Chapter 66: New Donk City
The guards of Chújú really managed to hold their own very well against the Cankens. Helped by many brave civilians, despite the overwhelming number and power of the invaders, they were able to limit the damage caused to the town and the palace. However, many were the ones badly hurt as a result, mainly because of the explosions caused by the Bombshell Koopas' shells, and if it hadn't been for the fillies, the hospital would have been submerged.
While this happened, worried about Luigi, Mario went to search his brother in the mountains around. Thankfully, he didn't have to go far before he saw him transported by none other than Funky Kong alongside Diddy Kong and some other primates that Mario never encountered.
Excepted the old bearded one. Mario knew who he was.
While Funky had Luigi, unconscious, on his back, Diddy was dragging a beaten up Waluigi on the ground.
Mario was surprised to see them, but he quickly got over it to approach Funky and see if his bro was alright.
He had some bruises and burns, but nothing that a mushroom or two shouldn't be able to heal. It seemed that Luigi was simply sleeping, exhausted after his fight. This reassured Mario.
Diddy tried to tell him something, but Mario couldn't understand their primate language.
Old Bearded reminded Diddy of this by calming him down with a light hit on the head with his cane before he advanced toward Mario.
"Long time no see, Mario," he said in perfect common language.
Mario nodded. "If Donkey Kong hadn't told me (through body language and the very few words he could talk) about you, I wouldn't have recognised you."
"What are you saying? I still look as dashing as when we last fought."
Mario only commented on this by raising an eyebrow, making the ape roll his eyes. Funky said something with a big grin which resulted in him being bonked on the head by the cane. Despite this, Funky kept his grin, amused at what he did.
"Mph. No respect. No need to remain here. Let's go to Chújú while we continue talking. This young man needs a bed and I imagine that we have a lot to talk about, and I'm not talking about catching up."
"Like why you are in Sarasaland instead of your island? Does this have to do with the Cankens?"
"If Canken is the name of these ghost-things, then yes."
"Okey dokey! Lead the way, Donkey Kong."
"Just call me Cranky."
Luigi was in the middle of eating a small buffet (side effect of the pill he took) by the time everyone, including Daisy's father, caught up to the situation.
Scootaloo was the first to see Mario return to Chújú with the others, and she went to help them bring Luigi to the palace so they could put him in bed in one of the rooms there. But on the way, Sweetie Belle saw them too and used her powers to not only heal Luigi and Waluigi, but also gave Luigi some energy so he woke up. In the palace, they were led to a room where Sweetie Belle went to search Apple Bloom and Daisy while her father joined them. Once everyone was here, Mario then told them what Cranky told him.
Donkey Kong's island was invaded by the Cankens, Donkey Kong was captured, and the Cankens found what Starlow guessed was the Fire Star.
So this meant that the Cankens had three Elemenstars.
It was then Mario and the others' turn to explain to the primates about the Cankens.
"So this meant that if we don't stop them from getting the two remaining Elemenstars, we will have some evil god on our arms?" Diddy asked worriedly. "We must do something!"
Of course, beside the primates, nobody understood him.
Excepted Sweetie Belle thanks to her translator.
So the filly revealed, "We know where the fourth one is. Bowser learned that it is in New Donk City."
"New Donk City?!" Cranky exclaimed in surprise. "Of all places..."
"It's a small world," Tiny Kong said with some amusement.
"I can't help but remark the similarity between the city's name and the name of Donkey Kong," Scootaloo remarked. "I thought that it was a coincidence, but seeing your reaction, it isn't, right?" she asked to Cranky.
Cranky sighed. "I was born in this city, in a circus that just so happened to be there when I saw the day, so they found it funny to name me as a play between the word "monkey" and the name of the city, without thinking of all the mockeries I would get because of it."
"No kidding. With a name like 'Donkey', for an ape..." Scootaloo said.
"And these guys showed their lack of imagination by giving my son the same name," Cranky said with an exasperated shake of his head. "They treated us well, but really, they were horrible at names."
"A flaw that you have too," Funky said. "You named Diddy and the others after street and building names from the city. Heck, even 'Cranky' is a name of an avenue there."
Cranky bonked him on the head. "Like I'm the only one! At least, I can give names, contrary to most of the others on the island! Why else would they come to me to name their newborns or their animal friends? Even K Rool's father came to me for this! My own son couldn't give a proper name to his son and had to give him the SAME name! Why do you think I had to call myself 'Cranky'? With three Donkey Kongs, it was a nightmare!"
Mario laughed. "Then you escaped the circus."
"Ah, yes," Cranky said as he reminisced. "I had a bad day. I slept badly, I accidentally hit myself on the head, and some brats mocked my name. Because of this, I failed a juggling act and became the laughingstock. And my temper got the better of me and I kidnapped the first person that I got my hands on before escaping. Speaking of, I heard that Pauline is now the mayor of New Donk City. Who thought that this girl would go so far?"
"It really surprised me when I saw this," Mario agreed. "Do you know she made a festival about that first time you kidnapped her?"
"I heard about it, and I don't know how to feel. One day, you will see, they will make a video game of it."
At this moment, Waluigi, who was left sleeping on a couch placed in the room, woke up with a small "Waaahh..." as he rubbed his head. "That's the last time I let Wario bring me to one of his treasure hunts..."
When he finally opened his eyes, he found himself face to face with a grinning Daisy. "Sleepy head's finally awake?" She then grabbed him by the shoulder straps of his overalls to get him closer so his nose was touching hers. "Mario and the others told me that you and Wario are certainly the cause behind the current disaster! So tell us everything!"
