Chapter Forty-Five: Battle over the Blooper Sea
Well, this has probably been the longest wait for a chapter yet, but I'm glad I finally managed to get it out! Hopefully the rest of the chapters will come out sooner!
Luigi stood on the bridge of Bowser Jr's flagship, the Megashell, the sounds of the control consoles and the chatter of the bridge crew around him. He glanced back; behind him, Bowser Jr sat on a slightly raised platform on a huge chair, backed by a huge banner with the Koopa Empire emblem. It was unnerving just how much the prince resembled his father. Bowser Jr was some little bratty kid with a high-pitched laugh...this full-grown Koopa was just like Bowser, only somehow more intense and with less of a sense of humour. What had happened to the fun-loving Bowser Jr of the past? Perhaps the war had affected not just the people of the Mushroom Kingdom in negative ways.
Luigi looked through the massive windows at the front of the bridge. The ocean was an endless, flat blue plain, with barely a wave on the surface, while only a few clouds drifted through the sky. The bridge of a warship was an alien place to him. He'd much rather be at the front of the battle, stomping on enemies and pummelling them with his hammer, but Bowser Jr had insisted that he remain up here, as he didn't feel comfortable commanding the Mushroom Kingdom troops himself. "Is that really what he wants, or does he want me near him so I don't try to betray him?" Luigi thought. "Oh...Mario, I miss the days when all our adventures were simple and straightforward."
A Koopa seated at one of the communications panels gave a shout. "They've shown up on our scanners!" he exclaimed. "The Neo Empire fleet is coming for us!"
Larry leaned back on his comfortable leather seat, grinning and showing his pointed teeth. He was on the bridge of one of the new Airship Mk. IIIs, on a tower suspended high above the rest of the warship. His new ship, which he had affectionately named Cheatsy after his childhood nickname, was one of the few new airships that hadn't been given Ludwig's design, instead bearing his own face on the figurehead. He was so egotistical, that one...in fact, Larry often doubted he'd even be a good ruler, in spite of his ambition. That didn't really matter though, since Larry was more fighting for sheer enjoyment than for any sort of political belief.
"Guns at the ready, boys?" Larry asked his crew, who were operating the glowing blue holographic control consoles. Bowser Jr's fleet loomed in front of them, a long, dark line of ships. Larry smirked; for Bowser Jr to assemble a fleet of this size after the destruction of the last one could only mean he'd pulled out all the reserves. Once this fleet was destroyed, the war was all but won, aside from the Koopa Central Elite Force. Not even that would be able to stand against the Neo Empire's new, more advanced army. Larry chuckled as he rested his head on his propped-up fist, while he watched his fleet (consisting mostly of Mk. II airships, bearing his own design in addition to some of Ludwig, Roy, and Wendy's), move forward to engage the enemy in battle. Once Ludwig was emperor and his power secure...what in the world was he going to do?
"They're in range now, your highness!" a Shy Guy crew member shouted as Larry's fleet drew closer and closer, casting shadows down on the calm blue sea below.
"FIRE!" Bowser Jr roared. Luigi heard a rumble as the dozens of Bill Blasters mounted on the warship fired, followed by the rest of the hundreds of ships letting lose their missiles.
"Toadette!" Luigi shouted, shouting into his phone. "Do what they're doing!"
"You bet, Luigi!" the voice of Toadette shouted back enthusiastically.
Several flashes shone in the main window as the enemy fleet returned fire. Luigi braced himself. The fight had begun.
The corridor Cobal was in shook as the enemy bullet bills struck the ship, causing him to tumble to the right and grab onto the wall for support. Strike took the shake better; Cobal guessed the Fire Bro had been in airship battles before. Almost as soon as Cobal had recovered his balance, the ship shook again as it was struck once more by an enemy projectile.
"Come on!" Strike, shouted, running forward and gesturing for Cobal to follow. "We've got to get to the outdoors deck so we can fight off borders!"
"Got it!" Cobal shouted back, following the Fire Bro. They dashed through the corridors, following a steadily growing group of Koopa Troop members mixed with Toads. The ship shook again, but Cobal was more prepared this time and only felt slightly disoriented.
Outside on the deck, Cobal saw that the enemy fleet was frighteningly close...and coming closer. A big battleship with the figurehead of some Koopa with poofy blue hair launched what had to be over a dozen bullet bills at a ship slightly above and to their right, blasting chunks off wood off the hull. A Bill Blaster right next to them fired with enough force to shatter Cobal's eardrums, sending a bullet bill screaming off in it's direction to explode against the enemy ship's hull. A ship with Roy's figurehead (Cobal remembered the design from his battles back in Conkdor Canyon) launched a bullet bill at their ship, which rocked the deck and filled it with the tint of smoke.
"Man, I miss the Flyin' Krock!" King K Rool shouted off to Cobal's right. The Kremling king shook his fist at the enemy fleet, which seemed to stretch on forever in all direction, countless battleships bearing the symbols of the leaders of the Neo Empire. "Why are we all open like this! I don't wanna get my brains blown out by one of those angry lookin' missiles!"
