Before we get started with author's notes and the story, I just wanted to say thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter!
Steel Magic: Thanks again for reviewing every chapter! I'm glad you like how I portrayed Jr. and the Koopalings with Bowser. I can't wait for the next chapter in your Sonic/Mario crossover. :)
Mitha Sentro: Thanks for the review and I'm glad you like my choice of characters! It feels nice to receive feedback from others.
A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I had to deal with a lot of school work as I'm 3 weeks into my spring semester. Plus, I uploaded later than expected because of Super Bowl Sunday.
As a side note, I'm going to be busy for the next couple of weeks with homework, exams, and other assignments for my classes. I'll have to see when I can continue writing the story, but my time will be limited until spring break (in March).
Anyways, here's Ch. 9 of Hidden Bravery! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Still don't own anything but the story.
Chapter 9: Airship Showdowns
With the Koopa troop terrorizing Toad Town, Bowser and his kids invaded Mushroom Castle in hopes of beating the Mario Bros. and taking Princess Peach away. Mario and the gang took guard as they stood outside the castle.
"So what's the plan, Mario?" Luigi asked his brother for confirmation.
"Let's split up!" demanded the red-clad plumber. "Luigi and I will take on Bowser. The rest of you, choose a foe and don't show any mercy!"
"I'll take on Wendy!" Sonic shouted.
"Leave Lemmy to me!" Tails called out.
All of the heroes chose their Koopaling targets: Silver claimed Ludwig, Shadow took Roy, Yoshi took Iggy, Amy picked Larry, and Knuckles chose Morton. (1)
"Well kids, it's time for your calling. Get rid of these pests!" Bowser yelled while pointing at them.
Mario and Luigi used their acrobatic jumps to board Bowser's airship. While the red plumber faced the evil Koopa king, the man in green focused his attention to the kid floating in the Clown Car. The other heroes jumped to the other airships, one by one, as they approached their enemies.
Ludwig, the oldest Koopaling, met his silver-furred opponent. He snickered into his fist and let out an intriguing sneer. "Ahem, oh! So this is who I'm facing? A dull, white rat?"
Silver took offense to his words. "For your information, my fur is silver. And I'm a hedgehog!"
"I could care less what color your fur is." Ludwig pointed the blue scepter to his opponent. "Let's just see if you're competent for a fight."
"Oh, I'm ready to take you down, turtle breath," he sneered.
The two floated in midair. Ludwig create two clones of himself as the real one tried to outsmart the hero. With his blue wand, he blasted three blue fireballs while the clones tried to interfere with two. (2) Silver figured out the secret and had an idea who the real one is. Using telekinesis, Silver held out his hands and stalled the flaming projectiles.
"TAKE THIS!" he yelled. (3) Two of them whipped back at the fake clones while another targeted the real Ludwig.
"Ugh! Im-impressive… But that's not enough to take me down!" he jeered.
"Oh yeah? We'll see about that," the hedgehog snarled.
The two sustained the same fight pattern: Ludwig would clone himself, dole out his dangerous fireballs, Silver retaliated with his telekinetic powers, repeat. They remained in a long, gruesome deadlock as they clashed against each other. But then, Silver went with a different tactic. He noticed some of the cannons shooting out ammunition. He held out his hands to freeze the cannonballs and aimed them right at the dark blue-haired Koopa.
"What the- Owwww!" Three projectiles crushed into Ludwig and caused him to fly off his aircraft. "NOOOOO!" he howled in angst.
Silver pumped a fist for his victory. "Yes! That's one down!"
Shadow used Chaos Control with the assistance of the Chaos Emerald he possessed. He teleported to the deck of Roy's ship. He faced the purple-shelled Koopa with the hot-pink sunglasses and a blank wand held in his right claw.
"Pfft. What kind of douchebag wears sunglasses when it's clearly night time?" scoffed the black hedgehog.
"Grrr… Listen 'ere, punk!" Roy growled and pointed at his accessory. "These glasses were given to my father before he passed away. They're my last memory of 'im, so don't ruin 'em!"
"Whatever, douche."
"DON'T CALL ME 'DAT! Now get your ass over 'ere so I can pound you!"
Shadow teleported to where he was two feet in front of him. "Happy?"
"More than ever. Now bring it!"
Roy started off with a lunge and slammed his feet onto the deck in an attempt to stun the black hedgehog. But by using brawn over brains, he failed to realize that Shadow could hover with his white skates.