"WAAAHHHH!!! S-s-spare me!"
Daisy's father sighed. "Daisy. Put him down."
After a few seconds of glaring at him, Daisy released him, allowing Waluigi to calm down as he put a hand on his heart and took big breaths. While he did that, everyone gathered around him, giving him similar glares (excepted Luigi who was still eating).
"Talk," Daisy's father ordered.
"I-I swear it's not my fault! I only followed Wario! Really! He found out about Cankentriops and his pyramid, thought that there was a huge treasure in it, and brought me with him! Beside the treasure part, I knew nothing about Cankentriops!"
"Can you at least tell us where is the pyramid?" Scootaloo asked menacingly.
"I just know that it's somewhere in the desert in North Emiraco! In Desert Kingdom!"
"With how big Desert Kingdom is, it doesn't help much," Stuffwell commented.
"And we'd already guessed that with the Star Sprites," Apple Bloom said.
"Can't you tell us exactly where the pyramid is?" Starlow asked.
"It was Wario who had the map! You will have to ask him!"
"Ugh! This guy is useless!" Daisy shouted.
"Darn... I guess we have no choice but to go to New Donk City then. Let's hope we will find Wario again there," Sweetie Belle said.
"And that we manage to save him this time," Apple Bloom added.
"But before we go, I must go search Ludwig and whoever Captain Goomba and the others managed to save," Sweetie Belle informed. "I will not be long."
She then teleported away.
"Well I'll be on my way. Good luck saving the world," Waluigi said as he got out of the couch and began to walk toward the exit.
"Not so fast!" Scootaloo shouted before she teleported beside Waluigi, took her anthro form, and caught the man by the ear, pinching it painfully.
"Wawawah!"
"Even if you just followed Wario, you are still responsible of all this shit! So you will come with us and participate!"
"Waaaahhh..."
Mushroom Kingdom.
It took a couple of minutes, but Sweetie Belle was able to find Captain Goomba's group in some forest. And at this point, it was more a small army. Captain Goomba and his comrades not only managed to save Lemmy and Larry (without counting Ludwig) as well as the three members of the Elite Trio, but also hundreds of minions of Bowser. The ones from the airship weren't the only ones who had been possessed only to escape, Bowser had countless minions who had been on the roads or in other fortresses when the Cankens attacked. Only a small percent of their overall number had been possessed, but it still wasn't nothing in the end.
However, no trace of the last two Koopalings, Wendy and Iggy.
"So we're going to Metro Kingdom?" Ludwig asked.
"But we haven't found-"
"You can continue to search for them if you want, but I'm joining Master Bowser in New Donk City," Ludwig interrupted.
"As he says," Larry said as he joined Ludwig's side. "Beside, I find it weird that we didn't find them already. I'm starting to think that they may not me in the Mushroom Kingdom anymore."
"We only have explored a small part of the Mushroom Kingdom," Captain Koopa reminded.
"Well, let's make it simple," Sweetie Belle said. "Anyone who wants to join Bowser, get beside me. Anyone who wants to continue the search, then don't get beside me."
The Koopalings, the Elite Trio, and a good majority of the minions went beside the filly.
The Captains accepted this and assured that they will continue the search with the few minions that remained, and that they could count on them.
So Sweetie Belle teleported back to Sarasaland with the Koopalings and the others.
From there, Scootaloo used her powers to materialize an airship that they used to fly to New Donk City, making sure that it could go very, very, very fast.
Only the royal family of Sarasaland didn't come, judging it preferable to remain in the empire.
Earlier. New Donk City, Metro Kingdom.
Bowser traversed the whole continent from the West with his armada, dozens and dozens of airships now threateningly flying over a seemingly endless sea of skyscrapers, causing quite the panic below. The Cankens hadn't attacked yet, it seemed, but the Koopa Army had had to fight their way through them at several reprises while they flew to Metro Kingdom, lost a few ships to them, so they knew that it was a matter of time, maybe minutes, before they appeared here.
And as they feared, as they neared the New Donk City Hall, the tallest skyscraper of the city, the dark clouds suddenly darkened the sky before Cankens came and flew down to the streets.
"Guess we arrive just in time, uh?" Bowser asked to nobody before he roared, signaling his minions to attack. The minions immediately fired from the cannons of the airships many Bullet Bills, living bullet-like projectiles possessing arms and eyes, that exploded on the approaching Cankens. Goombas, Koopas, and many others jumped from the ships to land on the streets, Hammer Bros went for the roof from which they could rain hammers, flying minions spread to cover their comrades and the airships, and Koopas flying on clouds known as Lakitus dropped dozens of smaller red spine-shelled quadrupedal Koopas known as Spinies everywhere. The airships also dropped on the streets countless of little robots looking like wind-up versions of Bowser known as Mechakoopas that went to target nearby Cankens.
"Remember!" Bowser yelled. "Remain in groups so you can stop each others from getting possessed! Don't mind the New Donkers unless they have black eyes! And if you encounter Wario or any other guy that is tougher than normal, warn me IMMEDIATELY!"
Bowser then got in his clown car and flew down toward the City Hall, using his literal fire power to blast any Cankens getting too close. Instead of passing by the door, he blasted his way through the wall, entering the building's auditorium that served as most of the first floor alongside some of his minions including Kamek who ensured that no Cankens entered this way.
Many New Donkers were there, including Mayor Pauline herself, a beautiful woman with long dark hair wearing a red pantsuit and lot of make up and possessing high heels as well as golden earrings and a bangle.
