Kai and the Chaos Emeralds
Chapter 14: Koopa Bros.
Hazel and Toad had to carry Kai on the train, because he was fast asleep. Kai had spent the whole night playing pinball at the arcade and the whole day racing Toad on go-karts.
They barely made it on the train. Just as they got in their seats, the train left. Kai was fast asleep through the whole thing.
"That's what happens when Kai's on a roll," Hazel said. "He just had to get that high-score on the pinball game."
"Then he had to beat me on the go-karts," Toad said.
"That's what you get for telling him how 'great' you were at racing," Hazel said. "He beat you on 9 out of 10 races."
"At least I beat him once!" Toad shouted.
"Because his kart had engine problems half-way through the race," Hazel said.
"Shut up," Toad said.
"You two sound like a married couple," someone said from behind them.
Hazel and Toad turned around and saw a pink hedgehog wearing a red dress.
"Who are you?" Toad asked.
"It's always polite to give your own name first," the hedgehog said.
"I'm Toad," Toad said. "She's Hazel. And Rip van Winkle here is Kai."
Kai mumbled a bit when Toad said this.
"Good to meet you," the hedgehog replied. "My name is Amy Rose. So where are you heading?"
"We're going to the Mystic Ruins to seek out an ancient treasure," Hazel said. "How about you?"
"My friend has a workshop near the ruins," Amy said. "I'm going to visit him."
"That sounds cool," Hazel said.
They continued this conversation as the train sped through a canyon. On the cliff-tops, four shadows were watching the train.
"This is it," one of the shadows said. "That's the train where the Chaos Emeralds are."
"Lord Bowser will be pleased with us, dudes," a second shadow said.
"Alright, let's do this!" a third shadow said.
The four shadows jumped into the air. Back on the train, Kai was still asleep.
"So your friend makes airplanes," Hazel said. "That's cool."
"He makes all sorts of gadgets," Amy said. "I'm not sure what most of them do, but…"
Suddenly, the train came to a screeching halt. Kai still didn't wake up. Hazel, Toad, and Amy fell out of their seats.
"What's going on?!" Hazel exclaimed. "I'm going to check on the conductor."
Hazel then stomped toward the front of the train. She peered in through the door and saw four Koopas. They were wearing ninja masks. Each mask was a different color: red, black yellow, and green.
Hazel ran back to her seat.
"What's going on?" Toad asked.
"We've got company," Hazel answered.
"Who?" Toad asked.
"Four Koopas," Hazel answered. "They're wearing ninja masks."
"They must be the Koopa Brothers!" Toad shouted.
"Who are the Koopa Brothers?" Hazel asked.
"They're a group of Bowser's elite fighters," Toad said. "They are said to be the most dangerous team of fighters."
"And of course…Kai is still asleep!" Hazel shouted.
Kai muttered a bit, but he remained asleep.
"Crap," Hazel said. "I guess we'll have to deal…wait!"
"What?" Toad asked.
"Where's Amy?" Hazel asked.
Toad looked around. Amy Rose was nowhere in sight.
In the front car, the Koopa Brothers had scared everyone to one side of the car.
"Listen carefully and none of you will be hurt," the red one said. "If you've seen a dude named Kai Kamai, speak up. We know that he's on this train. If nobody talks, the train will be taking a one way trip to crash-ville."
Everyone was too scared to move.
"I see," the red one said. "Black, go check the next car down."
"Alright," the black one said.
The Black Koopa walked to the door leading to the next car. He opened the door and was instantly forced backwards by something hard.
"What's going on?!" the red one asked.
Amy Rose was standing in the door. She was holding her Piko-Piko hammer. The Black Koopa had a large bump on his head.
"Leave this train alone, you big bullies!" Amy shouted as she ran forward.
She swung her mighty hammer, but the Koopas got out of the way.
"Get back here!" Amy shouted.
"Maybe you'd stand a chance if there was only one of us," the red one said. "But you have to deal with four of us!"
"Yeah!" the yellow one shouted.
"You're going down," the green one said.
"Try saying that when I've broken your bones!" Amy shouted.
She began to swing wildly at the Koopas. The Koopas then climbed to the roof of the train.
"You're not getting away!" Amy shouted as she followed them onto the roof.
Toad and Hazel were watching from the door.
"She's kinda scary," Toad said.
"Yeah," Hazel said.
"They may be strange, but the Koopas are right," Toad said. "Amy doesn't stand a chance against four of them. I'll go on the roof. You try to wake Kai up."
"Right," Hazel said. "I'll join you as soon as I can."
Toad then began to follow Amy, and Hazel ran back to wake up Kai.
Amy and the Koopas were squaring off.
"Now that we have some room, we'll be able to smash you with our super-awesome technique!" the red one shouted. "Alright, bros. Let's do this!"
The Koopas climbed on top of each other. They then withdrew into their shells. Their shells then began to spin rapidly. A strange energy surrounded the spinning tower of turtles.
"Spinning Power-Shell!" The Koopa Bros. shouted together.
The tower spun toward Amy. Amy tried to smack it with her hammer, but they were too strong. She was forced backwards. The Koopas stopped spinning. They then appeared from their shells.
"We told you," the red one said. "Nothing can stop our awesome might! Let's finish this, bros."
"Right," the other three Koopas said.
"Not so fast!" a voice shouted from behind them.
They turned around and saw Toad.
"What's a mushroom doing way out here?" the yellow one asked.
"I'm not sure," the green one replied.
"Wait!" the black one shouted. "I've heard that a mushroom was traveling with Kai. This must be him."
