Chapter 21
The Elite Trio

After defeating Boom Boom and Pom Pom, Mario and Franchouchou continued making their way through the castle, battling Bowser's minions whenever they showed up.

Despite being outnumbered vastly, the good guys were able to overcome their enemies with ease. Mario, Saki, and Tae had the least issue fighting their enemies due to their powerful fighting skills. Junko, on the other hand, avoided getting into conflicts and opted to let her companions deal with everything instead, her reason being that she doesn't like committing acts of violence.

Noticing this, Saki said to her, "C'mon, Junko! Don't just stand there! You're wasting the power-up Mario gave you! I thought you said you're going to help in whatever way you can?"

"I... I don't know what to do..." Junko nervously replied while fidgeting her fingers against each other. "You all seem to be doing a perfectly fine job without me..."

"Don't just stand there! Find someone to beat up!" Saki told her, sounding frustrated. "Look at Sakura! Even she's doing something and enjoying it!" She pointed at Sakura, who was scratching the face of a screaming Koopa Troopa over and over.

"Whoa! A walking wall!" said Lily out loud all of a sudden. In response, Saki turned to see a Whomp walking in their direction.

A grin appeared on the blonde zombies face as she headed towards the newcomer. "Heheh! Fresh meat!"

Junko continued to watch nervously at her companions beating up the various minions present. Just then, a Fang swooped down from the ceiling, ready to bite her. However, the bat minion was knocked out of the air when Ai threw a boomerang at it. Junko didn't realize this until the Fang was hit by the boomerang, and she jumped away in shock.

Ai caught the boomerang when it returned to her, and she asked Junko, "Are you all right?"

"I'm... I'm all right... Thanks!" Junko told her.

"Watch yourself! We can't always look after each other's back in situations like this!" said Ai before she produced another boomerang in her other hand to throw at some approaching Goombas.

Junko looked around and saw that everyone was giving it his or her best to beat up the minions.

Mario was jumping around and stomping the enemies and occasionally punched and kicked them.

Saki was having a field day beating the lights out of her enemies with fists and feet of fire, not to mentioning unleashing flamethrowers to burn her opponents alive.

Sakura was moving around swiftly and even climbing up walls to pounce onto enemies and slash them with her claws.

Tae took advantage of her hardened and heavier body to ram into her enemies with a tremendous force.

Lily had lots of fun turning himself into a human tornado, or zombie tornado, to catch enemies and give them a wild spin before sending them in every direction possible.

Yuugiri created ice constructs in the form of sharp objects and threw them with superb accuracy at her enemies.

Ai created endless amounts of boomerangs and threw them with precise accuracy at her opponents, and the unpredictable movements of her projectiles made them all the more dangerous. The shields on her arms and legs were used by her in defensive manners as well.

"Everyone's fighting so hard, yet I'm standing here, doing nothing, even being protected by them..." Junko said in her mind. Looking at her hands and creating golden and silver sparkles on the palms, she wondered if she should contribute something, but at the same time, she felt uneasy about hurting other people.

"Phew... That's da last of them..." said Mario while wiping his forehead. The room was filled with the bodies of minions lying all over the place, some of them still showing signs of life, while some was likely dead.

Stretching her arms into the air, Saki said with a satisfied look on her face, "Best workout ever!" As if agreeing her, Tae raised her arms into the air and let out a cheerful-sounding cry.

"Lily can't believe she didn't get dizzy at all from spinning nonstop for several seconds!" said Lily happily. "This power is neat!"

"Did you see the way I ran up the walls and jump off them onto my enemies? Wow! I was so awesome!" Sakura said to Ai excitedly.

"No time to celebrate," Mario said to them. "We still have to keep on going! Follow me!"

"All right! Who wants to die next?" said Saki enthusiastically as she followed Mario alongside her companions.

They ran down the hall and arrived at another room, and a large one at that. There at the other end were the Elite Trio, surrounded by a large number of Goombas and Paratroopas. There was also a large cannon behind them.

"You've come at last, Mario!" Private Goomp said to him. "We've expecting you!"

"This is as far as you go!" Corporal Paraplonk said to them.

"We'll be stopping you here!" added Sergeant Guy.