As soon as she saw Bowser, she exclaimed, "Bowser! Is this one of your schemes?!"
"Look through the windows and you will see that this is not at all the case," Bowser answered before he spotted, hanging from the ceiling above the scene in a glass case, the object that he searched, a certain blue crystal star that was used to reflect light all over the room to give a nice effect.
Bowser used his car to fly to it before he punched the glass, destroying it. As the star dropped as a result, he then caught it.
"Ah! Bowser: one! Stupid ghost-things: zero!"
BAM!
Something suddenly hit violently the entrance doors (which had been locked)!
"Mmh?" Bowser turned with his car to face the doors.
A couple more hits followed before the doors flew open, letting enter none other than Donkey Kong armed of a black hammer, followed by a big number of Sentikens. The New Donkers took their distances.
"Here's Tukaral!" he shouted. "I can feel an Elemenstar here!"
"BWAHAHAHA! You are too late!" Bowser shouted before he jumped from his car and approached Tukaral, followed by some of his minions who had entered the room with him. "So you got the primates? What a joke!"
Tukaral spotted the Elemenstar in Bowser's hand and pointed his hammer at him. "Hand off the star! Unless you want me to open your skull!"
Bowser grinned as he stopped a few meters in front of the Canken. He then put the Elemenstar in his shell before he crossed his arms. "I found it, I keep it, monkey brain. If you want it..." He then spread his arms, showing his sharp claws. "then come take it!"
"I will turn you into turtle soup, fat face!"
"F-fat face?!" Bowser shouted. "Now you will get it! Prepare to die!"
"That's my line!" Tukaral shouted back before he charged at Bowser with his hammer ready.
Bowser caught the hand holding the hammer by the wrist before he punched the Canken on the face. As they wrestled with the hammer, they exchanged more punches before Bowser sent a fireball at Tukaral's face almost at point blank and followed this by lifting the possessed ape and slamming him on the ground on his back.
While the two fought, their minions also began to clash, with a number advantage for the Cankens but Kamek made up for it with his powers.
Bowser attempted to stomp on Tukaral while he was still on the ground, but the Canken stopped him by sending purple electricity at the Koopa's face from his hammer, forcing him to take some steps back. Tukaral then quickly got up and hit Bowser on the chin with his hammer, sending him flying to land on his shell.
Instead of getting up, Bowser entered his shell before a stream of fire came out from the tail hole. It propelled him forward, taking Tukaral by surprise before he was rammed by the shell missile which pushed him all the way out of the building through the doors.
Now in front of the City Hall, the stream of fire eventually stopped, Bowser getting out of his shell before he used his limbs on the ground to stop himself near the center of the City Hall Plaza. Tukaral continued his course down the main street facing the building, then bounced and rolled chaotically once reaching the ground before he used the momentum to finally land on his feet beside a small park.
Behind him were Cankentriops as well as Wendy and Iggy, the last two possessed Koopalings. Wendy was now armed of a certain black fan, and Iggy of a certain black sword.
Kamek joined Bowser, and Bowser Jr, Roy, and Morton came in their respective clown car (with a grey border at the top and propeller at the bottom for Morton's and red ones for Roy instead of the usual green).
"Wario spotted, Lord Bowser," Morton said.
"I saw that, idiot," Bowser replied.
"Seems like wherever we go, we find strong opposition," Cankentriops remarked.
Tukaral pointed at Bowser. "BigEye, he has the Elemenstar."
"I see," Cankentriops said as he grinned before he took his scepter and pointed it at Tukaral before he fired a beam of energy. "Let's finish this rapidly. Go wild, Tukaral!"
"Oooooh!!! With pleasure! I will smash this city and this army until nothing remains!" Tukaral yelled excitedly as he began to grow.
"Oh, so they want to do it this way?" Bowser said. "Kamek!"
"Right away, sir!" the Magikoopa replied before he flew over Bowser while dropping a magical powder from his wand.
The powder fell on Bowser who glowed different colors before he began to grow too.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Cankentriops yelled. "What? Anyone can become giant nowadays?"
"Turn me giant too, Great BigEye!" Iggy said. "I shall slain this foul beast!"
"Yes, do so," Cankentriops said before he pointed his scepter at Iggy.
"Not so fast!"
Suddenly, Cankentriops was rammed by Bowser Jr.'s clown car in kart mode, stopping him from sending another magical beam.
Roy, Morton, and Kamek joined them, the Magikoopa saying, "We won't let you! Morton! Roy! You two will face Iggy and Wendy while I take care of Cankentriops with the Young Master! Do your best to separate them! We must ensure that they aren't turned giant!"
"Yes, Kamek!" the two Koopalings shouted before they jumped out of their cars, took their wands, and charged at the two possessed Koopalings who readied their weapons.
Meanwhile, both Tukaral and Bowser continued to grow. When they stopped, they were about the same size, the two as large as the Main Street and were taller than some of the buildings around.
Anybody still in the street between the two colossus ran or flew away.
Bowser then roared, signaling the beginning of the fight.
An airship flew beside Bowser's head, and a Shy Guy on it said, "We're ready to help, my Lord! Say the order and we will intervene if we can!"
Bowser nodded, and the airship flew away before the Koopa King began to walk toward his enemy.
With a growl, Tukaral threw his hammer toward Bowser, but the Koopa punched it, sending it away. Tukaral called it back into his hand and raised it, filling it with purple electricity before he smashed it on the ground, sending a powerful electric shockwave.
