That Bowser had a transformation was honestly not a big surprise, excepted for Phantom, Phantom Bloom, Phantom Belle, Black Apple, and Shadow Speedster for who it was a first. Apple Death and her CMC had only experienced Bowser turning into a giant, so they would have been less prepared, but they were told the stories, so they still showed no surprise.
However, his much scarier appearance, right out of a nightmare, and the utter feeling of power he released took everyone off guard. Luigi was almost pissing himself. Peach, especially, could feel that this was probably Bowser's most powerful form ever. Even stronger than when he inhaled the dust that remained of the Dream Stone after it was destroyed and became Dreamy Bowser. Even stronger than when he used the power of a Grand Star. And he received this form from someone?
Phantom immediately went on the offensive.
Not daring to approach, she instead flew upward to the ceiling, materialized her thunder spear, and threw it at Bowser. Thunder erupted where the spear impacted Bowser and the Koopa King disappeared in an explosion of electricity. When the electricity disappeared however, Bowser was only left with some burn marks. Bowser then took a huge breath, and Phantom quickly flew away, just it time to avoid a powerful stream of fire that looked like a laser. The fire went through the ceiling and continued its way through the castle and beyond toward the sky. Phantom would have been turned into ash if she had been caught by it.
Sweetie Ghoul started singing, boosting everyone's offensive power. Scootabot remained at her side in her scooter form, ready to transport her to safety if Bowser decided to target her.
Both Mario and Luigi began to attack with their respective element, revealing their new powers to Bowser. But despite being hit by fire and thunder, the Koopa didn't even flinch. The attacks had an effect, they caused injuries, but very small, compared to bug bites. Yoshi's eggs weren't better, and the dinosaur had to leave to eat more of Bowser's minions and create new eggs to throw.
Bowser approached the brothers, readying his claws cloaked in darkness. As he attacked, Mario and Luigi jumped to avoid them and reached Bowser's head that they bonked with their hammers, barely doing anything. Bowser caught the two of them as they fell back and hit their heads together hard before he threw them at the room's wall with such force that they went right through it.
Apple Death then came and smashed a painting of Bowser against his head, making sure to hit with the frame which broke in pieces. The ghostly skeleton filly had more paintings levitating around her and was ready to send them, but Bowser then turned to face her and breathed another powerful stream of fire that she dodged. She wasn't sure if she could be killed in her ghost form but she didn't want to test it. She then threw one of the paintings at Bowser while Phantom sent some Phantom Cubes to catch Bowser in her power so she could fire at him with some cannons.
Meanwhile, Little Ghost was with the others, hesitating, looking between the defenseless fillies and princess and Bowser. "I should lead everyone who can't fight out of the castle, but I want to fight..."
"Go fight," Black Apple said. "We'll leave the castle by ourselves, and Ah'll protect everyone with the Piranha Plant."
Shadow Speedster grinned. "And of course, there is also me to protect everyone."
Little Ghost nodded and flew closer to Bowser, sending fireballs and gaining his attention. With this, the remaining fillies and Peach ran out of the room, Black Apple riding on the Piranha Plant.
Mario and Luigi returned in the room followed by Yoshi who now had a dozen eggs, and they resumed sending fire, thunder, and eggs at Bowser who managed to jump toward Phantom and to hit her with his horns, somehow causing an explosion that sent her crashing into the wall. Phantom quickly recovered and healed herself before she sent more Phantom Cubes to continue her assault on Bowser.
Bowser entered his shell and spun toward Mario, ice mist surrounding him. Mario jumped away, but Luigi, who was just beside Mario, was hit, and he found himself frozen. Bowser immediately got out of his shell and readied himself to smash the frozen brother, but Yoshi came and caught Luigi with his tongue, getting him away just in time. The dinosaur ran away while holding Luigi, and Apple Death went to help him, using her powers to create fire and melt the ice.
Bowser returned his focus on Mario and attempted to claw him again, only for the plumber to jump away. He did a few more attempts, all avoided the same way. Then, he suddenly changed target and jumped toward Little Ghost, shell toward her, not only hitting her with a spike but also electrifying her, sending her flying through a wall. Bowser then curled into a spiked ball and rolled toward Mario. Faster than expected.
"Mamma mia!"
Mario barely dove out of the way in time before Bowser passed where he had been not even one second ago and continued, crashing through the wall behind, and more crashes sounding after that. A few seconds later, Bowser returned by crashing through the wall again, creating a second hole while still rolling. Mario didn't have time to dive a second time to avoid him, but he was saved by Apple Death levitating him away before he was rolled over. Bowser then stopped rolling and uncurled before he spat powerful fireballs at the heroes, even targeting Sweetie Ghoul. The fireballs caused big explosions upon impact, whether they hit someone or not.
