CHAPTER 16

Popoken. Capital city of Poponia. Chief residence of the Prime Minister.

Popoken, Poponia, 1300 Hours

Prime Minister Poporen and King Poponiana were speaking with one another in his personal residence. His approval rating was slowly rising back up with the nation reeling from total catastrophe. He was painted as a hero in the press for standing against DeDenidean tyranny and liberating the nation of Poppyland from the mad monarch. This gave them a direct passageway into DeDenidea to attack key military targets, including the capital itself. Intelligence successfully caught wind of King D6 moving with his troops to a hidden location. Galaxy Squad was referenced by the leading military officials of the country and their men as the pride of the Poponian allied forces. The three top military generals who had convinced Prime Minister Poporen into executing Operation Overshadow showed great approval at their contingency operation working perfectly. The Prime Minister was delighted to hear about this sudden turn of events. The royal family was hoping to knight them personally after the war was finally over. Deenon was busily walking into the secret meeting recounting his findings to coordinate the next offensive. As a leading scientist in the Poponian scientific community, he was up to date on his reports on the strange location of what was codenamed Dark Castle. A large computer screen provided an aerial view of the massive castle fortress. Commander Garlemagne was present among the leading elite specialists as a representative of Galaxy Squad, being aware of the events. He was observing the explanation of the scientist and the research teams dispatched several miles near the location and its properties surrounding it.

"We have sent Galaxy Squad the coordinates...for their final mission..."

The servant Dee came to the aid of the prime minister. "Mister Prime Minister. There is a coup d'etat underway in this country. I need to get you to safety immediately. Send the news."

"We're relocating you to this location." The prime minister yawned. His eyes briefly flashed and his senses heightened, but he felt surprisingly sleepy a few seconds later.

"Are you alright, Mr. Prime Minister...you look tired..."

"Not so...I feel possessed..."

"Possessed?"

"I hope the same can be said for King D6.."

"I hope you're right." A devilish grin formed on the prime minister's face. He seemed alright.

Dark Castle. Giant mysterious castle of unknown origins. Rumored to be the primary residence of His Majesty King D6 of DeDenidea as a secret hideout with his top generals following his swift evacuation from Castle DeDenidea. The final obstacle to total victory.

Dark Castle, Unknown Location, 2200 Hours

The war effort was surprisingly turning in the favor of the Poponian military. D6's forces were being put on the defensive in the preparation for a massive invasion of their homeland. With major defeats on six critical battlefronts, their strategy was exposed to be a great blunder.

Numerous disastrous defeats shattered the resolve of DeDenidean loyalists everywhere.

The nation of Poponia was able to utilize its best warriors in the critical areas that were necessary to succeed in its war against an existential threat to not only its national security, but also international security in general. The top generals of Poponia in their secret conversations with the Prime Minister along with his allies already had plans underway to negotiate regarding what to do with the remnants of the devastated DeDenidean empire.

Deploying the best members of Galaxy Squad to secure this area and bring down the master of madness would be a crucial objective that would bring the Second Great DeDeDe War to a stunning close. All of his forces would surrender, and the empire would collapse following his surrender. There were plans for putting King D6 in the international court for war crimes and sending him in a maximum security prison with no hope of escaping. The situation was still becoming increasingly precarious, as the rough deployment of Galaxy Squad just a few miles from the location was always in danger of being compromised by some strange circumstances beyond their control. The team had to go in stealthily especially in this area of the castle. There was no way to determine the level of resistance faced by the enemy, yet they always predicted a very heavy resistance well in advance of their deployment.

Galaxy Squad surveyed the strange location from the edge of a tall cliff that took a long time for them to surmount. The name of their target location fit the appearance of the large residence with its imposing features. It looked Gothic and medieval, fit for a king. The keep acted as the central tower stood at the top of it as the highest point. There were deep groovings all around the sides. The bricks were hard and wisened. Pinkobashi suddenly recalled his encounter with raiding the DeDessian castle was much easier. They had to face one general back then, but now seven plus the king. He had a feeling that he would be facing a rush of the same commanders he fought before, yet it would not be a cakewalk. Alexander readied his high-focus magnification binoculars at the place. Ruby noted how the black castle itself was surrounded by a veil of darkness, both literally and metaphorically. She could detect it as a cold and bitter night fell over the area. Isha was alarmed by the cold and shivered yet was welcomed by the warmth of her compatriots. Jack was awed by the hardened structure and imagined himself worthy of claiming the castle and his riches for himself. Each of the six members of Galaxy Squad were ready with their powerful copy ability weapons in hand, definitely enough to raise hell. They did not need backup anyway. They were an army of six.

The warnings from their supervisors were true; it was about to be the toughest mission yet.

