"Boy, that took pretty long." Erick could barely walk,

"Hey, Red?" Aimee asked.

"Yeah, Aimee? Red responded. "What's up?"

"Can we rest for a bit? I'm a bit tired."

"Oh, you'll have lots of time tonight to rest. First we need those keys." The Inkling walked up to the large stone gate.

"Wow. Lotta security for this side. This must be the bad part of town." Paul reasoned.

"Hello up there!" Red shouted out to a gatekeeper.

"Hello! What can I do for you?" A Koopa Troopa in a metal suit of armor answered.

"Can we get out there? The Mayor said we have to go this was to find the stone keys."

"Yeah, sure!" The Koopa returned. "Koops! Open the gate."

"Yeah, no prob, boss!" The Koopas opened the large gate. "Just make sure you're back by sundown!"

"Thank you!" Red thanked. "Let's go get us some keys, guys!"

The Inkling moved quickly, sort of like how they move in Turf Wars. You know, blaze a trail, squid through it and blaze some more. They were no strangers to the countless Goombas encountered on the trail.

"Wow, this is getting easy!" Paul said. "I'm not as scared anymore!" Suddenly, A Koopa Troopa slammed right into him, knocking him and his bag over. He sported black shades, and a red shell. Paul's belongings landed everywhere. Gyanna stopped to help him pick his stuff up, while Robbie blew him away with a quick blast.

"So that must be one of those hostile Koopa's." Red analyzed. "Meh, not much of a threat if you expect them, but are definitely deadly if you don't see 'em coming."

"Paul, what's this?" Gyanna held up a book that fell out of Paul's bag.

"Not sure." Paul opened the book, and on the pages, all sorts of information on the hostile Koopa Troopa appeared. "Whoa, magic book. Tells you anything you need to know about the enemy you're facing at the moment. Huh." He flipped to the front page. "Goombella's tattle guide. Handy."

"Keep moving, guys. We're close. I can feel it." Red said. "There it is. That's it up there."

"Whoa. Looks abandoned. Let's go in." Aimee bravely proclaimed.


As they entered the ruin, they spotted two statues. "Look at these goofy things!" Erick laughed as he approached them. The statues "heard" him say this, and jumped off the pillars to attack him!

"Don't worry, I got this." exclaimed Gyanna. She started shooting them with ink, but it did nothing.

"Paul! What are we dealing with here?" Gyanna kept trying, until the rocky creature tackled her to the ground.

"Let's see here… that's a bald Cleft. It's basically a rock, ink, fire, projectiles won't affect it." Paul reported.

"Well, what will?" asked Robbie, as the second one tackled him.

"Says here try using a jump or something to flip it over, and then a hammer to finish it off."

"I got this!" announced Red. He flutter-jumped right on the Clefts' baldheads, flipping them over. "Now, for a hammer… there's one!" Red spotted an old-looking hammer in the corner. He took a swing at both of them and… no more Clefts. "Hey, this ain't bad!" Red executed a few more moves in the air. "Think I'll keep this, may be good for busting enemies."


The door swung open, and more Koopa Troopas lurked outside. Red, using his new hammer, finished them off quickly, using the jump-and-clobber tactics he used on the Clefts. The Inkling entered the next ruin, to be greeted by more statues. Of course, they came to life. This time, they went after Gyanna again. "Why is always me!?"

"Ugly statues like you!" Paul joked.

"Hah-hah. Very funny." Gyanna scolded as she darted past him in an effort to escape the metallic monsters. "What the heck are they?"

Paul held the book up to the monster. "Bristles." he answered. "These spiky pests are immune to ink, fire, and pretty much anything."

"Oh boy. What a relief." Gyanna stopped to roll her eyes, and both monsters tackled her with their spikes. "OOOOOOOOOOOOWW!" she shrieked.

"That's gotta hurt." Paul commented. "Anyway, jump-and-clobber won't work. Their spikes would pop out if they noticed you approaching."

"But they're busy attacking Gyanna right now!" Red pointed out. "Maybe I can try." He wound up, and took a shot at the first one. Nothing. Red kept trying, to little success. "Maybe there's something else we can use. Look around!"

"Ooh, how 'bout his rock?" Erick asked. "No, who am I kidding? This is a rock. He tossed it, hitting a Bristle. They both decided to go after him. "Oh, CRAAP!" Erick ran as fast as he could.

'Maybe an explosion could flip them over?" Aimee pointed out.

"Yeah, but where will we find a bomb around here?" Robbie responded. Robbie suddenly realized something. "Maybe you could flip 'em on their sides with a Splat Bomb, Ma'an!"

"It's worth a go." Paul launched two Splat Bombs, flipping the Bristles on their sides. Red approached with two more Splat Bombs, placing them inside the Bristles' massive mouths.

BOOM! The Bristles exploded with ink. "Finally!" the bruised Gyanna sighed. The next door slid open, with the usual Koopa Troopas awaiting their presence. Red jump-and-clobbered them quickly, and they were out of the way. The group approached a larger ruined tower.

"Be careful, guys. We don't know what to expect anymore."