The fight continued, Bowser tanking everyone's attacks while destroying more and more of his castle as collateral damage. After a few minutes, he managed to claw Mario, badly injuring him, leaving deep gashes, but he was quickly healed by Phantom. Not long after, he jumped at Yoshi and managed to crush him, even stomping on him with his huge foot to hurt him even more. By now, the dinosaur didn't have anymore eggs, and he couldn't find anymore minions outside the room to get new ones. They all fled the castle, wanting to get away from Bowser's wild attacks or from the fortress about to crumble as a result.
Bowser caught Luigi and jumped, doing a backflip before belly-to-belly suplexing him onto the ground. Bowser passed right through the floor to the basement of the castle. Everyone winced, imagining Luigi's state after that. Phantom quickly followed Bowser in the hope of saving Luigi. There were the sounds of explosions, roars, everything shook, and Phantom eventually flew back with a half dead Luigi, quickly followed by Bowser jumping out of the hole.
Bowser focused on Sweetie Ghoul who was still singing and breathed a stream of fire at her. Scootabot transported her around rapidly as Bowser followed her with the fire, causing even more destruction. It was very obvious at this point that the castle was very close to crumble, so the heroes decided that it wouldn't be clever to remain here.
So they ran or flew away, Bowser hot on their trail. Phantom was putting walls to slow him down, but they never lasted long, not even metal ones. His claws could tear the hardest metal she could think of apart! And his fire breath burned right through the more fire-resistant one!
After a chase that only lasted a couple of minutes but felt like it lasted longer, the heroes exited the castle. Minions could be seen everywhere around it, some still running away to get more distance from the danger. Peach and the others were also not far in the sky, aboard the airship that the heroes used to come, left alone by the minions who were more focused on trying to avoid being collateral damage than capturing the Princess.
When everyone beside the heroes saw Bowser exit the castle, they all moved even more away.
And they did good, because upon exiting the castle, Bowser looked toward the sky and breathed a huge amount of fire that then rained all over the place as countless explosive fireballs. Phantom used her powers to create dozens of cannons that fired at the fireballs, making them explode in the air before they could fall on the heroes. At the same time, Apple Death decided to take possession of the castle, beginning to send her own fireballs from the windows and the various Bowser heads' eyes on the walls and towers.
With a growl, Bowser breathed fire at the castle, sweeping left and right, up and down, destroying it and forcing Apple Death out of it. While he did that, Mario threw a huge fireball at the sky which then began to fall back toward Bowser, then sent more smaller fireballs at it to make it grow bigger as it continued its fall. By the time the fireball reached Bowser, it was a bit bigger than him, and it totally engulfed him. Trying his own technique, Luigi threw three electric balls around Bowser, then threw a fourth one directly at Bowser, gluing itself to him, on his shell, and electricity appeared between the four balls, linking them. Bowser found himself continuously shocked, and when he moved, the electricity followed him because of the ball sticking on him. In addition of that, the electricity surrounded him as a result of the three balls around him, limiting where he could go without being shocked even more. And that safe space was very small for him so he could barely take one step.
And yet, Bowser didn't care. He marched into the electricity and left the the small area, not minding getting shocked as a result. He even stomped on one of the electric balls, destroying it but also getting his foot badly shocked. Then, he resumed attacking the heroes, focusing on Mario that Phantom quickly had to heal after he got clawed again. The other electric balls eventually disappeared on their own.
Apple Death used what remained of the castle to build for herself a huge golem easily ten times bigger than Bowser. Taking possession of it, she went to punch Bowser, but the Koopa countered the punch with his own punch and actually overpowered Apple Death's golem, destroying the arm. Apple Death rebuilt it and then stomped on Bowser, only for Bowser to overpower her again, lifting the foot and sending the golem stumbling backward, walking into the lava behind the castle. So, instead, Apple Death stomped the lava, causing a huge spike of stone to sprout right under Bowser.
Bowser quickly recovered and punched the ground, causing a earthquake. Cracks spread everywhere, and the battlefield turned chaotic, with parts separating, lifting, or lowering. The heroes who couldn't fly were separated as a result, Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi in one side, Sweetie Ghoul and Scootabot in another.
Bowser used this to go after Sweetie Ghoul, but Scootabot still managed to get away with her, rolling and jumping above the cracks and up the stone walls formed by the earthquake. Phantom stopped his chase by sending Phantom Cubes, materializing a spaceship the size of the Unique Horn and sending it crashing into him. Bowser, however, stopped the ship on its track and threw it at Apple Death's golem. Thankfully, the spaceship not being in the same reality than Apple Death's, it passed through the golem before disappearing. The golem attacked in return with eye lasers.
Bowser focused on Mario again, reaching the plumber in one jump before attacking. Mario did his best to dodge the claws and even Bowser's attempts to bit him. He avoided using the hammer, having learned his lesson, so he stuck to using fire. All the while, Bowser was attacked from all sides by all the heroes. Yoshi regularly had to leave to restock on eggs.
Injuries were starting to pile up on Bowser, but he continued fighting, looking like he won't give up anytime soon. Actually, the fight barely started.
About thirty minutes later, and it continued.