"Pitiful," he scowled. "Didn't even faze me."
"Now you're just asking fo' it," warned the pink-headed brute.
Roy fired three purple fireballs consecutively as they aimed towards Shadow. He then charged at him like a madman to run him over. However, the hedgehog had an attack of his own.
"Chaos Spear!"
A burst of energy in the form of a spear shot out from the hands when he clutched the cyan gem. The shocking bolt clashed into the Koopaling's chest, and sent him flying backwards as landed on his shell. Roy struggled to get up from the attack as Shadow looked at him, unimpressed. He fired another bolt and sent the tough Koopa away as Roy plummeted below.
"Again, pitiful." He raised the Chaos Emerald once more and transported to the front of the castle.
Yoshi flutter-jumped, flailing his legs and arms as he gained height. The dinosaur landed on the green-shelled Koopaling's aircraft. Iggy stood with a smirk on his crazy-eyed face. He taunted him by slapping his ass twice with his yellow wand and wielded it in the air. Unlike most of them, Iggy wasn't as intimidating with his appearance. He was more hyperactive and childish like his brother, Lemmy. But he is the smartest with his technical and speedy qualities.
"Well, little fella. I hate to do this to you. But it's for the best," the thin Koopaling warned.
Yoshi narrowed his eyes. He was not the most belligerent ally on Mario's team, nor was he the bravest. Even the slightest hit from a Goomba can freak him out. But he wasn't going to back down and run away like a coward. He was determined to help out his buddy since he rescued him on Dinosaur Land when Bowser first invaded the paradise. (4)
Iggy fired light-green flames from his weapon. Yoshi fluttered to dodge one of them. Then, he used his tongue to his advantage and swallowed a fireball. The dinosaur blew out the flame from inside and floated towards the energetic enemy.
"Yeow! That burns!" he screamed, rubbing his shell in pain.
"I'm not done yet!" Yoshi fluttered up again and prepared his signature ground pound move. "BRRRROING-HA!" He yelled out his battle cry and pounced on Iggy's head, avoiding the spiky shell.
"Ouch! Man, those are some toned-up legs you've got there! How do you do that?"
"A Yoshi never reveals his secrets. But for now, I'm famished," the dinosaur answered with a smirk on his face.
"Uh-oh. Don't tell me you're gonna-"
Before Iggy could finish his statement, Yoshi whipped out his long, red tongue again. He tangled the green-shelled turtle around his body and pulled him inside his mouth.
"YAAAAHHHH! NO! Anything but this!"
Yoshi ignored him as he struggled to escape from within. And unfortunately for Iggy, but satisfying for the power-hungry dinosaur, he created a special egg and… released it from his behind.
"Ughh… That… was… horrifying…" Iggy shuddered from inside the barrier. Yoshi then kicked the egg off the ship. It cracked as it landed on the ground, but Iggy remained still and scarred from his defeat. Yoshi jumped happily for his comedic act.
Amy lunged up to the ship owned by the youngest Koopaling, Larry. He had a light blue mohawk, a blue star on the side of his green face, fangs hanging outside his mouth, and an orange wand.
"Well, hello there…" the Koopa whistled at his rival. "Who do we have here? A fine lady to my liking? I would say so."
The pink hedgehog was disgusted. "Ugh, are you hitting on me? Listen, starboy. I'm only into another blue-haired guy. He's way cuter than your ugly face. And besides, you're too young for me."
"Well maybe I can charm you with my speed and athletic skills."
"As if. My boyfriend-"
"I'm NOT your boyfriend, Amy! How many times do I have to say that?!" Sonic interrupted, who barely heard her from Wendy's ship beside Larry's.
"Whatever." She continued her remark. "Sonic is extremely faster than you'll ever be. He's taken down Eggman and his robots numerous times before, so how hard is it to take down a bunch of turtles?"
"Well, can your Sonic do this?" With the flick of his wand, Larry unleashed two sky blue fireballs, followed by an array of three. Amy dodged, twirled, and ducked from each one as the Koopa spawned more from his magic utensil. As she evaded more of them, she stopped to ask a question.
"Say Larry, if you call yourself athletic, does that mean you like sports?"
He froze with confusion, wondering why she would stop to ask that. "Well, yeah. I do like sports." He fired another flame after answering.
"Are you a fan of baseball?"
