep fried as well.

”Papa!” Jr cried out in alarm, diving to try and snatch his now highly edible father away from the voracious monster that had poly-morphed him into fish food. Fortuitously, at just that moment Bowser’s troops, organized by his royal advisor, came to his rescue, their barrage of pots and pans hailing down on top of the two wizards in a cacophony of clanging metal. Their cast iron rain was followed swiftly by the twin cracks of Rika’s cannons, firing from the cover of the fire-pit.

While the girl herself stumbled and fell into the wet ash, too weakened by hunger to stand the recoil of her own guns, her shots struck home and shattered the bowl of the one she had been aiming at and, just as Mirage had planned, dumping the creature to the ground where it was in prime ass whooping range.

The hail of iron ended when there was a brief moment of panic among the Troop a moment later, caused by Larry’s sudden return, one that swiftly ended once they all remembered strikers were a thing. Well the troop who had been in the know already did, the chef bro’s had to be quickly brought up to speed by Kamek yelling ”It’s ok, he’s on our side now and he’ll be gone again in just a moment!” after the fleeing chef bros, who were crying out about ghosts and unkillable chefs.

Cowardice on their part fortunately did not have any impact on the battle, as Link’s quick requisition of the chef’s spirit ended two one of the wizards in a one two punch. Or one deer toss and a flurry of follow up punches. The second was taken down by the well timed arrival of Blazermate, Nadia and the Ace Cadet, their circuitous route and run in with the other dangerous chefs bringing them to the perfect flanking spot at the perfect moment upon which they could pile in and finish the battle.

Either related or unrelated to the ending of the wizard’s lives, their curses were lifted as first Bella, and then Bowser, were returned to normal, much to the king’s relief.

”Gah, I’m glad that’s over” the un-fried king said as his son gave him a quick relieved hug, before praising his (now returning) minions’ swift intervention that had likely saved his life ”Good work troop. Nobody tries to make lunch meat out of the Koopa King and gets away with it!” and giving the spirit of the one that had tried to do so a kick, which did little other than cause it to be lobbed up and away a few feet before drifting back down again unfazed by his violence.

”Bah, whatever. If anyone's going to be eating anyone it’s gonna be me, got that ya shrimps” Bowser growled at the (again, already dead) wizards in what turned out to be a terrible choice of statement given the subsequent revelation of the nature of the curse by Bella to the rest of the gang.

”Oh. Urg. That’s not good” Bowser said, honestly more concerned about the loss of control and weight gain the curse would cause than the potential cannibalism itself. It was, after all, technically not cannibalism for him if the victim was human. Technically.

”Ew grooooooss. Why does this place have to make everything the worst!” was Jr’s far more natural response, throwing up his arms in frustration and appall as Mimi hopped back onto his shoulder, the little mon either not understanding or not caring about its own touching by the curse. The red sauce had been tasty, and that was all that mattered to her.

Still, there was an upside in this, and that was that now that they knew the nature of the curse the risk from eating was ironically lesser than it had been when the royals had eaten. Peach may well have even hit upon a way to avoid it entirely with her point about avoiding meat.

”If we are lucky it is just the meat? Which means I could have eaten ages ago… sigh” the mage shook his head sadly as he realized the implication, before seeking out some vegetarian fair that he would have eaten anyway. It was not, he mused, like he’d have been that much more useful fully fed. Then again maybe he would have thought up the idea of avoiding meat if he wasn't starving, or any number of other useful facts. It was while mulling this over that his attention was brought to the fallen spirit of one of the Tempura monsters laying in a pile of tasty looking rice. No, the Tempura Wizard! The magicless mage corrected himself in his mind, and then ground his beak as he contemplated the pros and cons… before finally taking the plunge for the sake of his team, and his heavily bruised ego.

As the mage got a taste for seafood (but started with rice) the rest of the troop refueled. Mostly Rika, who proceeded to devour her way through a garden's worth of vegetables and most of Jr’s remaining soft drinks (while all but the vegi-soup was disposed of for safety’s sake). The mostly carnivorous royals were in a bit of a bind and so had, at most, a snack of some bread while the others were eating, before they all gathered up their things, formed up and set off once more.

Following Nadia’s guidance they headed downstairs, scared the bejesus out of the final, non murderous due to specializing in sushi, chef through sheer numbers, and then heading towards the restaurant, with the helm in mind as their final destination, which was as logical a goal as any in this place. They’d need to commandeer it to get to their actual destination after all.