"Shut up!" Strike snapped. "Look ahead...that's why!"
Cobal glanced at the closest enemy warships. Like a cloud of gnats, hundreds of Paratroopas, Paragoombas, and Fly Guys were coming for them, as the two sides exchanged cannonfire, the resounding booms filling the air.
"They're trying to board us." Prince Peasley said, drawing his rapier. "Let's stop them here before they breach our defences!"
Cobal readied his muscles as the multi-coloured cloud of enemies approached them. He saw the Paratroopas getting into their shells...what seemed like a single, agonizing second passed.
The Koopas shot at them. Cobal leapt out of the way of a green-shelled Paratroopa, before spinning around and kicking him as he emerged from his shell, knocking him out of the way. He saw K Rool grab another Koopa's shell mid-air, stopping his flight and hurling it overboard with all his strength. Peasley wove away from shell after shell, slashing with his sword...
"Behind you!" Strike shouted, blasting away a trio of Paragoombas with a large fireball. Cobal ducked under a shell and stretched out his tongue, before spitting it out with the force of a bullet, knocking a Fly Guy out of the sky. The cannons around them were firing, making it so Cobal could hardly hear at all, and as the enemy bullet bills struck the ship, the deck rocked and the air was filled with smoke as Cobal delivered a hard punch of the face of a boarding Paratroopa. War sure was a mess, wasn't it?
Luigi watched on the bridge as the two fleets exchanged fire. The Megashell had been struck several times but did not appear to be in any danger; the same could not be said for three of the other warships in Bowser Jr's fleet, which had scrummed to their repeated battering and burst into flames, sinking through the air to crash into the ocean below. He wished to all the stars that none of his Mushroom Kingdom warships would suffer the same fate.
A cheer came up from the crew as explosions broke out on one of the Neo Empire ships bearing Wendy's design, causing it to tilt to the side and begin to loose air. The mood was quickly interuppted by one of the Shy Guys at a communications panel, who exclaimed,
"Lakitu's Cloud is taking heavy fire! Captain Goodshell is starting the evacuation!"
Bowser Jr growled. "Get the fleet into the Banzai Bill Formation." he ordered fiercely. "We need to smash through their defence!"
"Yes, sir!" his lieutenant, a red-shelled Koopa, saluted.
"This is taking too long." Luigi mused as he paced back and forth from one end of the bridge to the other. They were outnumbered and outgunned. Yes, not so much as to make victory impossible, but it would be a long battle with several losses even if they were to triumph. He had trained the people of Toad Town, and he did not want to lead them to their deaths!
He needed to think, the same way he thought when he'd been fighting alongside Mario. He needed to think of this whole fleet as if it was his own body, and Larry's fleet as if it was just another Koopa troop fortress he had to get through. Luigi peered through the main window, at the enemy ships which were being struck by countless bullet bills, fires breaking out on their hulls. There were five ships at the fleet's centre...sleek, futuristic craft, slightly larger than the other airships. They were firing laser blasts instead of bullet bills, and, as he watched, one blasted quite the hole in an allied airship with Morton's design.
Five extra-advanced airships. Four were at the front lines, leading the attack, while the fifth hung back, close enough to get a clear view of the fighting but well-defended enough so as to not take the full brunt of the enemy attack. It was just like the way the Koopalings used to do things, hanging back in their castles behind their pompous and ornate doors, hoping their death traps and minions would do the work for them as he and Mario would make their way through the castles...
"Junior!" Luigi exclaimed, turning around to face the large spiked Koopa on the command seat. "That new airship that's hanging back from the action...that's Larry's command ship!"
Bowser Jr sat up straight. "Yeah, well what are we going to do about it?" he exclaimed. "There's no way we'll be able to reach it, not for a long while!"
"We need to send somebody over." Luigi urged, as the explosions boomed around him, rocking the bridge. "If I go to Larry's ship and beat him, this battle will be over!"
"No!" Bowser Jr roared, slamming his fist down on the armrest. "I need you to stay here; who knows what you'd do if you were gone!?"
Luigi sighed; Bowser Jr was being way too paranoid for his own good! Didn't he understand that defeating the Neo Empire would benefit both of them? "Fine then!" Luigi shot back. "We can send somebody else, like Mario's old partners. I can stay on the ship...and then we can stop Larry!"
"Fine." Bowser Jr growled. "Do it. But if they step out of line..."
Luigi sighed again and called Toadette on his phone. "Toadette, I need you to get a Starshroom ready!" he said quickly. "I need a small squad of Mario's own allies to take out the new kind of airship...the one that's being protected."
"You bet, Luigi!" Toadette replied. "But that's rather dangerous, don't you think?"