"Yeah. In fact, it's my favorite sport. But what does this have to do with our fight?"
He got his answer when Amy summoned her Piko-Piko hammer. "Well, then. Batter up!"
Larry dropped his jaw as the pink hedgehog clutched her humongous tool and swung. The face of the hammer made hard contact with the fireball. Next thing he knew, it was heading right towards him!
"YAAAHHHH!" The fiery blaze hit Larry in the chest, sending him flying off his airship and falling to the castle grounds.
*THUD*
The young Koopa landed heavily in the dirt, his right leg twitching from the pain he suffered.
"And he's outta here!" Amy celebrated.
"Okay, buddy. You wanna piece of me? Then it's go time!" Knuckles was on deck aboard Morton's flying ship. He cracked his gloved namesakes and punched them together as a sign indicating that he's ready for battle.
"I hope you love knuckle sandwiches, 'cause I'm gonna prepare one for you!" the dark-skinned Koopa bellowed.
"Hey! Only I can use that line on others!"
"Says who? You never trademarked that phrase."
"Well… maybe I will… when I win this fight," the red echidna stuttered.
The two threw various punches at each other. They were both well matched for their physical qualities. For Knuckles, he has decent speed for a powerhouse character with skinny arms and legs; however, he doesn't have quick reaction time. As for Morton, the Koopa may be one of the youngest, but he was similar to his pal Roy in terms of brawn, yet sluggish due to his poor flexibility. Nonetheless, one can admit that both rivals were strong. One could also call both of them dumbfounded since neither of them have common sense and don't think before they act. This would lead them to losing their temper.
They continued their fist fight, making contact with each other in the face, chest, and arms. They continued to brawl while catching their breath on small occasions. But like the fight between Silver and Ludwig, it was a total stalemate as neither one of them had the upper hand or earned a victory over their competition to start with.
Then Knuckles, uncharacteristically, used his brain and had an idea. "You know, I never got to mention how buff your arms look."
That caught Morton Koopa Jr. off guard. "Huh? Uhh, well thanks, I guess. I do lift weights every day."
Knuckles approached him and the Koopa started to back away. "Oh don't mind me. I just want to take a look at those arms. They're meatier than mine." He held out a hand and gripped his biceps. Morton raised an eyebrow of suspicion. "Do you bench press? If so, what's your best?"
Morton was still bewildered why the echidna was asking questions in the middle of their fight. But he casually answered back. "I do. I can do 220. 230 if I'm really feeling it."
"That's impressive. But do you want to know my secret of feeling the burn?"
"And what's that?"
He got his answer when Knuckles unexpectedly raised his spiked knuckle and punched him hard below the jaw. "AUUUGGGHHH!" he groaned from the extreme intensity. "God damn it! You tricked me!"
"Hell yeah, I did." He followed his statement with another jab, this time in the chest, followed by another, only this one got his noggin.
"Daah! Ooof! WAIT!" Morton held up a hand, but Knuckles didn't oblige. He pursued the dark-shelled Koopa and launched a massive knuckle sandwich to him, resulting in a large purple bruise. "Bwaah! Damn you, Red!" he cried as he, too, fell off his own airship.
"Heh, now I know how Tails feels when it comes to strategy," emphasized Knuckles. "And as for manipulation, oh it's so freaking sweet to fool that dolt!"
Thanks to his twin appendages, the two-tailed fox flew to Lemmy's ship where the smallest Koopaling was entertaining himself on top of his balancing ball.
"Time to go balls to the wall with my special moves!" the bright orange-shelled turtle squealed.
"Well let's see if you have the balls to take me down," scowled Tails.
"Dang, for a little guy of a freak like you, I didn't think you would say things like that." He finished his remark with a cheeky grin.
Freak. That broke the straw on the camel's back. The one word that ruined him during his childhood. The one word that made him cry every time someone called him that. It was the one that he loathed hearing at all, regardless if it was directed to him or not. Tails clenched a fist and growled. To say he was angry was an understatement. But in all seriousness, he was extremely pissed off.
Tails flew in the air and dodged each of the bouncing balls Lemmy summoned from his green wand. The little minion then switched to throwing bomb balls at the fox. The yellow kitsune was able to catch one of them. Before it exploded, he tossed the bomb back at Lemmy.
"Whoa!" The rainbow-haired child evaded the surprise throw, but almost lost his balance. "Ha-ha! You missed me!"