On the way there however, they spotted an even better target, the shadowy form of the ship’s mistress, lurking about all the way up on the fifth floor of the restaurant. The troop were all well onboard with the plan of going after her to beat her up, though Kamek did suggest they ”Keep an eye out for the creatures that accompanied her when we met her the last time which did, well, this to us. I’m sure they will be around her, but if we hit them first that would be ideal as it might break the curse entirely.”

”Oh oh and if we do we can get some sweet justice on her! See how that spooky lady likes being a little kid” Jr added, giggling at the thought of the karmic justice they could execute with the demon’s power.

Still, they had to get up there first, and so they kept moving, eventually finding their way to the VIP lounge, which sported its own host of guests which, while as bloated with fat as the rest, or even more so, seemed to retain something like their minds and original forms. Powerful looking forms too, in some cases. While Nadia’s attention was drawn to the ladylike manikins on stage, Bowser and Jr’s stayed one of the guests.

”Don't we…. know that crocodile guy?” Jr said, hesitantly.

”Hmmmm,” Bowser thought hard while scratching his head, also recognizing him, but not knowing where from till he snapped his fingers with realization ”Yeah we do! he was at the cliff at the start of all this right?” he glanced at Peach who had probably been paying more attention to those present for confirmation.

”Well that is convenient. Though, ah, freeing him might not be” Kamek noted, looking at the other oversized guests wearily.

”What, those fatsos? Can they even move, let alone fight?” Jr said arogently, eyeing the other, even chunkier guests.

”I’d rather not find out, would you?” the mage cautioned, before suggesting ”If we want to go about weakening him then let’s at least try and be clever about it rather than running in and making another commotion. Or just leave him till we get our normal forms back. He’s been here from the start, most likely, so he’ll last a little longer, I’m sure.”

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 921 (+2)
Bowser: Level 9 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (152/90)
Bowser Jr: Level 8 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (85/80)
Kamek: Level 8 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (82/80)
Location: Bottomless Sea – the Maw - the Kitchens
Feat: Rika

”Ha” Bowser laughed in relief when Sakura followed up his cooking based joke with her own, glad that he had not upset her with his own joke at least, before reassuring them both by saying”yeah well, we’ve got you now so don't worry. You’ll be down in just a second, no sweat. Right son?”

”uh yeah just about” the boy replied unconvincingly.

Indeed the truth of the king’s second statement was debatable as the king and his minions (along with Mirage and Peach) wrestled with their stack of pots and pans, trying to keep it from tipping over while Jr hacked away at the knots binding the pair of ladies to the spit hanging over the now doused fire. To their aid came Bella, who’s cannibalistic spree they had missed due to being out of the room at the time, but the results of which could not be ignored as her now comparatively towering, but tubby, form hurried over to help them.

”Aw no not again,” Bowser muttered under his breath, being reminded of the time he had been forced/convinced to eat so much that his fattened up form broke through the floor and left him stuck there till a certain bit of inside help let him rapidly lose that weight again.

As the king looked down to check himself for weight gain the others were mainly happy to have her help. Jr at least was very relieved to have the teetering under him till thanks to her penance, and the chef bros were equally thankful that they weren't at risk of being chewed out for letting him fall. Rika meanwhile was alarmed by the curse affecting her friend in the way it had, having to watch it all unfold while hanging above the fire, but also had to deal with the mixed feelings resulting from the fact that she had been saved predominantly because of the strength it had given her.

Strength enough to hug her in Sakura in her arms and lift them down to the ground, onto which Rika found herself sitting down on, her knees feeling weak from the stress close call and her general fatigue.

Kamek, who was the only one in the Troop who had the whole picture, eyed the now larger women with some nervousness. Of all the people to have the truth of the hungering compulsion completed by this place come to light in, the former abyssal princess was perhaps the worst possible one. Before he could begin worrying about what it would take to set her off in a way that threatened them, or theorizing as to why the curse worked in the way it did, they were interrupted by a pair of Tempura Wizards.

The floating cyclopean creatures where half fried seafood, half bare heated muscular man, and seemed so ridiculously out of place in the land of horror that it left the troop stunned at first, right up until they transformed Bella into the cuisine of their namesake when she took the first volley of magical fire for them and then, revealing their reason for fitting right in, one proceeded to unveil vicious jaws with which it came snapping towards the foodified woman in-order to devour her whole.