Bowser was able to jump above it. While in the air, he surrounded himself in stone, turning himself into a giant spherical boulder with a hole for his head and his hand. He then rolled on the street until ramming Tukaral who had readied himself to catch him. While he didn't roll over the ape, he still managed to push him back a long way before he was stopped. Tukaral then lifted him, but before he could do anything, as the hole was facing his head, Bowser spat fire at him. This made Tukaral drop Bowser right on his head, and the Koopa got out of his rock shell as the Canken dropped to the ground with him on top.
Tukaral sent Bowser flying with a kick to the belly, then immediately jumped on top of him when he landed on his back, reversing their positions. He then pummeled Bowser with his hammer and his fist. Bowser breathed fire again to stop him, but Tukaral countered it by putting his hammer in the Koopa's mouth before unleashing electricity from it.
Despite being electrified, Bowser managed to raise an arm, signing something. The next instant, half a dozen airships came and fired at Tukaral, making him stop. Bowser quickly took the occasion to grab the Canken by the shoulders before he headbutted him, then he threw him to the side into a building. finally, he got up before Tukaral could recover and breathed more fire at him. Tukaral made him stop by kicking him on the chin before he jumped at him. The two then wrestled a bit until Bowser threw him away into another building. Bowser followed this by throwing several hammers in the same manner than a Hammer Bro, the hammers doing arcs in the air while spinning before dropping back on Tukaral. The Canken deflected them with his own hammer before he charged back at Bowser who grabbed two more hammers. Hammer then clashed against hammer, and Bowser managed to hit Tukaral on the head with his other hammer only for Tukaral to bite his hand, making Bowser drop his weapon with a roar. The Koopa awarded him with a fireball in the face, but received bolts of electricity in return.
The situation back on Bowser Jr. and the others' side was more complicated. Wendy and Iggy, respectively possessed by Kirima and Maztur, were much more powerful than Roy and Morton, and Cankentriops was superior in every points to Bowser Jr. and Kamek despite their teamwork. They just didn't stand a chance. Thankfully, they could count on the help of minions to make it more fair, but Cankentriops' powers truly were devastating.
It was the sight of an all out battle between the Koopa Troop army and the Cankens with the New Donkers in the middle trying to escape that welcomed Sweetie Belle and the others as their airship arrived to New Donk City. Then they saw giant Bowser fighting giant Donkey Kong among the buildings, witnessing a group of Magikoopas merging their magic to create a giant magical ball that they sent at the ape, hitting him on the chest. Bowser himself followed this by ramming him, only for Donkey Kong to levitate big chunks of buildings before sending them at the Koopa. The first one hit its mark, but Bowser was able to punch the following ones into smaller pieces.
By now, the city was in pretty bad shape...
"Celestia..." Apple Bloom muttered, horrified by these sights.
"Brings back bad memories..." Scootaloo said.
"We must save DK!" Diddy shouted.
Another airship, from Bowser's army, then came, flying at their left, probably to see who they were. Ludwig and the other Koopalings placed themselves so the minions on it could see them.
"Master Ludwig!" a Koopa shouted upon spotting them. "You're here!"
"What's the situation?" Ludwig asked.
"Well, as you can see, Master Bowser is currently fighting a giant Donkey Kong, and he seems to have the situation in hand with the help of some of our troops. However, Wario was sighted along with Wendy and Iggy, and the Young Master Bowser Jr. as well as Kamek, Roy, and Morton have difficulties against them."
"Cankentriops if here?" Starlow asked. "Then we must get him!"
Stuffwell nodded. "It's a beautificious occasion to finally defeat him, we must not miss it after Sarasaland."
"Beautificious is not a word!" Starlow shouted at the walking suitcase.
Everone agreed, about the fact that Cankentriops had to be dealt with in priority. Bowser could manage Donkey Kong. Also, Roy and Morton apparently needed help against Wendy and Iggy, so they needed to disperse.
Thus, it was decided that Lemmy, Larry, and Ludwig would help Roy and Morton while the Mario Brothers (plus Yoshi), the Kongs, and the fillies would join Bowser Jr. and Kamek against Cankentriops. The Elite Trio, as for them, would take command of the troops and lead them against the Cankens.
An airship flew to Bowser after he sent Tukaral flying after spinning while holding him.
"My Lord!" a Koopa yelled. "Mario has arrived with his allies! And he brought reinforcements, including Ludwig, Larry, and Lemmy! They started to help your son against Wario!"
"Good! I should join them soon enough. I'm almost finished with this stupid monkey."
"What are you saying?" Tukaral asked as he returned from wherever he landed. "I'm the one who's almost finished with you and who will join BigEye!"
"Pfff! Haven't you seen the movie? The monkey gets wrecked by the reptile! I'm the superior being! You're fated to lose!"
"What are you talking about? What's a movie?"
"Right. You guys are from the stone age."
"Hey! We aren't THAT old!"
"Tell yourself that, old man!"
Enraged, Tukaral charged at Bowser, electricity charging in the hammer, and the Koopa took a big breath. Then, Tukaral jumped, and Bowser let out a powerful stream of fire. Tukaral used his hammer to shield himself from the fire as he dropped back toward Bowser. Then, as they neared each other, Bowser stopped his fire breath and readied a punch that hit the hammer, starting a terrible clash that caused the weapon to unleash electricity in all directions. Tukaral, however, won the clash after a few seconds, pushing back Bowser's fist, but Bowser immediately sent another punch that hit Tukaral on the face at the same time that Tukaral's hammer hit Bowser between the horns. The ape was sent flying into buildings by the force of the punch while the Koopa found himself stunned by the blow to the point of falling on his belly.
