The Mondo Supreme Ultra Combo Special Quiz Takedown Spectacular! Part 2!:

Chants of "MSU! CSQ!" had sounded off in the audience all through the commercial break – in between MAE promotional advertisements Commander Shredder Ginobli and Chrissy gave, that is. None of the eight contestants reflected the eagerness and excitement that the people of the audience showed. At the expense of the safety of the eight elemental wielders, the audience members enjoyed the game show unfolding before them.

"Do they know that we could die?" asked Ramona. "Just who are these people?"

"Either MAE paid them off for propaganda, or these are some heartless people," said Bowser.

"Or, maybe these are people that actually just hate elemental wielding," said Athelstan.

"This many people?" asked Marut.

"I don't know," said Athelstan. "I mean, MAE is based and founded on a group of leaders that hate us and that have been on the receiving end of some bad deeds of other wielders. For all we know, MAE's population could be filled with people that have had bad experiences with wielders. And if that's the case, then this is justice to them, isn't it?"

"So about that ace up your sleeve you said you had?" Neva whispered to Daisy.

"It's...it's developing," said Daisy. "It's not gonna be immediate. The good thing is that I had given them a heads-up yesterday that we might need their help, so they were ready when I called for them."

"And you called for them when?" Neva asked.

"After that first huge wave of MAE robots we ran into here," said Daisy. "And it has been a bunch of hours since then. Provided they used a fast enough airship, they should be here any minute now."

Neva's eyes went wide with concern. "Provided they used a fast enough airship? Really? That's what we're working with?"

"Yup!" said Daisy. "I'm sure they'll get here in time. I'm really feeling it going in our favor."

"Just who did you call for backup?" Neva asked. "Wait – no, don't tell me you got-"

"We are BACK from commercial break!" Commander Ginobli hollered. "The Mondo Supreme Ultra Combo Special Quiz Takedown Spectacular returns for round two among our contestants!"

"I still swear that Ginobli is Midbus," Bowser said to Athelstan among increasing crowd noise. "No one can convince me otherwise. A smarter Midbus, but still Midbus."

"Let's have a look at our current standings!" said Commander Ginobli. "Team Shell, Team Mushroom, and Team Star are all at eighty points each! Team Flower is right behind them at sixty! This is where we are, heading into the next round; so without further delay, let's get right back into the trivia fray!"

"I'm absolutely thrilled," Daisy muttered.

"Mmmminus five points for unnecessary backsass!" said Commander Ginobli. Team Flower's score display on their podium-booth dropped from sixty to fifty-five.

"What?!" Daisy barked. "Since when?"

"We're on a tight schedule," said Commander Ginobli. "And you should have settled in by now. Your delay of game nets you a little penalty is all."

"That was never mentioned in the rules, pig-mouth!" Daisy yelled.

Commander Ginobli ignored her. "Because of the lack of separation between these four teams, the questions for this second round are worth the same as the last round. Contestants, here's your opening question; and once again, we ask that the audience remain silent during question and answer time to prevent interference with the process and maintain fair play. Now, Mushrooms are widely known as a special class of edible items offering a wide variety of uses for the common people. From regular Mushrooms, to Ultra Mushrooms, to Boost Mushrooms, to Mega Mushrooms, there are quite a few interesting effects Mushrooms can yield. But what Mushroom is harmful if so much as even touched? Could it be...Mini Mushrooms? Poison Mushrooms? Invincishrooms? Or P-Acorns?"

"P-Acorns aren't even a Mushroom," said Bowser.

"He's already trying to trick us again," grumbled Neva.

"Trick? That should make the question easier!" said Commander Ginobli. "If a P-Acorn isn't a Mushroom, don't choose it! Would you choose an answer that obviously wasn't the correct answer if it showed up on a test in school? 'D) This is not the right answer.' Is that the right answer? Come on, guys."

"How are we supposed to trust anything he even says?" asked Ramona.

"What's an Invincishroom?" Steve asked Spike.

"Hey, yeah – what even is an Invincishroom?" asked Daisy.

"Now you're asking for hints?" replied Commander Ginobli. "If I tell you what it is, that'd just give the answer away!"

"Hey, maybe that means that it's actually the bad mushroom, if he doesn't want to tell us what it is!" said Neva.