The good guys got into defensive stances when they saw that new enemies have appeared. "Anything we have to know about them, assuming you know them?" Ai asked Mario.

"They're the Elite Trio, high-ranking guards of Bowser," explained Mario. "They may not look like it, but they can be quite troublesome. What they lack in power they make up with strategy."

"You may have new allies this time, Mario," Private Goomp said to the plumber, "but we still have the number advantage, not to mention strategy on our side! You won't be winning this time!"

"Well then, bring it! Like we're afraid of you!" said Saki with confidence while punching her palm and lighting both hands on fire at the same.

BGM: Never Let Up! (Mario & Luigi: Dream Team)

"Goombas! Run in circles around them!" Goomp said to his army of Goombas. The latter did as he said and rushed towards the good guys before forming a large circle around them and running nonstop.

"What... What are they doing?!" asked Junko nervously while looking around.

"Typical strategy for disorienting your enemies! I know this tactic from my days battling against rival biker gangs!" said Saki while looking around. "Pay attention to your surroundings and focus on the ones that are closing in on you! Don't let them moving around lower your guard!"

One of the Goombas then charged out of the circle and in their direction. Seeing this, Saki let up her fist to ready to attack it, but she was interrupted when a Paratroopa swooped down from above and hit her in the back of the head hard. This allowed the Goomba to run up to her and headbutt her in the face hard before rushing back to the circle of Goombas. Saki looked up angrily and saw that the air was filled with Paratroopas flying all over the place. "The heck?!'

"We've got them from both above and below!" said Corporal Paraplonk. "They'll never be able to concentrate facing opponents from both levels! Paratroopas! Use the hit and run tactic!"

"Goombas! Continue you assault!" Goomp said to the Goombas. "The Paratroopas will help distract them for you go in for the kill!"

Under the command of their superiors, the Paratroopas swooped down from the air at a fast speed and struck Mario and the zombies hard in the head before flying back into the air to avoid getting caught. "Ow! Stop it!" cried Sakura as she held her hands over her head for protection. She tried grabbing one of the Paratroopas after it hit her, but he was too fast to be caught.

Ai held up the shield on her arm for protection while holding a boomerang in the other hand. When a Paratroopa struck the shield, she pulled it back fast before trying to hit him with the boomerang as if it was a melee weapon, but the flying turtle moved out of the way fast. Before she knew it, she was rammed in the back by a jumping headbutt from a Goomba and pinned onto the floor, and the Goomba jumped on her over and over hard. "Get off me! she shouted as she rolled over to get him off, and he rushed back to the others at the side.

"Darn it! Stay still!" shouted Saki angrily as she hurled fireballs into the air to hit the Paratroopas, but they managed to avoid them all. As she was doing so, Goombas closed in on her from the sides and jumped at the same time to ram her in the body from all directions. Frustrated, Saki let out a cry of anger as she stomped the floor while spreading her hands to the side to release a fiery shockwave, blowing away and burning the Goombas who were attacking her.

She then angrily turned to Goomp and punched in his direction to send forth a stream of fire. However, Sergeant Guy got in front of him and waved his wand at the floor to generate a wall of water to douse the fiery attack, much to Saki's surprise.

"You want to fight in the air? Lily will give it to you, then!" Lily angrily said to the Paratroopas before taking flight using his propeller hat. He was going to generate a tornado with his spinning, but was interrupted when a Paratroopa rammed into him from behind. "Yeow!" More Paratroopas kept on ramming into him, not giving him the chance to do anything at all.

Yuugiri was throwing ice shurikens at the running Goombas when she noticed Lily in trouble up in the air. "Lady Lily!" she cried out in concern. Forming more ice shurikens in her hands, she got ready to throw them when suddenly she was rammed in the back by a Goomba and fell on her front. "Ah!"

Some Goombas then used this opportunity jump on her over and over and also kick her. Without getting back up first, Yuugiri pressed her hand hard against the floor and caused the area around herself to freeze over, and the Goombas that were on the floor ended up getting frozen to it, much to their surprise. The Goombas jumping on her back stopped doing so, as they were surprised by this as well.