”You’ve got that right!” Bowser agreed with Peach’s assessment of the awful ship as he and Jr dropped their things and rushed to follow the princess's lead, leaping to protect the simplified shipgirl from harm. ”Give it a face full of spikes!” he commanded, resulting in both royal koopas presenting their spiny shells on either side of the princess’s umbrella, forming an impromptu round-shield wall in the defense of their deep fried friend.

Mimi, mostly unaffected by her blood consumption either due to lack of volume or lack of any actual meat in her meal, rushed to rejoin her trainer while the remaining koopas all legged it in the opposite direction to hid, something that Kamek was incredulous about when he found the chef bros (who knew exactly the fate of those who tangled with the Tempura Twins before they launched their first spell) trying to find cover with him.

”What are you, Toads!? Fight them!” The mage damned as he did no such thing himself.

“Hey but your also-” one began to protest, only to be cut off by the mage once again.

”I am in a koopa troopa child’s body! What am I going to do, toddle into them?” which shamed them enough to get the adult sized koopas to bravely… thrown kitchen equipment at the wizards from behind cover. Admittedly, their larger bodies and training in the art of tossing as an offshoot of the hammer bros corps made them a fair sight more dangerous than children doing the same thing had been be at least.

The last of the troop to move was Rika, who hauled herself up as danger came and, though tired, nodded in accent to Mirage’s plan, before taking cover behind the pot pile. Resting her guns on one of the pots she made a quick, basically instinctive, assessment of the state of the battle and her remaining ammo reserves. Deciding that the trio of royals maybe had Bella safe, and that the charging one was hard to hit anyway, she aimed her shots at the one still floating above them and looking to turn another one of them into lunch meat. A moment later twin firecrackers barked as she fired off a pair of miniature cannon shells at its floating bowl, just as instructed.

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 1,047 (+2)
Bowser: Level 9 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (150/90)
Bowser Jr: Level 8 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (83/80)
Kamek: Level 8 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (80/80)
Location: Bottomless Sea – the Maw - the Kitchens
Feat: Rika and Mirage (+2)

It took a while for the world to come back, mainly because of the ringing in the ears of the troop

”GAH! WHY WAS THAT SO LOUD!” Bowser complained thunderously as he peaked his head over the washbasin they’d used for cover.

”WHAT?” Kamek shouted back with the indignation of an old man he still was at heart.

”I SAID, WHY WAS THAT SO LOUD!” Bowser yelled again, to no avail

Jr wasted no such time, and quickly moved himself out from their hiding spot and headed for the door, wordlessly waving for the others to follow. They arrived just in time to see the butcher being swarmed by two small children, two noticeably bigger children and Mimi. As Jr advanced and picked his way through the burning remains of the door, the man fell to a railgun blast, yet, for some reason, the monstrous man refused to die. His grievous wounds did however cause a certain, mouthwatering scent to start wafting through the air. It ensnared Bella, who began tearing at the man with bloody yet non lethal intent. She was joined in this by Mimi, though the specter lacked the brutal jaws, or any jaws really, to actually chomp at him and instead went vampirically for his leaking crimson vitality.

Mirage however had the will, or perhaps the simple humanity that the other two lacked, to resist. Also a gun to smack himself in the head with. This put him in a perfect position to intercept the Troop as they stormed in, and to prevent the royals from having their carnivorous sensibilities tempted by the Maw’s bloodthirsty curse. He was helped in this by the fact that he and they met in the still smoking ruins of the door, where everything smelled of burnt flour and wood, which smothered the bloody scent a great deal.

”Aw come on you beat us to the rescue!” Was Jr’s selfish first comment as he stopped at the entrance.

”He means: good job on the rescue” Kamek called from behind as he approached, lagging behind even the chef bros. Said bros already had the water Mirage was requesting, though unfortunately it was only a little in the pans they’d armed themselves with and it was used to dose the burning doorway for kitchen safety reasons. Upon having the girls pointed out, (at which point they got a cry of “hey! You came!” from a runny nosed Rika) the Troop wasted no time in doing their part.

”We got this! Kitchen Koopas, about turn!” the King commanded, ordering his troops to reverse direction and return to the washroom to acquire more water. He, jr and the chef bros quickly hurried off back past Kamek as he finally arrived at the door. The old mage took one look at Mirage’s concerned face and had to ask ”Are you alright, Mr Mirage?”

"Huh?" Mirage took a moment to think on Kamek's question, looking past the previously-elder koopa to make sure the others were well on their way. He'd kept up a pretty good positive image so far, but after what he'd just experienced, he wasn't sure if he could keep that going. "Honestly? No, not at all." He admitted, tone somewhat bleak.