"Really, I don't know how anything with 'poison' in its name can't be bad," said Daisy.

"Maybe we have to choose the worst one of the two?" said Athelstan.

"Invincishroom makes me think that it makes you invincible somehow," said Marut. "Let's pick Poison, Ramona!"

Nodding with unease, Ramona tapped the Poison selection showing a Poison Mushroom on their booth's touch screen. "Poison!"

"Is poison bad if it's touched?" Spike asked Steve.

"Acid is," said Steve. "Maybe we should just go with the obvious answer?"

"This should be easy, but the Invincishroom is throwing me off," said Bowser.

"Poison is the safe option," Athelstan said, making his and Bowser's selection. "Though, it's not safe in real life."

All four booths ended up displaying the Poison Mushroom on their front screens, though certainly not without initial hesitation. Despite this and the Invincishroom option, they had picked the correct answer.

"Bravo!" Commander Ginobli cheered. "Let's give a hand to our four competing teams! They all answered correctly!"

Ramona sighed in relief as everyone's score counter increased. "I really wasn't sure about that one."

"Man, we got away with one there!" said Athelstan.

"Good to see this question didn't fool you," said Commander Ginobli. "The Invincishroom can be extremely poisonous to some, but it has to be ingested. It won't do anything through contact alone. A Poison Mushroom, however, is dangerous to the touch! You need special equipment to handle those bad boys!"

"Why would someone even want a Poison Mushroom?" asked Marut. "Is there any use for any of those things if all they do is hurt people?"

"I'm sure there are some sick and twisted individuals out there," said Bowser.

"The three-way tie for first holds at a hundred a piece!" said Commander Ginobli. "But will it stay for long? Probably not after this question! Around thirty-four percent of the elemental wielders of this race are water wielders, while only four-percent can be fire wielders, and two percent have shown that they are stone wielders. Does this ratio apply to koopas? Piantas? Yoshis? Humans?"

"There's a ratio for that?" asked Steve.

"I guess so," said Spike. "Now that I think of it, most Monty Mole wielders are earth wielders."

"Do yoshis like water?" asked Marut.

"I thought koopas did," said Ramona. "Do they both?"

Marut's eyes darted back and forth between the koopa and yoshi selections on their booth's touch screen. "Uhhhhhh...koopa."

"Piantas," said Athelstan. "This is obvious!"

"Maybe for you, Mr. Archivist," said Bowser.

"Don't pick something dumb, Neva," said Daisy. "Remember that we're behind."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever!" Neva grumbled, choosing yoshis.

Team Shell had selected Piantas, as did Team Mushroom. Team Star had chosen koopas, and Team Flower went with yoshis. No one had picked humans.

"Chrissy, do you have info for us?" asked Commander Ginobli.

Several pie graphs popped up on-screen under Chrissy's head, three of which displayed fairly equal-sized pieces of eight different sections representing the eight elements. However, a fourth graph showed a large chunk of dark blue and reduced sections of both red and brown. The fourth one was labeled "Piantas."

"As current data shows, Piantas are the correct answer!" Chrissy said.

"Piantas?" said Marut.

"That's right," said Chrissy. "Because of their heavy historical presence in tropical climates, Piantas who are elemental wielders have evolved throughout the ages to skew the balance of power within their demographic away from fire and stone and towards water, earth, and even light."

"Damn it, Daisy!" Neva snapped. "Why can't you get these answers right?"

"Me? You're the one handling the touch screen!" said Daisy. "And you picked for this question!"

"So?" shouted Neva. "You could have noticed I was wrong and picked the right answer anyway!"

Chrissy gave a low-pitched and fluttering laugh. "This is not the kind of game you want to be disputing over. Next question, Commander?"

"This next one should bring back memories for some," said Commander Ginobli. "This alien species once tried to invade Earth after their home world had begun to experience widespread decay: Slurples, Star Bunnies, Spoings, Shroobs. Answer?"

Steve clutched his hood and mask. "What were they called? What were they called?!"

Spike shrugged, tapping on Spoings. "I'll take a random guess!"

"I asked for their name, not what they look like!" Steve said.

"Do you remember what they look like?" Spike asked.

"Oh, well, no," said Steve.