But by now, Bowser was breathing heavily. The heroes were too, excepted Apple Death's CMC, but they still felt the fatigue. Little Ghost was almost invisible by now, Sweetie Ghoul's singing had lost power, and even Apple Death's golem was smaller. Phantom's body was starting to glitch.
"Huff... Huff... Why am I not winning... despite the power I received from Crazy Hand?" Bowser eventually questioned.
The heroes exchanged looks, and Phantom asked, "Crazy Hand?"
Like Master Hand?
"That's because you underestimated us, Bowser," Mario said.
"Especially us," Little Ghost added for herself and the other fillies.
Bowser growled and breathed a fireball at Mario, who jumped away to avoid it and the following explosion.
In return, a meteor crashed on Bowser, a gift from Phantom. She stopped counting how many times she made a meteor crash on him, most of them destroyed before they could properly hit him by him punching them.
This meteor was the one too many for Bowser. Once the dust cleared, the heroes could see him on the ground, half unconscious.
Then, he returned to normal, thus ending the fight for good.
"How... could I lose? This power... I... This isn't over. I will return. And this time, I will crush you."
A portal then opened under Bowser, and he fell into it before it closed. Bowser's army, seeing their boss defeated and leaving, dispersed.
Everyone let out a sigh of relief before they all collapsed.
That was close.
This new form wasn't just for look. It really was terrifyingly powerful.
They were quickly joined by Peach and the others who landed the airship where the ground wasn't too damaged before they came.
"You did it! You won!" the princess exclaimed. "We should return to my castle so you can rest."
Everyone agreed.
She also wasn't sure if getting killed would change much beyond hurting for however long she survived the mortal injury. It certainly didn't for the guy she got the powers from. Still not worth testing.
Unlike the brothers, this didn't put a hole in it.
I just noticed a folder on a group this series is part of called, "Star Warrior Nyx."
Does anyone who knows of the folder in question have an explanation or theory?
In the interest of broadening that range, the group name is Adventures of the UCW.
EDIT: Lucar, I humbly apologize, but i must ask that if you do know and decide to answer at all, you keep that answer vague. Better yet, sit back and watch the results, or ignore it if nothing actually happens.
11659113
Oh yeah, Switch Swap made that group before he was banished.
11659120
Ah.
11659120
Aw man. I was hoping that it would be some kind of crossover with Rayman. (If i remember correctly Nyx is a filly version of Nightmare Moon and Rayman resides in the Glade of dreams)
11659647
correct on both points.
EDIT: Even if it were to happen though, it wouldn't make sense to have her come into this story (if at all) until the Smash Bros 4 Saga, since Super Smash Brothers for Wii U is when he first became a trophy, and he also appeared as a spirit in Ultimate.
Will we see Sweetie's adventure with Samus on Zebes or was that just an excuse for her to not be here for Giga Bowser?
11662175
Yes, we will see her adventure.
11662361
Is the next chapter almost ready by now? Sorry if I'm bugging you by asking that.
11662960
It's a difficult one, so it takes time. It's about... midway done.
Note: This comment is merely me putting something that is consistently on my mind when I listen to a fan made lyrical version of Mistilteinn, Tree Crown Without a Ruler.
Kirby was curious as to the Tree Monster form Magalor mentioned the Master Crown took for their battle and, interestingly, he actually added it to the training room.
Upon selecting it however, he was met with a message along with a Confirmation box asking if he was sure he wanted to go through with this fight.
question regarding the Team Attacks.
Have you considered Synchronized Takedowns like in Batman Arkham Knight?
Essentially one person launches or otherwise disorients the mook and another finishes them.
You've actually done a version of this in the Team Rainbow Rocket arc twice, if I recall.
Once when Sweetie Void, Black Apple, and Shadow Speedster (then just Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo), in order of it actually happening, high kicked one of the grunts, elbow dropped him and then punted him in the face.
Again when Mario Luigi and Yoshi coordinated a Bros attack with Yoshi's Flutterjump stomps.
Not sure if I count what Apple Death's friends did, mostly because it involved multiple opponents (Both the Rainbow Rocket Admin and her Pokemon.)
11666971
I never thought of them. I just do them when it comes to mind for the action.
11667006
On that note i just remembered another instance of that happening.
The UME fighting the Elecken possessed Morton during the Canken Conflict, when Phantom and Apple Death ping ponged him a couple times, then sent him up where Sweetie Void then sent him crashing back down, the Apple death flipped him belly-up before the three.... realistically should have obliterated his entire torso by stomping on it simultaneously.
EDIT: And need I detail that beautiful sequence in New Donk City at the end of the Gang vs Cankentriops possessed Wario?
Oh god.... i just remembered that Vault Boy is in Smash Ultimate as a Mii Gunner costume.... That means Fallout is legitimately on the table for this story....
11667505
That's right, but Fallout is an universe that I barely touched so I'm not sure of what I would do with it.
11667686
Leave it alone for now, and focus on what's already on your plate. You don't want to overwhelm yourself after all.
11668135
Yeah.
11668168
pretty much all that can be done, at this point.
Like Windy said, you got enough to focus on currently, best to leave future things for the future.