”Did something happen or?” the mage took a glance around, doing a quick headcount and not seeing anyone missing other than those who had gone Naddia’s way. He did however see Bella bloodily tearing into the chef and looked a little queasy at the sight of it.

Mirage nodded, understanding the shift of expression without having to turn. "I think I figured out the food's curse. Or, at least, a part of it." Realizing this called him out on eating after he left, his expression shifted to be a bit more wry. "Once Bella started attacking, I got this urge to bite the guy. But not in a... Damaging, sort of way. Like a hungry kinda way."

The mage’s queasy look got a whole lot worse.

Quickly he waved his hands defensively. "I-I didn't do it, though! I swear."

”That... is most disturbing news, and it means- oh no” Kamek replied once he had control over his stomach, before his eyes went wide as he realized who else was affected by said curse.

At that very moment the few moments they had to talk before the rest of the troop came back ended as the six other koopas arrived, holding a large pasta pot among them like they were a gang of pikmin hauling a large and tasty pellet.

”One two one two, water crew coming through!” Bowser shouted/chanted at the discussing pair, forcing them to move aside or be run over by the water-bearers. They teetered into the kitchen, crossing their self made minefield of splinters with only minor injuries and then approached the cook-fire where Rika’s emotional roller-coaster was ending with relife

“Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou” she said rapidly, only for her words to be interrupted by coughing as the water was dumped onto the fire, causing a gush of steam to rise up and smother the pair for a few moments. “Cough Cough, urgh”

”You alright? You look like steamed ham up there” Bowser joked, causing Rika to grimace at the unintended reminded that she had about to have been cooked and then eaten. ”Oh, uh. Hey let's get you down from there… somehow”

Now that the fire was dealt with, getting the girls down wasn't exactly an insurmountable problem, but it was still one that needed handling.

”How about this? We toss this down and make a pyramid to get up” Jr suggested, and in quick order that was what they did, popping down the pasta pot and a few other containers into the doused fireplace. One it was all in place Jr using all that, and a few leg ups from minions and his papa, and a few darts from Mirrage, to clamber up and up in order to try and claw at the bindings keeping them tied up

“I’ve got a half scissor if that’ll help?” Rika suggested to the prince, and indeed it did. With the plane blade he hacked away at the ropes (the boy did not know his knots well enough to simply undo them) and in doing so, freed the ladies at last.

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 1,293 (+3)
Bowser: Level 9 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (148/90) (-7)
Bowser Jr: Level 8 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (81/80) (-6)
Kamek: Level 8 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (78/80) (-6)
Location: Bottomless Sea – the Maw - the Kitchens
Feat: Rika

Bowser’s headbutting of one of the koopas turned into a very very short lived dust up, or rather sud up, as the inevitable Galeem thing happened to the troopas in response to one of your friends being attacked by some random kids, who they didn't find nearly as scary as the chefs, even if they talked big game. This turned out to be a poor assessment, as they were no match for the royals, who quickly beat some sense into their minions and reminded them of their duty.

“Oh shoot. Prince Junior! Sorry we didn't recognize you!” the first troopa to be free said as he got his senses back, before standing up with pride and saluting “Chef Bros, ready for duty” prompting the other three troopas to do the same, before they all looked back and forth a little confused and the first asked “but, uh, why are there two of you?”

”Coz I’m Bowser, thats why” the king informed them, jabbing a thumb towards himself before explaining ”The freaky witch lady who runs this place put a curse on me and my new troop, making us all young. Not that that managed to keep us down”

”Yeah! But we gotta hurry now. Remember?” Jr insisted, thinking they had wasted quite enough time on these minions already and wanting to get moving.

”The young master is right. Time is of the essence” Kamek agreed, despite them freeing these koopas being his idea. There was of course logic to it, which he displayed now by asking, ”So tell me, do you know another way into the Kitchen that is just round the corner?”

“Oh that one? Um. well. That’d be...” The Koopa glanced towards the door Nadia had disappeared through quite a while ago “quite a long way round. Past all the, urgh, ‘guests’" The koopa shuddered at the memory of them "and then down through the kitchen, past all the chefs…” despite being free and in the presence of their boss, the troopas still weren't exactly thrilled about the idea of going up against the soup-makers “It’d be this whole thing”

”That’ll take too long. How about the door? Got anything that can go through it. Like a fire axe? Or a bomb or something!” Jr asked quickly

”They don't exactly keep explosives in kitchens I'm afraid, young master” Kamek corrected the prince, ”thinking of all the open flames! It would be a nightmare! There’s a reason you never see any bob’omb chefs”

“Uh, well, there’s no intentional bombs about, but every good chef has to know how not to blow up their kitchen and uh, well if we work backwards from that there might be something...” The Chef bro explained before, hesitantly, explaining what he meant.