"I heard about them on the news once," said Ramona, picking Shroobs. "They didn't get to any of us."

"Am I allowed to answer this one?" Daisy asked.

"Don't give me your sass – just pick something and get it over with," grumbled Neva.

Daisy selected Shroobs, as Marut and Ramona did. Team Shell was the only one who chose a different answer, for Bowser and Athelstan had Shroobs selected the instant their time to answer began. Shortly after everyone had made their choice, the monitor showing Chrissy did a temporary cutaway to videos of purple mushroom-like creatures wreaking havoc on the lands and of Mario and Luigi battling against them and their leaders.

"The answer is, 'Shroobs,' " said Commander Ginobli. "Thanks to some prompt defense, their invasion attempt failed."

"Thanks to a fire wielder and an air wielder, you're welcome!" Daisy shouted. "See? If it weren't for wielders, this planet would be covered in Shroobs!"

"Admittedly, MAE already had a defense plan in place for retaliation if things got out of control," said Chrissy. "Their intervention was never needed."

Daisy folded her arms and scoffed at the two MAE commanders. "Yeah, okay. Sure. You guys had it all under control. Back when nobody even heard of y'all."

"Yes," said Chrissy. "Commander, what's the status of the game so far?"

"Team Mushroom is in the lead with 140 points!" replied Commander Ginobli. "Team Shell and Team Star are right there in second with 120! Team Flower takes up last place at ninety-five."

"This game is stupid," muttered Neva.

"Oh, don't be so down," said Commander Ginobli. "We're coming up on the end of our second round, but the final round will give you a chance to go from worst to first! Actually, wait, it won't – I did forget to mention that only the top two teams can advance to the final round, didn't I?"

"Wha- since when?!" Daisy hollered.

"Since always," said Chrissy. "That's the rules of the game."

"Always? THIS IS THE FIRST EPISODE!" Neva screamed.

"Why didn't you say anything about that part?" Bowser yelled.

Chrissy giggled. "I may not have been paying the closest attention when he explained the rules. Sorry. I'm a very busy girl with a lot on my mind that I have to do."

Bowser made a subtle growl. "How much you wanna bet this game is rigged?"

"It might be a safe bet to say that they don't intend on having any of us walk out of here freely," Athelstan whispered back. "But what can we do?"

"Aw man, now I wish we stalled more," said Daisy. "We need to slow down the pace of play here."

"Uh, yeah – is your 'brigade' going to show up any time soon?" Neva hissed.

"Probably," Daisy said.

Neva pouted and slumped onto their booth. "Probably, she says."

"Let's waste no time and get this game show rolling onto the next question!" said Commander Ginobli. "Who is the fastest being alive? Is it...Marut Kaze? Daisy Sarasa? Captain Falcon? Or Sonic the Hedgehog? Choose wisely."

"Definitely not Daisy!" Neva said, looking away.

Daisy glared at Neva. "Thanks! But I wasn't going to say it was me anyways!"

"It's obviously me!" yelled Marut, inputting his and Ramona's choice.

"Let's pick that Captain Falcon guy," said Steve. "He looks the coolest!"

"How is this even a question?" Bowser asked in annoyance.

"You're right," Athelstan said, picking Sonic. "How is this even a question?"

"Team Flower, we're waiting on you," said Commander Ginobli. "You should at least try to move up the scoreboard so that you don't have to spin the Chance Wheel early."

Neva shook her head and tapped the selection for Marut. "Yeah, well make it so that I don't wanna have to kick you in the head!"

Daisy quickly switched their answer to Sonic. "There, let me fix that for you."

Neva put their answer back to Marut. "No way any of these guys is faster than Marut."

"Did you not just say that I should be changing answers you make that are wrong?" Daisy said, once again assigning their selection to Sonic.

Neva immediately made their selection Marut again. "Except for when you make the wrong answer."

"YOU ARE IMPOSSIBLE!" Daisy screamed.

"Team Flower can't come to a consensus, Commander," said Commander Ginobli.

"Hmm, you're right," said Chrissy. "That's a ten-point deduction. You've eaten up too much time trying to decide, and you're delaying the game with your inability to make a concrete decision, Team Flower."

"Let's dock them another five for that unnecessary attitude the little one had against my head!" added Commander Ginobli.