Bowser still got up with some difficulty and roared in direction of Tukaral before he grabbed a hammer and threw it toward him. A group of Magikoopas then came and sent their magic at the hammer, making it grow even more giant before he dropped on the still recovering Canken. As he saw the hammer, he barely had time to put his hands to try to catch it, but because of the size and weight of the hammer, it took him several seconds before he was able to send it away. Seconds that Bowser took to charge toward him and punch him on the face.
In a frenzy, Bowser gave Tukaral no respite as the punch was immediately followed by another punch in the belly, before he grabbed Tukaral by the arm and slammed him on some buildings a few times. Bowser eventually tossed him up, then gave him another punch in the belly as he dropped back, sending him flying high in the sky. Bowser then roared as he pointed at him, and all the airships that could do it fired at the flying ape who found himself hit from all sides by dozens and dozens of Bullet Bills and even a few of their big brothers the Banzai Bills (that were much, much, much bigger, possessing no arms but instead possessing a fanged mouth that the Bullet Bills didn't have).
By the time Tukaral dropped back near the City Hall, he was smoking.
He still wasn't out. He got up, badly injured, raised his hammer, and yelled, "Help me, my Brothers! I need your power!"
At his call, dozens and dozens of Cankens flew toward him and entered Donkey Kong's body. Tukaral still had control of it, and as Cankens continued to enter the body, he began to climb the City Hall. Once he reached the spire at the roof, he then looked around at the many airships that now surrounded him and raised his hammer. The dark clouds above began to swirl and glowed purple before a huge discharge of electricity fell into the weapon. The next instant, giant bolts of electricity escaped it in all directions, randomly hitting buildings and airships, Koopa Troop members, Bowser himself, and even other Cankens. Airships fired at him again, and he was hit by many more Bullet Bills, but he continued his attack without minding the intense pain and exhaustion he was getting.
But then, a fireball from Bowser hit the hammer, knocking it off from his hand. As it fell down the building, Bowser then caught it with a great leap. Then, once he stopped sliding upon landing, he spun, and spun, and spun, before he threw the hammer toward Tukaral. Again, a group of Magikoopa came and made the hammer grow even more before it hit Tukaral on the head.
This finally was too much. The body of Donkey Kong fell, not only unconscious, but also from the building. While it fell, the many Cankens possessing it flew out, and Donkey Kong began to shrink to his normal size. The ape was back to normal just as he crashed, right in the middle of the City Hall Plaza.
Bowser spotted what must be Tukaral himself among the Cankens that flew out of Donkey Kong's body, because he looked very different from the other Cankens. He was much bigger, and his body consisted of an upside down pyramid with a single eye, two trunk-sized arms, and two trunk-sized legs, very buffed. And he had no head, so the upside down pyramid seemed to serve as it.
Tukaral eyed Bowser angrily, but decided to not try anything as he flew to another part of the city.
The Koopa's body then began to shrink too as he roared in victory.
In parallel of Bowser's fight against Tukaral, the Koopalings had been busy trying to save their last two remaining members who were possessed by Kirima and Maztur.
Roy and Morton had been in difficulty against them, but with the arrival of Ludwig, Lemmy, and Larry, the tide quickly turned. While Kirima and Maztur were still monsters with their electric and telekinetic powers added to their weapons, a two versus five, with the five being five rather skilled and strong fighters who worked well together, really wasn't at their advantage.
Lemmy used his wand to materialize big spiked balls that he sent toward Larry who smashed them with a tennis racket to send them like cannonballs toward Kirima and Maztur. At the same time, Ludwig, in his shell, was repeatedly kicked by Roy and Morton to be sent toward the two Cankens. To make it simple, one of the two Koopalings kicked the shell, sending it to hit one of the two Cankens, then the shell would bounce back ready to be kicked again by one of the two Koopalings to be sent back at one of the two Cankens, and again, and again. With the superior strength of Roy and Morton, the shell hit like a train and seriously hurt. And to make it even more effective, Ludwig used his magic to randomly send little bouncing fireballs out of his shell.
Still, Kirima and Maztu were no pushovers. They were Branches of the Pentacle after all. Just one of them could more or less rival with Mario, Luigi, or Bowser in one on one fights.
Kirima threw her fan in an arc so it hit both Lemmy and Larry, stopping their attack while Maztu used his sword as a ramp so Ludwig's shell went up it and continued its course in the air with no way for Roy or Morton to get it. While in the air, Ludwig came back out of his shell and began to levitate himself before he sent magical beams from his wand.
The four still on the ground had to jump above an horizontal electric wave sent by Maztu with a swing of his sword. Before he could repeat it, Roy caught Morton by the arms and threw him toward the Cankens, and Morton ended up crashing into Maztu, the two crashing further back. Roy then took the opportunity to gang up on Kirima with Lemmy and Larry while Ludwig went to help Morton.
Lemmy materialized a giant ball that he rolled to try to crush Kirima, but she used her fan to make it pop. Roy came at the same time and punched her, opening her to a bouncing fireball sent by Larry with his racket. Roy then punched her again, then a third time, but that third punch was stopped by her fan that she used as a shield before she did a small spin followed by a back kick in the belly that sent Roy sliding backward a few meters.
Filling her fan with electricity, she then spun before throwing her fan which began to do circles around her while unleashing electricity in the form of columns above and below it. At the same time, she used Wendy's own magic to materialize and throw rings at the Koopalings who didn't dare to approach with the fan circling her which was just too fast, and the electricity destroyed any projectiles, balls, fireballs, or magical beams sent. So the Koopalings had no choice but to wait while avoiding the rings.