Yuuguri angrily got back up and shoot away the Goombas on top of her before delivering a powerful slap into one to send him shooting across the room and into a wall so hard that cracks appeared on it. Ignoring the Goomba frozen to the floor around herself, Yuugiri formed two ice knives before throwing them into the air, hitting two Paratroopas who were about to hit Lily.

Though this might not look like much, this sudden occurrence was enough to surprise some of the Paratroopas, just enough for Lily to recover from getting hit nonstop. "My turn!" he shouted. "Milky Way Cyclone!" With one leg sticking out, he spun as hard as he could once, and just like that, he created a ring made of wind that spread out with such a force that almost all the Paratroopas were blown away.

Looking up, Saki said, "Good going, Lily!"

Seeing this, Goomp told the Goombas to pull back, and Paraplonk also told the Paratroopas to do the same. When the army returned to their superiors, Mario turned to them and said while in a fighting stance, "All right-a! Da game eez over!"

"It's not over until you drop dead!" said Sergeant Guy as he raised his wand into the air. It released a green aura that covered the entirety of their side, healing any wounds they received from the fight. "Now that we're back to full health, I'd like to see you take on us again! You can't keep up your stamina forever, while we can as long as I keep on healing them!"

"Right! It's a battle until you all drop from exhaustion!" Goomp said to the good guys.

"Sorry to break it to you, but we're zombies, so we won't get exhausted!" Saki said to him.

"We'll see about that! Goombas, gather together and form a box to charge into them!" Goomp told the Goombas.

The Goombas did as he said and began stacking on top of each other and also standing behind each other until they formed the shape of a cube. All of then then ran in sync towards the good guys. Saki lit up her fist and readied to unleash an attack, but Tae let out a cry of anger as she ran ahead on all fours to attack first.

Thanks to having a body made of metal, the mindless zombie was able to "shatter" the Goomba "cube" with ease and continue heading towards the Elite Trio. Acting quick, Sergeant Guy waved his wand at her and fired a blue beam that when struck, caused her to be encased in a block of ice in a blink of an eye.

"Tae!" gasped Sakura.

"Paratroopas! Huddle together to form a ceiling and then crush them!" Paraplonk told the Paratroopas. The winged turtles did as he said and got close to each other to form a "ceiling" before withdrawing into their shells.

While in that formation, they flew above the good guys before falling down all at the same time like a crusher. Fortunately, the good guys acted fast and got out of the way in time. The Paratroopas slammed onto the floor so hard that the room actually shook a bit.

They rose back into the air and moved around in sync while still in their shells, looking for another opportunity to crush the good guys, and they headed for Junko, who was alone. She looked up in horror as the "ceiling of shells" readied to come down onto her.

"JUNKO!" Sakura cried out to her in shock.

Nobody had time to rush up to Junko to help her, and it almost seemed like the latter was doomed. The white-haired zombie screamed as she raised her hand towards the incoming "crusher," and in doing so unintentionally released a ball of golden fire. When the golden fireball struck the Paratroopas, it exploded in a manner comparable to a firework, and the winged turtles were sent flying all over the place and badly burned as well.

The others were surprised at what they saw. Junko was surprised at what she did and looked at her hand. "Did I really just do that...?!" she wondered.

"Junko sis! That was a powerful move you used just now!" Lily said to her excitedly.

"If used effectively, da Golden Flower can be very powerful!" explained Mario.

The Elite Trio was surprised by what happened just now, and Paraploink was especially unhappy about it. "My minions! How dare she?!" he angrily said.

"That's the power of the Golden Flower!" pointed out Sergeant Guy. "That's no good... We better do something about her first..."

"You bet I will! I'm going to avenge my men!" said Paraplonk before flying at Junko at a fast speed.

The others were just commenting about what Junko did and urged her to use it again when the Paratroopa suddenly got behind in the blink of an eye and, grabbing by her the shoulders, carried her into the air. "Wha?! What are you doing?!" she cried while flailing her legs in panic.

"This is going to hurt, but you deserve it!" the Paratroopa said to her as he flew close to the ceiling.

"Let go of me! I'm scared of heights!" she cried while struggling hard. All of a sudden, her entire body gave off a bright flash that blinded everyone in the room. Paraplonk cried in shock as he let go of her as a result, and Junko fell to the floor with a thud, though thanks to being a zombie, she didn't feel pain.