He spawned another bomb and Tails caught it with his quick reflexes. Then, the fox smiled as he devised a plan. On 'accident', he threw the bomb high in the air.
"Wow, that's some horrible aim you got there!" Lemmy laughed pitifully.
"Wasn't aiming at ya," Tails smirked.
Lemmy, being the innocent Koopa he is, didn't understand him at first. That is until he heard the explosion from behind. Apparently, the bomb Tails threw knocked the propellers off the airship. They stopped spinning and broke off from the tall mast. The airship started to sink from the sky.
"What? Hey! This isn't supposed to happen! Why did you do that?"
"Isn't it obvious? Take down the ship, take down its member. Have a nice trip!" Tails saluted as he took off.
"Oh no! Ooof!" The airship leaned on one side while plummeting to the ground that it caused Lemmy to fall off his ball and land on his stomach. "Dang it!" he cried.
"Yes! I did it!" Tails celebrated and pumped a fist in the air. "Now I hope Sonic and the brothers finish their battles soon."
Speaking of Sonic, he faced the seventh Koopaling and the only female, Wendy.
"Nice rings you got there. Too bad they aren't as flashy as mine!" he pointed out with a silly smirk on his muzzle.
The pink-shelled Koopa was well-accessorized (if you would consider that). Other than the rings around her wrists, she wore pink high heels, a pink bow with white polka dots above her head, and a red-beaded necklace. She was also the possessor of the purple wand.
"I had a feeling you would come face me. Are you entranced by my beauty? Or is it the jewelry that perks your emerald eyes?"
The way Wendy talked to Sonic gave him a weird sensation in his heart. No, it's not lust. (Blech…) More like disgust. "Ugh, please. I already have enough pink in my life."
"Oh, you mean your hot-headed girlfriend?" taunted Wendy.
"She's not my girlfriend! Jeez, don't you guys listen?! And believe me, you wouldn't want to say stuff like that in front of her or she'll whip the lights out of you!"
"How about we get to the part where I'll whip you out of my airship?" She took a fighting pose to signal that she was ready.
"Oh I've been waiting for that. Only it's gonna be the other way around!"
Unlike the others, Sonic attempted to first strike his enemy. Wendy dodged with her spiked shell, counteracting against the hedgehog's blue quills. The spin dash seemed ineffective so Sonic tried to think of another approach. Meanwhile, Wendy released a water blast from her wand. The attack drenched Sonic from head to shoe.
"Aw man! I hate being wet!"
"What's the matter with that? Just being lucky you're not fighting inside the ship. Otherwise, you'd be swimming."
"And thank goodness THAT'S not happening!" Sonic was hydrophobic, but his fear of water would surpass his breaking point if he started struggling in a large body of water. He remembered one time Tails had to get him out of a lake he sunk in from an ambush planted by Eggman. He's not a strong swimmer, but people give him credit for facing his fears in the swimming events during their time at the Summer Olympics with Mario and friends.
"I'm not finished with you!" Wendy shouted. She lashed out her magic rings and the objects bounced around the deck towards the cobalt blue hedgehog.
Meanwhile, Sonic was still getting water out of his ears. Then he turned his attention to the flying rings. "Whoa!" he panted, barely avoiding them thanks to his fast reaction time. "Heh, too slow, too bad!"
Next, Sonic decided to use his quick feet and ran in circles, creating a blue streak that surrounded the Koopa girl. Wendy tried to follow his movements but ended up regretting her actions as she spun around and became dizzy on the spot. As she was distracted, Sonic tried his signature spin dash once more and made a direct target. He slammed right into Wendy and she went defenseless as she laid on her shell. "Hehe! And that's why speed's my game!" he smiled.
The Mario Bros. made it to Bowser and his son who was flying in his Clown Car taunting them.
"Hehehehe! Do you really think you're hot stuff when it comes to facing me and my dad? Well guess again! We've come prepared to take you down!"
"You've said that almost every other time," ridiculed Luigi. "Mario and I always know what you're gonna pull off, so it shouldn't be a surprise if you launch Bullet Bills or fire at us."
"Speaking of fire, we've got something special for you." Mario pulled out two familiar items from the pocket of his overalls. In his hand were two Fire Flowers. He threw one to his brother and they both absorbed the power-ups. Their clothes changed as their shirts and caps were now white and their overalls transformed from blue to red and green, respectively. As the two opened their eyes, Fire Mario and Fire Luigi glared at Bowser and his son. "Ready for your asses to be burnt to a crisp?"