Eventually, thankfully, the fan ran out of electricity and Kirima had to call it back. Lemmy and Larry both immediately charged at her and respectively used their wand and racket to directly attack, forcing her to use her fan to protect herself. They were able to land a few hits, but they were both eventually pushed back.
That was then that Larry remarked something. "Hey! Where's Roy?"
"Uh?" Lemmy asked before he looked around and noted the absence of their pink friend. "What? Did he ditch us?"
"Nah. It's not his style. He must be up to something. This guy can be surprisingly crafty for a muscle-for-brain."
Meanwhile, Maztu was under the assault of three Ludwigs who had duplicated himself while he had to defend himself from the constant charges of Morton. The Canken stopped counting the number of time he slashed the grey Koopaling only for him to return and repeat his action. Morton wasn't the brightest of the bunch, and his attacks were easy to avoid and counter, but they were a constant diversion that prevented Maztu from focusing on Ludwig and his clones, and Morton himself still managed to punch him a couple of times, his fists hitting hard.
But Maztu could see that Morton was starting to tire. As soon as the big Koopaling will stop his attacks, the Canken will be able to slice their annoying leader into little cubes.
But then, there was a whistle that gained everyone's attention, and they turned to see Roy now at the head of a large group of large Koopas in football attire: Chargin' Chucks.
"CHARGE!!!" he yelled, and the whole group charged like a buffalo stamped.
In panic, Larry, Lemmy, and Morton quickly called their clown cars and escaped in them. As for Maztu and Kirima, they levitated themselves out of the way, Kirima using her fan as a flying platform to go faster. But then, Morton charged at Maztu with his car and sent him right into the stamped to be trampled on.
Kirima then whistled too, calling many Cankens, including a few Sentikens and many that were in possession of New Donkers and unlucky Koopa Troop members, that she sent to attack the Chargin' Chucks. The result was a chaotic brawl that only worsened as more members of the Koopa Troop and more Cankens joined in. And Maztu was still stuck in the middle of it, along with Roy.
This left Kirima alone against the other four Koopalings (or rather six since Ludwig still had his two clones).
Then, Paragoombas, Parakoopas, and Magikoopas joined the Koopalings to help them.
Then, all kinds of Cankens joined Kirima to help her.
Things became even more chaotic from here.
And in parallel, Cankentriops had been wiping the floor with Bowser Jr. and Kamek despite the two being helped by Koopa Troop members.
Like in Sarasaland, Cankentriops had surrounded himself with a shield and had created five clones.
To put it simply, Bowser Jr. and Kamek didn't stand a chance at all, but they still did their best to ensure that he wouldn't turn Kirima and/or Maztu giant. Thankfully, he didn't seem to be able to turn himself giant. Or for some reason, he didn't want to. Or he didn't judge it necessary to become giant himself. Whatever the case, it was all for the better. This guy in giant would be impossible.
Because, even without being a giant, Cankentriops was already impossible to fight. Even if Bowser Jr., Kamek, and the Koopa Troops managed to brute force the shield, most times, they ended up hitting a clone that simply went poof! before it was replaced. Meanwhile, his attacks devastated their ranks.
A laser from his scepter sent Kamek to the ground where he remained, too hurt to move. Beside him, Bowser Jr. in his Mario form was using his paintbrush as a cane to remain standing with difficulty. Around them, the remains of the prince's clown car could be seen, along with many unconscious bodies of Koopa Troops and New Donkers.
Then, suddenly, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom (in ghost form) landed around. The alicorn's horn then glowed, and the next instant, Mario and the others appeared.
Waluigi immediately went to hide in the back.
"You!" Cankentriops shouted.
"Hey, Cankentriops! Did you miss us?" Sweetie Belle asked with a smirk.
Diddy growled as he grabbed a banana and lightly hit the palm of his hand with it. "Remember me, fatty?"
"This time, we won't let you escape!" Mario said as he took his hammer.
"Uh... But what if he decides to teleport away like before? We won't be able to stop him if he does," Luigi reminded.
"Then we will just kill him before he decides to do it," Scootaloo said as she took her anthro form and materialised her sword, now Phantom.
Cankentriops frowned. "I haven't the Elemenstar yet. That stupid turtle has it. I don't intend to leave without it. If I have to fight all of you at once, so be it."
While he talked, Sweetie Belle healed Bowser Jr. and Kamek who got up.
"So Bowser has the star?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Yes," Kamek answered. "We managed to reach it first. Just before Donkey Kong showed up."
"I swear, if Jupacc pulls off the same trick for the third time..." Sweetie Belle said.
"What trick?"
"Teleporting without warning beside the one who has the star and snatching it before teleporting away."
"Oh, I don't think we have to worry about this. The star is safely put in Bowser's shell. He won't be able to snatch it like that. They will have to defeat Bowser first to get it."
"Good! But Jupacc is suspiciously absent. Let's be careful, just in case. And watch your back."
"Eh. Jupacc isn't here. He's on his way to the Moon," Cankentriops said.
"The Moon?" Luigi asked.
"You mean that the last Elemenstar is on the Moon?" Phantom asked.
"We searched the whole planet and haven't found the Aether Star anywhere. From the deepest abysses to the tallest mountains, no trace of the star. So we concluded that it wasn't on the planet, somehow. The Moon is the next step."
"But the star may not be there," Sweetie Belle remarked.
"If we have to, we will explore the whole universe planet by planet, asteroid by asteroid. No matter how long it will take, we will get this star."