"Agreed," said Chrissy. "Team Flower is now down to eighty points."

"Daisy!" Neva yelled. "Why can't you not know nothing about anything?!"

"Whoa, Neva – that was all sorts of triple negatives all over the place," said Ramona.

Daisy gave Neva a mean look, one that made it seem like she was about to bite her head off. But before she could say or do anything, Commander Ginobli spoke up. "As for everyone else, looks like Team Mushroom was the only team who got that one right. Sorry, Team Star. Marut is not the fastest."

"Oh, what?!" Marut cried out.

"That honor goes to Sonic the Hedgehog," said Chrissy. "Sonic has been recorded reaching speeds in excess of 2,500 miles per hour! That's over a whopping three times the speed of sound when in temperate climates! And he has the potential to run even faster than current records indicate! Talk about a need for shoes that can handle the speed, huh? No one else can even come close to his supersonic quickness."

Neva's expression mellowed out in an instant before giving a remark that further infuriated her partner. "Huh, I guess you were right, Daisy."

"The clock is ticking," said Chrissy. "We have to get these questions in before our next commercial break!"

Commander Ginobli nodded. "Of course! Remember when the Kruna Yura saved Sarasaland from the mentally unstable demon witch, Marissa Arkana? In addition to her Black Mage subordinates, she had an army of 'blank' on her side. Was it...Imps? Hellhounds? Zombies? Or wolves?"

Without hesitation, all of the teams consisting of Kruna chose the hellhound selection. Team Shell picked wolves. While Neva gave the answer for Team Flower, Daisy zoned out. Something within the commander's question sparked an epiphany in her mind.

Black Mages... Daisy thought. Suddenly, she tightened up and gasped. Black Mages! MAE! That's it! That has to work!

"What's wrong with you?" Neva asked.

Daisy smiled. "Oh, nothing. I just thought of something we can do after we take care of MAE."

Neva scowled. "We need to worry about breaking outta this place first, or else we won't even make it that far!"

"Marissa did indeed have an army of hellhounds," said Commander Ginobli. "Though I can see how you could get mixed up and think that they were wolves. I guess you could say that the hellhounds were demon wolves. Those were some nasty fiend canines that she had control over."

"They know about Shroobs, and they know about Marissa and our fight against her," mumbled Bowser. "It's one thing to know about Mario and Luigi, but our fight with Marissa was comparatively low-profile..."

"That's just reinforcing what we already know," Athelstan replied. "These MAE guys have kept a watchful eye."

"Heading into the closing question of this side of our commercial break, Team Mushroom leads at 180 points!" said Commander Ginobli. "Team Star is next with 140. Team Shell, 120. And Team Flower, a hundred. This question will be critical to see who moves on to the speed round final duel, for we're making this one worth a whole 50!"

"Team Shell, Star, Flower – this is all or nothing for you," said Chrissy. "You better hope you get the right answer and that the others don't, because Team Mushroom is already guaranteed a spot!"

"And this one's not easy!" said Commander Ginobli. "Finish the lyrics to this song: 'So go on, straighten your cap. Let your toes begin to tap. This rhythm is a power 'shroom.' Blank. Here are your choices. 'You're too blind to see it.' 'Tetigit destruens!' 'Don't forget you're the superstar!' Or, 'It's you and me. I know it's my destiny.' This tune is one of my favorites."

"Oh, who cares anyway?" said Neva.

"Hey, don't go mouthing off again now," said Daisy.

Neva sucked on her teeth. "Man, screw this! I'm sick of them making entertainment at our expense!"

"Just play along with them for a little while longer," Daisy whispered.

"No, this is frickin' dumb!" shouted Neva. "Face it, we're dead! Let's just get it over with already! I can't take any of this anymore! I can't! This is just torture!"

"Commander, Team Flower sounds like they're forfeiting," said Chrissy. "How about getting them to the Chance Wheel?"

Commander Ginobli raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "I guess they're just accepting their loss and giving up because they don't know the answer. That's a shame."

"What? No – we're still playing!" Daisy insisted. "Neva's just nervous!"

"Don't forget you're the superstar!" Steve hollered, tapping the selection for the lyric.