---

“Oh oh, that’s smaaart!” Rika said, agreeing with Bella’s plan, before whisper-shouting down to Mimi to “hey, you’ll help her when she bites her right? Pull a sneaky on him or something?” which got her a salute from the mon, who then hurried away from the edge of the fireplace, where she’d probably besotted if Bella’s plan worked, and went to find a nice ambushed spot from which she could assail the chef.

“Cool ok now. Uh. How do I cry?” the girl, who had been a nameless faceless mook all of a day ago, asked, only to find Bella already slumped over and playing dead already. “Bella? Bella? Oh. Oh dear”

“I uh, oh no um um um” Rika said, starting to panic “Wah. Wah. Wah. That's what crying is isn’t it? Or no, that sounds really fake. I don't know if. How am I supposed to? um. I’m sorry. You’ve been really smart and i don't know how to. I. im sorry I'm just. I'm so hungry. And tired. And stupid and ” she sniffed and kept rambling “and i don't want you to die. I don't want to die. But I. I don't know how. How to” she sniffed again, harder, her nose getting runny “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorrrrrrry.” She wailed the last and then had all the stress, fear and exhaustion of the day catch up with her as she broke down into genuine tears, loudly sobbing and crying as tears streamed down her cheeks for the first time in her life.

---

While the others used stealth speed and trickery to navigate the maw and try and make their escape, the Koopa troop was resorting to what they did best. Brute force.

”Faster people, faster! Get those sacks emptied out” Bowser shouted as he hauled another one into the kitchen from the pantry they’d passed by.

”Sire please! This is incredibly reckless. We are in a pressurized submersible, badness knows how deep beneath the ocean! This could kill us all!” the mage shouted up to his king from the door to the washroom, incredibly concerned by what was unfolding.

”Ah quit being such a baby! We’re gonna show those schmucks what happens when you try to keep us out! Really shake things up around here!” Bower shouted back as Jr ran past him shaking his own sack all over, filling the air in the room with flour dust, who added ”yeah, those big jerk chefs won’t know what hit em!”

“Uh, Boss! Bosses! That’s gonna be enough. I think” the now de facto leader of the chef bros squad said as he and his troops finished emptying their own sack.

”Alright alright! Then let's blow this popsicle stand!” the king announced, tossing his sack aside and then hustling out the room along with the others as they all headed back into the washroom where the fork people were currently cowering in the corner, wanting nothing to do with these crazed brutes but equally fearful of leaving their workplace

”Oh dear oh dear oh dear. At least scrub yourselves off before this goes down! We're covered in flour!” the mage instructed, resigned to the incoming carnage and hastily using the soapy suds to get himself clean, before finding something, anything, to hide behind.

In this, at least, his advice was heeded and the troop rapidly cleansed themselves (and any children who they’d found cowering in the kitchen and had herded out of it) of potential explosives before taking cover. Rather than join them, Bowser went and found an angle that let him see into the room and towards the flour cloud swimming around, which was mainly being kept there by the humidity in the washroom on one end and the fact that they’d blocked the way they’d come in on the other.

Once everyone was ready and taking cover, the king took a deep breath and hucked a fireball across the room towards the door, its slow speed for once a blessing as its lazy flight gave him time to leg it to cover as well.

”So if flour explodes, why couldn't we have just pile it up next to the door?” Jr asked now that they weren't running around filling the air with the stuff.

“Oh, no, so see” one of the chef bros began explaining “it’s because flour has a lot of energy in it. So it burns quite well. But normally just the outside of a load of flour burns because it’s the only bit touching the air. But in there, all of the flour’s touching the air at once as it floats around in it, meaning it can all burn at once, meaning that when it ignites-”

And then the world went white.

Our Dying Wish

Angela Degrasse

”Ink it is then darling” Angela replied/conceded effortlessly when her formal address was rejected with faux politeness. Then she rested her chin on her fist and leaned in just a little as the man explained his power with great detail, complete with a visual demonstration.

”That is indeed quite the unorthodox ability,” she commented once he had completed his ”and your thoroughness in explaining is very much appreciated. I think you and I might work very well together, even if I can't support you in a conventional manner. Plus I can get you a little chili and thyme to spice up your diet if you let me get the final blows” she joked with a pun.