A Bullet Bill whizzed past the Starshroom as it wove through the chaotic skies, dodging Bullet Bills and Banzai Bills while explosions boomed around it. Gonzales felt tense as he sat in his seat in the Starshroom's small, circular cabin; he wasn't made for this, he was made for super-intense, one-on-one blood-pumping fights!
"C...careful!" Vivian shrieked as a Bullet Bill sped towards the front window. Ms. Mowz yanked the steering yoke the right, nearly scraping against the hull of one of the Neo Empire's warships. Up ahead, it's blue hull shining in the sunlight, Larry's flagship loomed, blasting lasers from the turrets that covered it. It was surrounded by several other ships, but a ship this small should be able to slip by without notice...
The Starshroom shook. Warning sirens began to sound as Ms. Mowz fought with the controls, pulling it up just in time before it crashed into a huge figurehead of Ludwig.
"What's going on!?" Gonzales shouted angrily, ignoring safety and standing up.
"We've been hit!" Goombella exclaimed. "Mowz, is it stable?"
"I'm trying, sweetie!" she shot back, as a Bullet Bill missed them by a hair. "But this thing isn't staying in the air for much longer!"
"Try to steer it into Larry's ship!" Goombella shouted. "Luigi's counting on us; we can't fail our mission!"
Ms. Mowz grit her teeth and urged the ship forward. Explosions enveloped the warship behind them as it was struck by a barrage of Bullet Bills from the allied Mushroom Kingdom/Bowser loyalist fleet. Blue light filled the Starshroom as a laser streaked past it.
"Hold on, girls...this is going to be rough!" Ms. Mowz exclaimed as Larry's warship approached, closer...closer...
Yoshi was flung to the ground as the Starshroom skidded to a stop, kicking up sparks as it slid across the top of Larry's warship. Finally it stopped, in the shadow of the command tower looming high above them.
"Ok." Larry said, standing up to face his crew. "HOW did that get through our defences?"
"It was rather small, Prince Larry..." one Koopa said timidly. "These guns were mainly designed to hit big targets..."
"Ah, whatever!" Larry sighed. This sure was annoying. The people on board that little ship were likely halfway-decent fighters; no way an escape pod carrying a pack of frightened Toads would be out here in the middle of enemy territory. He'd probably have to go fight them himself, when he'd been hoping to spend this entire battle lounging on his admittedly quite cozy command chair.
"Uh...Prince Larry, sir?"
"Yes, Koops?" Larry shot back, turning around. His rather timid second-in-command had been hanging around near the back of the bridge since the fighting had begun. Was he worried about the Mushroom Kingdom ships they were shooting at? That really didn't matter, though...there was no way Koops could escape him. That magic rune had been seared onto his skin, and as soon as he took any action against him, his family back in Petalburg would immediately be killed.
"If it's ok with you...I can fight them." Koops said. He had his eyes on the ground and seemed unenthusiastic about it. That didn't fool Larry though. Koops had all the strength of someone who had fought alongside with Mario against the legendary ruler of darkness herself...and his strength had only increased thanks to the intense training he'd done over the years. There was nobody on the opposing side who could defeat Koops except for one of his siblings or Luigi, of that he was certain.
"Go to town, Koopsy." Larry said, snapping his fingers. "Get those losers off my ship."
The top of Larry's ship seemed rather stable. Gonzales supposed this was due to it's defended position which allowed it to avoid enemy fire, but the logistics of those things didn't matter to him. He just needed to find somebody to fight.
The command tower rose above them. Gonzales would've bet a million coins Larry Koopa was up there, smugly directing the battle. Of course...he wouldn't be doing that for long. Gonzales had made sure to keep in shape during the many years he'd been imprisoned. He hadn't had a proper 1v1 in over a decade, but he'd let it be known that the champion of the Glitz Pit wasn't about to hang up his belt just yet!
There was a sort of turret-covered structure at the end of the ship, from which rose the command tower. There was a small door leading into it, probably used for maintenance. As Gonzales and his companions approached, the door slid open, revealing a shadowy silhouette.
"Oooh, things are finally going to get started." Flurry said, sucking in a gust of wind.
Gonzales readied himself. He saw Vivian, to his right, ignite fire around her fist. He stretched his arms. Yeah, he wasn't the Glitz Pit's boy wonder anymore, but he still wasn't old. It was time to prove he still had what it took to be the best!
The figure stepped out of the doorway. "Hey, guys." Koops said in an embarrassed voice, scratching the back of his head. "I'm really sorry about this...but I'm going to be your opponent."
Antonio stood on a tall balcony overlooking a room full of computers, bathed in a dim purple light. Below him, his agents worked tirelessly...in front of him, the massive battled between the factions played out on a huge, theatre-sized screen. He allowed himself a smirk.
"Antonio." came the voice of Giovanni. Antonio turned to see his shorter brother step up beside him, flecking his mechanical hand. "Is it time."
"Yes." Antonio said, turning back to the screen. "Let's bring Princess Peach into the game."