"Don't get too cocky, Mario. I'm running a busy schedule here and I've prepared to make sure getting rid of you two and your furry friends is my top priority. Then, I'll take Peach and she'll rule by my side forever! Bwahahaha!"
Luigi rolled his eyes and sighed. "Gee, I've never heard that before," he replied with a hint of sarcasm. "What's next, take over Sarasaland and ask the minister to set up a tea party for your so-called reign?"
"Oh, shut up, Greenie. I wasn't talking to you."
"Figures. He doesn't acknowledge my name, AGAIN. Secondly, he just dismissed me like I'm not nonexistent. No surprise there," he thought with disappointment.
Mario immediately defended his brother. "Hey! Lay off Luigi, Bowser! Besides, you just crashed his party and we didn't ask you to come ruin it."
Bowser gave an unamused look. "Does it like I care about that stupid excuse of a weakling you call your brother? Pfft! As if!"
Mario crossed his eyes as he shook his head. Luigi, on the other hand, stood there silently as his sadness converted into enragement.
Jr. reentered the confrontation. "Yeah, I don't even know why he's in this scene right now! He should back off before I lay my claws on him. Not like the wimp's gonna do anything about it."
And that made Luigi snap. He narrowed his eyes and shot his signature death stare at Bowser Jr. (5) Preparing a green fireball in his hand, he growled fiercely. "You want to bet on that, you lousy, spoiled brat?!" In an instant, he chucked the flame right at the Koopa Clown Car which barely hit the Koopa kid inside.
"Hey! Watch where you're throwing that!"
"You just now realized I threw it at you? Of course I did! Are you diagnosed with 'Dumbass Disease' or something? Now come at me if you wanna fight!"
"Grrr! Okay, now you're pushing my buttons!"
"You don't have any. Hell, you're only wearing your stupid mask and those spikeless wristbands," Mario joked.
Jr. knew that the red plumber was trying to peeve him. "Shut up! It's a figure of speech!" Growing impatient, he turned to his father. "Dad, are you gonna deal with this jerk or not?"
"Oh, I'm going to, Jr. With pleasure," Bowser grunted as he cracked his knuckles and sharp claws.
The brothers dressed in their Fire Flower outfits glared at their two opponents. The Koopa King and his son did the same thing towards their archenemies. The battles between Luigi vs Jr. alongside Mario vs. Bowser were about to commence. (6)
END OF CHAPTER
So the seven fighters we saw previously have claimed victory over all of the Koopalings. But what will become of Luigi and Mario in their fight against Bowser and his son? And what about the rest of the group with Peach, Daisy, and the others? Where are they now? Find out in Chapter 10!
Wow, this is the longest chapter for this story: 3500+ words, not including author's notes! Again, I apologize for the long wait since I was busy with school and I struggled writing the fight scenes. I had to make sure everyone got a piece of the action. I still need to write more of this fanfic though… Ugh…
Also, you can check out my other story, New Brotherhood, found on my profile. I've only written and uploaded two chapters and I still have more to go. However, that fanfiction won't be updated for a while. I want to continue writing more of this so I don't get too sidetracked.
Anyways, thanks for reading as usual! Please review, follow/favorite the story, and I'll see you in the next one!
Post-Chapter Notes:
(1): I organized the breakdown of who will be fighting who. Mario and Luigi were easy, but assigning Sonic, Tails and the others was slightly difficult because I wanted to pair each one with someone that's fitting for them. Then, I had to write the plot of their battles (which was the reason why I was late on uploading this chapter).
(2): This is the same technique Ludwig did in his fight against Mario in NSMBU & NSLU. But I didn't want to recopy the same battles for the other Koopalings from those games, so I had to be creative in some way, even if I recycled some of their old moves.
(3): It's part of the infamous quote Silver says in Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic '06). And no, I'm not proud of it, yet I decided to use it.
(4): This is referencing Mario and Yoshi's journey in Super Mario World.
(5): Throwback to the meme that grew from Mario Kart 8: the Luigi Death Stare. And that's why Luigi is one of my mains in the MK series.
(6): Cliffhanger! I stopped the chapter right there for a certain reason, even though I showed each of the battles between the Koopalings and Mario's friends. We'll get to the two of them in the next one though.