"Oh, would you look at that!" Chrissy said with a sudden uptick in speaking tempo. "Team Shell has picked the correct answer! That means that Team Flower has mathematically lost! Sorry, Team Star – you guys ran out of time to answer! That means Team Shell has jumped ahead, so Team Flower and Team Star are both eliminated – let's hurry to the Chance Wheel before we go over time for our sponsors to get their word in!"

Daisy frowned. "Hold on, wha-"

"All rulings are final!" said Commander Ginobli. "GUARDS!"

Several Sentry Bots entered the room and grabbed hold of Daisy, Neva, Marut, and Ramona as Patrol Bots undid the Kruna's ankle shackles through a special switch at the bottom of the booths and bound their wrists with energized cuffs. The Patrol Bots and their similarly built but battle-oriented Sentry Bot counterparts then marched the four Kruna across the stage to the Chance Wheel. Daisy got nudged forward, designated as the first one to work the roulette of misfortunes.

"Now then, lovely lady!" Commander Ginobli shouted. "What wonders await you once you walk out these doors? What harrowing fate will you cast upon yourself? What rightfully deserved plights and sorrows will-"

"How am I supposed to spin this wheel if I'm cuffed?" Daisy asked.

"Um...oh, you're right," said Commander Ginobli. "Undo her hands, SDU-10830-"

"No, don't do that-" Chrissy tried to get out. The Sentry Bot had already disbanded Daisy's cuffs, and Daisy took advantage of the opportunity the instant it presented itself. She jumped out of the mob of MAE robots, transformed into her Nova Form mid-aerial flip, and raised a fist with seismic power that heightened in density with each passing second.

"Whoa, that escalated quick," said Marut.

"Commander!" Chrissy roared.

"Take aim and get ready to gun her down!" Commander Ginobli ordered the robots.

"You're not gunning anyone down!" Daisy said. "Not unless you want an earthquake to flatten this whole city!"

"You wouldn't dare!" Commander Ginobli said among gasps from the anxious audience.

Daisy tripled the silvery rumble around her raised fist. "Should I try and fit this in before the break?"

"Ha! Nice try, earth wielder," said Chrissy. "But the most recently updated data on you suggests that you do not have enough power to level even half of Airebis with any earthquake you try to make."

"I'll just make more than one – duh!" Daisy replied, seeming bored. "I've got plenty of Mushrooms to use once we get to wherever you're holding our stuff."

"Shredder, do something!" Chrissy yelled.

Several explosions rocked the studio ceiling, eventually leading to its collapse over the center of the stage. Debris fell over some of the MAE robots, but it also crashed on top of Daisy as well. From out of the hole in the ceiling jumped five figures; two furry primates of varied sizes and with city-schemed camouflage, one large, big-headed plant creature in protective red and yellow padding, one thick-bodied strongman in yellow and purple Strikers gear, and a lanky man of purple, violet, and light blue Striker armor. The one mainly in purple rolling to the front, all of the newcomers – Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Petey Piranha, Wario, and Waluigi – pointed their Bob-omb Launchers all over the studio.

"You can not be serious," Neva grumbled.

Commander Ginobli cupped one side of his head. "Do not go to commercial break – I repeat, do not go to-"

"You guys SUCK!" Waluigi yelled at the Kruna. "I've got important mayoral duties to attend to; but instead, I'm rescuing you punks?!"

Daisy burst free from the rubble that had collapsed onto her. She landed right alongside the new group and near the front edge of the stage, swiftly recharging her fist with Nova Form-enhanced seismic power.

"We got here just in time!" said Diddy Kong. Petey Piranha grinned and cocked his Bob-omb Launcher.

"Yeah, it only took ya longer than it should've," said Neva.

"We had to fight through a lot more than we expected!" said Donkey Kong.

Wario twiddled his mustache. "You mean we had to blow up a lot more than we expected! Heh, heh..."

"Who wants to eh-splode?" Waluigi yelled, pulling out a second Bob-omb Launcher. "ANYBODY WANNA EH-SPLODE?"

"Why are you saying it like that?" Wario asked.

"Because it sounds like I've gotten tired of saying 'explode' because I've had to say it so many times," said Waluigi. "And that makes it cooler. It sounds more edgy."