"Well then, I guess that we will go to the Moon next," Mario said.
"I won't give you the occasion. You interfered enough! You will die in this city!"
"Dying today isn't in our schedule," Cranky said with a glare. "Yours, however, is."
Cankentriops simply replied with a smirk before what seemed to be his five clones suddenly flew up to the sky along with their shields. Then, they dropped back toward the heroes, their shields surrounding themselves in fire so they looked like meteors.
"Heyheyhey! You must be kidding!" Waluigi shouted before he ran away.
The others followed his example, excepted the fillies who each attacked one of the "meteors", thus managing to destroy three of them. Two still hit the ground and exploded, creating huge blasts that left craters half as large as the street they were in. Thankfully, they hit nobody. However, Cankentriops immediately recreated his clones before they all raised their scepters, and the next instant, lightning began to rain all over the area, randomly striking here and there.
Sweetie Belle used her ten cannons to destroy the six shields at once, but Cankentriops himself and his clones managed to avoid the lasers before they returned fire with their scepters. At least, without their shields, they were open to the others who didn't lose time to attack too, starting with Phantom sending hundreds of Phantom Cubes that the six Cankentriops avoided by... teleporting.
Three of the Cankentriops then teleported behind the fillies. Sweetie Belle was prepared for this and bucked the one behind her, destroying the clone. Apple Bloom quickly phased into the ground, and Phantom avoided a laser from the Cankentriops behind her with a roll before she threw her sword at him, only for him to teleport away so the sword continued its course.
"Teleportation is starting to get on my nerves," Phantom said annoyed. She remembered, as Infinite/Zero, how Shadow easily kicked her ass because of this ability.
"Get used to this," Sweetie Belle said as she fired at the Cankentriops who had attempted to attack Apple Bloom only for him to teleport. "At least, you can teleport too. I had to learn to fight enemies that loved to spam it when I couldn't even teleport myself."
"Must have sucked."
The two Cankentriops who escaped then reappeared not far of the two fillies and readied their scepters only for Apple Bloom to come out of the ground and to destroy one by slicing him with a scythe. Phantom then teleported behind the remaining Cankentriops and pierced him with her a spear she materialized.
While three of the Cankentriops had gone to attack the fillies, the two others went after Mario and the others. One appeared right beside the plumber in red who had to bend backward to avoid a swing of his scepter. The Cankentriops was then destroyed with one hit from Luigi's hammer. The second appeared above Diddy, scepter pointed down ready to impale, and the monkey barely got pushed out of the way by Cranky before he used his cane to bonk the leader of the Cankens on the head, making him poof out of existence.
But no trace of the last, real Cankentriops.
Until he suddenly appeared and raised his scepter. The next instant, dozens of one-eyed triangles appeared everywhere in the air before they fired lasers from their eyes.
Everyone did their best to avoid them (in addition of the still raining lightning) or defend themselves from them as the more daring charged at Cankentriops when they couldn't simply send projectiles at him. But Cankentriops teleported again and recreated his clones and shields before the six teleported yet again to various places in the street. Again, Sweetie Belle used her cannons to destroy the shields before she teleported right beside one of the Cankentriops and punched him hard, destroying what revealed to be just a clone.
The five remaining Cankentriops slammed their scepters on the ground, spreading cracks from the impact points everywhere from which walls of hurtful energy bursted out for a second before the cracks disappeared. The Cankentriops repeated the attack a couple of times, each times spreading cracks in different, random patterns while the heroes managed to destroy three more clones that were, however, recreated.
Until Waluigi finally got the real Cankentriops with a Bob-Omb thrown.
"Yeah!"
The explosion of the bomb propelled Cankentriops in the air, but he managed to recover and was about to land back on his feet when, suddenly, Diddy threw a banana peel right where he had been about to land. Cankentriops slid on it for several meters on electrified paint left by Bowser Jr. until his face had a meeting with Mario's hammer resulting in many of his (Wario's) teeth getting broken along with the nose. The hammer sent him on a crash course toward one of the buildings only for Yoshi inside an egg-shell to ram him. He was then hit by Luigi's Green Missile, high-kicked by Dixie, hit by a magical beam from Kamek, bounced on by Cranky using his cane as a pongo stick, and Funky finished by slamming his surfboard on him before the Canken was finally able to teleport away and recreated his clones and shields again. But unknown to him, a very little being had managed to clung to him before he teleported, so he was taken by surprise when Tiny suddenly returned to her normal size while still on him before she slapped him on the face several times.
Cankentriops eventually caught her and slammed her on the ground, but then, he felt a punch in the gut when nobody was attacking him. Searching for the cause as it didn't seem to be someone invisible, he saw Apple Bloom attacking his shadow!
Cankentriops immediately disappeared.
And hundreds of him appeared everywhere around the heroes.
Sweetie Belle touched one to confirm her suspicion. "Illusions. Like against Jupacc."
Phantom, smirking, did like against Jupacc and made it so her senses weren't tricked anymore, allowing her to only see the real Cankentriops. She then teleported behind him only for the Canken to brusquely turn around and punch her in the gut with all the herculean force of Wario, knocking the breath out of her.
Cankentriops grinned evilly. "After what Jupacc told me, I knew you would do that."
His grin disappeared as Phantom grabbed his arm, and it was her turn to grin as he found himself in her power. Before he could react, he was surrounded by an army of Phantoms, and contrary to his illusions, these ones were as dangerous as the original.
And as he was being beaten down by the hundreds of Phantoms, the rest of the group joined in.