In an act of anger, she looked up and pointed both her hands at Paraplonk, who was still trying to regain his vision from the blinding flash earlier, and fired golden and silver fireballs at him. The two projectiles collided into the Paratroopa and resulted in a bright firework-like explosion that blasted him out of the sky and all the way back to his comrades.

"Corporal Paraplonk!" Sergeant Guy said in shock while looking at the seemingly unconscious and burned up Paratroopa. He was going to use his wand to heal him when suddenly a boomerang thrown by Ai struck his hand and disarmed him. The wand flew to the back of the room.

Goomp then noticed that the block of ice Tae was frozen in was shaking, and suddenly, it shattered into pieces as the mindless zombie somehow burst her way out and cried out loud in anger. Seeing Goomp, she angrily lunged at him, but he avoided her by jumping into the air. Flipping himself upside-down, Goomp fell onto Tae, hitting her in the back with a powerful headbutt that pressed her against the floor.

"Don't underestimate the hardness of my head!" Goomp told her as he flipped right side up. "I've trained myself to master the arts of head bonking! I can even bend steels if I..." Before he could finish speaking, Tae shot back up while crying in anger, causing him to be hurled across the air. "Whoa!"

He happened to fly in Mario's direction, and the plumber winded up a punch before socking him in the face to send him shooting across the room and hitting a wall.

Seeing that he might be the only one left, Sergeant Guy angrily said to the good guys, "It's not over yet! See this cannon? I haven't even used it yet, and now you've convinced me to use it! You're going to regret it!" He then turned around and called out loud for the cannon to be loaded. The door at the back of the room opened, and some Shy Guys rushed in, carrying with them a Banzai Bill that they loaded into the back of the cannon.

The good guys got into defensive stance to get ready for the cannon to be fired. "The size of that thing is definitely going to create a huge explosion, right?" asked Ai nervously.

"Not enough to take out da castle, but still pretty big anyway," replied Mario. "Just don't get-a hit by eet."

They then noticed Junko stepping forward. "Junko, what are you doing?" Sakura asked her.

"You're right. I shouldn't be sitting back and doing nothing," she said with a look of determination. "Since I'm granted this power, which is likely the strongest among all of yours, I should make use of it! I may not like violence, but there is no other choice now!"

"Fire!" shouted Sergeant Guy. One of the Shy Guys pressed a button on the cannon, and the Banzai Bill was fired.

However, right before that Shy Guy pressed the button, Junko pointed her hands at the cannon and fired a large fireball that was golden on one half and silver on the other half. The Banzai Bill only just came out of the cannon when it collided with the dual-colored fireball, thus resulting in a large explosion that obliterated the whole thing and everything around it.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The cannon was blown into pieces, while Sergeant Guy and his army were sent flying all over the room, crashing into walls and falling onto the floor unconsciously.

BGM Ends

The good guys were in awe at what happened, even Junko herself. "Wow...! That was awesome, Junko!" Saki said to her.

Junko looked at her hands and said, "This is the power... I got...?!"

Mario walked up to her and said, "Da Golden Flowa eez one of da most powerful power-ups eva. You should be happy that-a I gave eet to you!"

"I'm sure we can have an easily victory with your help!" Sakura said to Junko while patting her shoulder.

"You're so awesome, Sister Junko!" Lily said to her.

Everyone continued to praise Junko, which made her embarrassed but happy at the same time. Also, anyone on the enemies' side who was still conscious hurriedly ran out of the room, realizing that they had lost the battle.

All the while, Bowser watched the whole thing unfold in frustration from his throne room. It was captured on camera. "Why am I not surprised...?" he grumbled.

"Mario has gotten himself quite some allies this time around..." said Kamek in a worried tone.

"Looks like I'll have to do everything myself," said Bowser.

"You do realize that your son is preparing his weapon even as we speak, right?" Kamek said to him. "I only hope that he doesn't cause too much damage to the castle when he engages them..."

"If Junior can't do it, then I'll have to do it myself," said Bowser. "In fact, I think I should get prepared already. You better prepare yourself, Mario! The same goes you girls, whoever you are!"

TO BE CONTINUED