"Waluigi," Daisy said. "Shut up."

"I'ma gonna unleash some BOOM on this place whether you losers like it or not!" Waluigi yelled. "I'M IN THE MOOD FOR SOME BOOM!"

Daisy groaned and shook her head, and a punch with her charged fist on the stage floor shook the room to enough of a degree to knock just about everyone other than her off balance. The move freed Neva, Ramona, and Marut from the MAE robots. As their energy cuffs disbanded, the three now-free Kruna hurried back to the podium-booths and looked for the switches that would undo the ankle shackles around Steve, Spike, Bowser, and Athelstan. Almost immediately after getting released, Steve and Spike turned and rushed off the stage as fast as they could.

Neva threw her hands up. "Oh, okay! It's not like we were expecting you to help us out or anything stupid like that!"

A handful of explosions then went off that blasted the assembled MAE robots to pieces. There would have been more explosions had Daisy not grabbed Waluigi's arms to get him to stop firing his launchers. When the smoke started to clear, Commander Ginobli found himself among burning piles of metal while panicked screams sounded off from the frantically evacuating audience.

Commander Ginobli stomped in place, fuming and growling. "This is not the show we need to put on! Next time, we're trapping contestants on a game board with mini-games!"

"Serve justice and eliminate these wielders, or there won't be a next time, Ginobli!" hissed Chrissy.

"Observe, ladies and gentlemen!" Commander Ginobli called out to the audience and cameras. "Witness what happens when you're an elemental wielder trying to get past the law!"

None of the remaining audience paid the MAE commander any mind. What was leftover of the once dense crowd of people flooded out through the doors until not a single one of them was left. Commander Ginobli soon had no one else to look at other than the Bob-omb Launcher-toting newcomers, the Kruna, and his now furious superior looking on through the monitor.

"You had one job here, Commander," Chrissy growled. "One. Job."

"He was never a real bright one, that guy," added Bowser. "Kind of ironic you had him host a trivia show."

Chrissy stared at Bowser and the other Kruna with an icy, furious glare. "This just in: The Mondo Supreme Ultra Combo Special Quiz Takedown Spectacular has been canceled."

"Why?!" Commander Ginobli cried. "This was going to be a hit show! Couldn't you tell by the crowd? So what if there were a few mishaps! I..."

The MAE commander's voice trailed off in terrified nervousness as the thirteen aggressors before him closed in on him. What followed turned out to be one of the most one-sided beatdowns any of the Kruna could recall, with Daisy, Bowser, Athelstan, Donkey Kong, and Wario acting as the primary drivers. However, it did not last for long. Although Commander Ginobli endured a significant amount of physical abuse, one particular elbow bash Daisy gave him did more than just put him out of commission – it elicited a violent tremor all throughout his body that eventually led to his complete collapse.

And it was not a collapse onto the ground in a motionless or unconscious daze; Commander Ginobli's body literally fell apart into a graphic mess of disassembled segments, chunks, and fluids. Everyone, aside from Chrissy, looked upon the pile that became of Commander Ginobli's body with varying degrees of disturbed shock and grossed-out bewilderment. In mere moments, the boar-armadillo-like being had broken down into a disorganized organic mess.

"Uh, D-Daisy?!" Ramona asked. "What No-Nova Form technique is-ss-s that?!"

"I didn't do anything!" Daisy responded. "I mean, I didn't do anything out of the ordinary!"

"Yeah, people always turn inside out and stop holding together after Daisy hits them," mumbled Neva.

Bowser, Athelstan, and Diddy Kong peered up at the monitor Chrissy had been on, only to find that the screen had gone black. Chrissy had disconnected her communications. That left the group of thirteen all by themselves with a pile of organic matter and a bigger pile of inorganic matter, but they knew they could not stay there for long.

"Hey – never mind what happened to this punk!" Wario said. "He's dead, you guys are free – we've done what we needed to do here, so let's hit the road!"

"No, our equipment is still in this building here," said Bowser.

"Then let's hurry up and go get it!" said Wario. "We can't stay here forever! We didn't exactly come here with the stealthiest of approaches!"

Daisy shook off some of her mental discomfort and gave a grinning smirk. "Alright. But before we leave this city, we're wrecking those climate control stations they've got here!"