All stopped when, in the distance, Donkey Kong (Tukaral) climbed the City Hall and unleashed giant bolts of electricity from his hammer everywhere, attacking and destroying everything. One of the bolts went right toward them, and they had to retreat. But as soon as they were gone, Cankentriops intercepted the bolt of electricity with his scepter, absorbing it, before he turned the scepter toward the heroes and unleashed the electricity.
Only for Sweetie Belle to materialize a big mirror that deflected the electricity back at Cankentriops.
In the distance, a fireball knocked the hammer off of Donkey Kong's hand, stopping him from sending more electricity.
Cankentriops, smoke coming out of Wario's body, glared at them as he readied his scepter to send his next devastating attack.
Mario took his hammer and jumped. Sweetie Belle teleported him right above the Canken, then the plumber hit him on the head with his weapon.
Cankentriops finally fell unconscious, and the Canken himself came out of Wario's body.
The heroes prepared themselves as their enemy's real form was finally revealed to them.
And it was... disappointing.
Cankentriops revealed to be fairly normal compared to the Branches. He was a little bit smaller than Mario, was as thin as Waluigi, was humanoid, didn't have any extra limbs or mouths or whatever... He just had the one-eyed pyramid head, and a well-decorated hooded cloak.
Sweetie Belle quickly teleported Wario's body beside her to not give Cankentriops the occasion to possess it again.
But then, before they could attempt anything to finish Cankentriops before he could escape, bolts of electricity came from above, their origin being none other than Tukaral who had freshly escaped from Bowser.
This diversion was enough to allow the leader of the Cankens to disappear before a huge number of the cultists attacked the heroes, forcing them to deal with them as Tukaral escaped too.
Elsewhere, Kirima and Maztur, forced out of Wendy and Roy, also escaped.
The Cankens were defeated.
And yet...
Bowser laughed victoriously.
"I told you! It's not a stupid monkey who would get the best of the King of the Koopas!" he yelled.
Because he was too busy gloating, he didn't see Cankentriops rapidly flying toward him from the sky until it was too late.
A few seconds later, Cankentriops grinned as he looked down at his new claws. Quickly, he then searched his new shell until he grabbed the Elemenstar, confirming that it was here, now in his possession.
"Hehehe. No matter what, I always win in the end."
With a last laugh, he teleported away.
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Which game is that move from? I knew Mario could transform into a giant boulder with a power-up from Super Mario Galaxy 2, but not Bowser.
Is that a reference to his entrance animation from Mario Strikers Charged?
11038435
In the final fight of Super Mario Galaxy, first phase.
Yep!
Well this was a nice chapter even if stuff keeps going wrong.
That's a good twist. Something that's obvious in hindsight but that you didn't see coming. (Of course, it was really only the specifics of getting the star that eluded me because we already know that Sweetie Belle can fight dark gods on fairly even terms so that railroads the plot into one where she has to)
11038859
It's sometime hard to come up with reasons for Sweetie Belle to not one shot the enemy. Powers to trick her, environments so she would have to take into account collateral damage... All that stuff. She could have easily defeated Cankentriops here. Of course, there were these stupid clones that gave one chance out of six to hit the real enemy, so attacks covering large areas would have been useful. But she had to take into account the city around, the people in it, her own allies, without forgetting Wario that Cankentriops possessed which was the main reason why she didn't simply use a black hole which would have potentially killed him.
It's a fun challenge.
My point is that Cankentriops will succeed in summoning his dark god for the simple reason of how much cooler it would be for said god to get defeated, and Sweetie Belle doesn't even need a further power boost to accomplish that. She just needs to exhaust all of her other options and have the cleared arena that such enemies so often provide:
11038921
Lol! That's true. The bad guys often make the heroes' job easier. The fact that the Cankens' pyramid is in a valley in the middle of a desert will also help a lot.
Wow, that was a really action-packed chapter,loved it!
Very nice Reference to Godzilla vs Kong,also kinda sad The great Jupacc didn’t manage to make is troll power move again but it’s understandable.
Oh Boy,now Bowser is possessed….yet again.another thing he and DeDeDe seems to get in often in their games.
Also,on another note,have you see the new Ancient Ruins they’re adding to the caves in Minecraft new update?I Know that it’s coincidence,but…doesn’t the Sculks and its infections looks suspiciously like weaker Phazon?
I am the only one to think that the Elemenstar are a reference to the power of the spyro legend series?
11040776
I haven't seen it. I don't really keep track of the updates of Minecraft these days.
11041109
Totally a coincidence. I barely played the Spyro games and I know almost nothing of their stories beside the petrified dragons part in the first game.
Sweetie should stop using 1% of her power and upgrade to 5%
11041147
Anymore and she could accidentally kill someone. Remember that the Cankens possess other people's bodies. She can't go too hard. She could have killed Wario with a simple slap if she had put a little too much power, or accidentally killed someone else with a stray beam, or destroyed a part of the city (in the middle of a big battle, I remind). As Herald of Opera posted earlier, she's right in the middle of the Superman Syndrome.
But don't worry. As stated in this chapter, next destination is the Moon where she won't have to worry about killing someone or destroying something as it's almost desert. And Cankentriops is now possessing Bowser who is much more resistant than Wario. She will be able to let loose a bit.
11041145
Well,I think you should at least check from time to time,if only for the sake of Making a Better World-building when we reach the Minecraft Arc
11041162
How's the next chapter looking by now? And before you complain about me asking, it has been 5 days since the last update.
Can it even be called a fight in this instant?
11566526
Yeah, more like a curb stomp.