The last member of their group was even more curt than Rika, and not out of awkwardness either. That said, the whole ‘dont use spells on me’ part was still informative, though Angela did have to ask ”How bad is blessing you exactly? Asking so I know whether healing you when you're in trouble is a justifiable inconvenience or a death sentence. I will, of course, leave you to your own devices otherwise if that is what you wish” as much as that complicated things for her.

Hit Ink with attacks, don't hit the nameless girl with support abilities. A lot of extra things to keep track of. At least Rika was’t going to be a problem in that regard, she incorrectly assessed.

Still, after the skill-set rundown it seemed that no-one else had much to add tactically, so it would be down to her to draw the beast’s attention, or so it seemed, while Rika casually spoke of bringing it down herself. She raised an eyebrow at that, but decided she’d simply let actions speak louder than words when it came time to do the deed.

Either way, the city's hero and their self appointed leader had decided it was time to go, so off they went, walking in an awkward silence that lasted all of the length of the corridor before Rika decided to strike up a conversation with Angela, something that she was more than happy to engage in to pass the time, and get to know the rising star a little better.

”Naturally. I can never pass up a dinner party, especially one with such prestigious hosts. How about yourself? I happen to host my own little sojourns from time to time if those are your thing?” she asked calculatingly conversationally at first, but as they made their way towards the farm the pair slipped into casual air filling about this and that. The shared words made Rika introducing the group as her friends to the guards a touch less presumptive/disingenuous for Angela at least, but only a touch.

She followed the excited woman up the hill with effortless grace despite wearing high heels in a field and joined her at the top as the artificial sun was forcibly set and the ‘stargazing’ began. The lady declined to sit on the grass like some of the others, as that would involve getting her dress dirty, and instead stood tall a little ways apart (so as not to loom over anyone) as she listened to the others speak of wishes.

She was… fairly certain that Rika had just been speaking about a wish (though one that was certainly telling about her ambition, and added credence to certain rumors Angel had heard about her) where as Ink took the opportunity to launch right into talking about his wish. Which was, frankly, a rather surprisingly intimate thing to share, or would have been if he hadn’t had most of the juicy stuff left out. Still, she noted it all to memory nonetheless and then spoke her own piece.

”To retake part of humanity's birthright would be a fine thing indeed” she said, agreeing to the desire to live beyond the dome before adding ”To play a part in its our reascension is all I could ever wish for”

The truth, in a humbled form.

---

Once things went silent Ink decided to ask her to do her thing to get the beast’s attention, a plan which had one minor flaw.

”I said I’d draw it in, not find it for you, so be a dear and keep those eyes peeled Ink” Angela replied, not taking her gaze of the darkened false sky, her tone faintly mocking rather than harshly admonishing as it could have been ”or have you been just admiring the stars this whole time, hmmm?”

There was a moment of silence before she had a thought changed her tune

”That said, I may have something that can help that part too. If we get a touch creative with one of my spells,” she said, before strolling up to the top of the hill and taking her place at its summit.

”The lights are dimmed, the stage is set, so now only one thing remains. Sinclair, if you could be a dear, turn on the spotlights so I can start the show?” she asked her Jinn, causing a magic circle to rapidly draw itself around her feet, and then flash to life and cause a bright beam of light to appear, illuminating her atop the hill.

Then another, and another and another, spiraling around and lighting up the lady like an actress on stage.

”Now, while I do so love being the center of attention, may I kindly ask you all to cast your eyes back to the skies?” she said down to the other three, who’s attention she had no doubt captured, while pointing up in the direction of the beams shining down on her. While one end as they spun around acting as spotlights that illuminating her as intended the beams also continued up and up and up, eventually striking the ceiling of the cavern where they roamed too and fro, acting as improvised searchlights.

”Come out, come out wherever you are, dragon prince! Aren't your kind supposed to be fond of kidnapping princesses and fair maidens?” she called out to the skies as she sought out the monster with her inverted limelights, the beams projecting her taunts to the heavens. She was, of course, neither princess (sadly) nor maiden, but she could play the part for the sake of the drama of it all ”Well I am right here, helpless and alllll alone, so why don’t come and get me? I assure you, I taste far better than the mere bovine you’ve been feasting on so far! But come quick, come quick, before they turn the lights back on! Surely you can snatch me up in the blink of an eye, hidden by the black of night? Or are you scared of a frail damsel like myself, hmmm?”