"Good," the red one said. "This will make finding Kai easier. He'll definitely come here to save his buddy."
"I'll take you guys down!" Toad shouted.
The Koopas withdrew into their shells. They then spun separately toward Toad. Toad dodged all four of the shells. He then began to charge a spell. When the Koopas got out of their shells, he slammed a Blizzara spell into the ground. Large pillars of ice rose up from the ground. The Koopas managed to dodge the sharp, frozen spikes. They then spun in their shells and destroyed the spikes, sending the pieces toward Toad, who cast a Fira spell to melt them away.
"This won't be easy," Toad said.
Meanwhile, Hazel was down in the train. She was pouring water on Kai's face. He still didn't wake up.
"What will it take to wake you up?!" Hazel shouted as she swung her hammer.
She hit Kai on the head, but he still didn't wake up.
"This is harder than I thought," Hazel said.
She then picked Kai up onto her shoulders.
"I have to help Toad, and you're coming with me," Hazel said.
Kai muttered a bit more, but he was definitely still asleep. Hazel then began to climb to the roof.
Toad was getting tired from his fight with the Koopas.
"I…will…not…lose," Toad panted.
"Let's finish him, dudes!" the red one shouted.
"Right," the others agreed.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" a voice shouted from behind them.
They turned around again and saw Hazel and Kai, who was still asleep.
"Who's the chick?" the black one asked.
"Hazel!" Toad shouted. "You're here! You…didn't wake Kai up?!"
"He's like a rock," Hazel said. "Nothing wakes him."
"That sleeping dude must be Kai Kamai," the yellow one said.
"You're right," the red one said. "Now we can finish him off."
"If you want Kai, you'll have to go through me!" Hazel shouted.
"And me!" Toad shouted as he ran to her side.
"Fine," the red one said. "All that stands in our way is a worn-out mushroom and a girl. This will be a snap."
"How much strength do you have left, Toad?" Hazel asked.
"Not much," Toad answered. "I probably have enough for two spells at most, unless I use low-level spells like Fire."
"Great," Hazel said sarcastically. "I guess I'll just have to go on the offensive."
The Koopas charged their Spinning Power-Shell attack. Hazel began to charge spinning, magical energy into her right hand. The Koopas then charged forward toward her. Hazel charged forward as well. Her Gyro Sphere met with their attack.
At first, it looked like a tie, but the Koopas began to spin faster for some reason. Hazel was blown back by the sheer force of their attack.
"What happened?" Hazel asked.
"I guess that spinning attacks won't work against them," Toad said. "Your Gyro Sphere is useless."
"And that happens to be one of my only attacking-spells," Hazel said.
"Alright, let's rock and roll with our most powerful move!" the red one shouted.
The Koopas stacked themselves into a tower again. They withdrew into their shells and started to spin. But a strange energy surrounded them. It felt like heat.
"I'll just block it!" Hazel shouted. "Nothing gets through my barrier."
The tower of Koopas lit on fire.
"Spinning, Fire-Shell!!!" the Koopas shouted as they charged for Hazel and Toad.
Hazel used her Barrier spell to defend against this new attack. The Koopas' attack it the barrier.
The Koopas attack continued spinning when it hit the barrier. Suddenly, a crack appeared on Hazel's spell.
"What?!" Hazel exclaimed.
The crack grew larger until the barrier shattered. Hazel and Toad were forced backwards.
"Now that we've finished these two off, we can take down Kai," the red one said.
"No," Hazel said weakly. "I…won't…let…you."
The Koopas crept up toward the sleeping Kai. Once they got close enough, they charged forward. Hazel shut her eyes. She heard some attacking noises. When she opened her eyes, she saw the Koopas being blown away by Kai.
"Is Kai awake?" Hazel thought.
"I WON'T LOSE, MR. L!!!" Kai shouted.
"Mr. L?" Hazel asked.
She noticed that Kai's eyes were shut. He was still asleep!
"What's going on?" Toad asked.
"I'm not sure," Hazel answered.
Kai hacked and slashed at the Koopa Brothers. After a few minutes of this, he charged a Dragon Claw attack and knocked them far away like four baseballs.
"You better run!" Kai shouted.
He then fell back down.
"I've heard of sleep-talking, but not sleep-slashing!" Toad exclaimed.
"Kai beat them all in his sleep," Hazel said. "Now that's saying something."
Amy was awe-struck by what she just saw. She slowly got up.
"You guys are amazing," Amy said.
"Thanks," Toad said.
He then felt some small things rattling in his pocket. He pulled the stuff out and his eyes widened with fear. In his hands were bits and pieces of the Chaos Radar.
"I BROKE THE CHAOS RADAR!!!" Toad shouted.
"WHAT?!" Hazel exclaimed.
"It must've busted during the fight," Toad said frantically. "We'll never fix it! Without it, we'll never find the Chaos Emeralds!"
"Did you say 'Chaos Emeralds'?" Amy asked.
"Yeah, why?" Toad asked.
"My friend, Tails, is an expert on the Chaos Emeralds," Amy answered. "He'll get that thing working in no time! In fact, it's his workshop that I'm going to. You guys can come with me."
"Sweet!" Toad shouted. "Let's go see this Tails guy!"
Hazel and Toad carried Kai as they followed Amy back down into the train. Kamek was watching them from the skies.
"Those Koopa Brothers got knocked around as if they were nothing!" Kamek shouted. "Lord Bowser won't be happy."
Kamek then flew away, heading for Bowser.