The commander collected himself before issuing the order to ready his platoon of warriors.

"Go!" Alexander urged his platoon as they headed for the castle grounds.

Galaxy Squad kept surveying the surroundings for a few more minutes, scouring for the presence of enemy patrols in this highly guarded area, before finally moving in when Alexander gave the signal. Numerous battalions of tanks along with numerous IFVs were roaming all across the land when they detected their signal and closed in on their position. Explosions resounded over the area as the six gargantuan Shotzo turrets from the center of the castle were opening fire on their position, pounding the hellish landscape into dust in a matter of seconds. Enemy jets that were zooming over their position at a low altitude were quickly descending and littering the ground with hundreds of vulcan rounds. Galaxy Squad did not retaliate against the vehicles that were too far away to hit them accurately, not to waste precious ammo only if they were overwhelmed by the enemy at a close range. Jack fired off a homing spark at the bottom of a tall tower, the blast causing it to crumble and finally explode, ending the lives of a few Waddle Dee soldiers unfortunate to be trapped under the rubble. Two dozen infantry soldiers appeared with heavy machine guns and sprayed their bullets. An IFV immediately followed. Pinkobashi fired a few beam whip attacks, quickly zapping two of them out cold, before firing a charge shot to incinerate the troop carrier in a single blast. Isha froze two of the soldiers easily with her ice copy ability weapon before launching them away.

Ariana dodged one of the enemy frag grenades and fired a volley of her cutter blade attack to literally disarm the Waddle Dee and cause him to die a gruesome death of blood loss. Another heavy tank rolled up to them and the one gunner fired on Ruby, only for Jack to get in front of it and fire a spark directly. Once the hit connected with the armor, the tank vanished in an instant. The enemy platoon was quickly crushed when the rest of the base was on alert. Numerous Waddle Dee troopers were pouring out of the castle windows to charge toward their positions. The members of Galaxy Squad ran along a series of column platforms where they came across a few regular Waddle Dees armed with assault rifles. Isha quickly froze one of the Waddle Dees into an ice block and knocked the other out cold. "Keep moving!" The commander urged his loyal soldiers. They quickly ran toward a gap and jumped onto the next stone platform. Alexander quickly sliced an unexpected Broom Hatter who would have alerted more of them to their presence. One angry Crack-Tweet hopping inside its egg was blown apart by a slice of Ariana's copy ability weapon, the bird letting out a loud tweet before dying.

A Cappy mercenary without a mushroom covering over his face showed his frightening look while shooting his assault rifle. The team quickly evaded the gunfire while Pinkobashi readied a powerful slice of his sword weapon to knock the mercenary off the ledge and fall to his death. A Waddle Dee that quickly opened fire on the team was burned to death by Blaze's flamethrower. Jack landed on top of another Broom Hatter and crushed him with his spark launcher before firing a blast at a group of Waddle Dees holding loaded RPGs. Two more Cappies with mushroom tops walked toward them only to be torched out of their misery by Blaze's flamethrower again. After jumping over the next hurtle, and defeating the next Cappy that was unfortunate enough to move into their position, they came across a door to enter.

"Let's hope this is the way to the first commander..." Blaze asserted as they marched through.

Galaxy Squad soon found themselves running down a dimly-lit passageway. They found seven platforms from which they could quickly jump up one after the other. These zones were flanked by spikes placed on both sides but none of them were jabbed in the process. The team kept pressing on, but they noticed the movement of enemy two Waddle Dee troopers approaching them from behind. Jack turned around and ordered his friends to stay behind him while he quickly launched a spark blast to incinerate the troopers followed by a Bouncy drone.

The spark generated from the contact with the flammable material inside the drone in the small room also created a small explosion followed by a loud sweeping echo in the hallway.

Pinkobashi fired a whip volley from his beam copy ability weapon to disable another Bouncy.

They immediately entered the door and found that they were locked out from the inside.

Galaxy Squad immediately came in contact with the first enemy commander, the Efreeti, on the other side of the room and opened fire. Ariana's cutter blades and Pinkobashi's beam whip attack followed by Alexander's sword beam were the first to hit as it jumped forward. The Efreeti immediately jumped in the air and zoomed toward the ground while all of Galaxy Squad avoided the attack, the enemy colliding with the floor without feeling any pain. Jack fired a homing spark at the creature once it landed to generate a large anti-tank blast. Ruby shot an anti-tank round of her fire sniper weapon at the creature's head above its eyes. Alexander ran near the edge of the wall and jumped up to bait the creature into running at the wall, the crash knocking the creature off guard. The Efreeti had no ranged attacks, yet it made up for it in terms of its speed and precision in locking onto its foes from a short distance. It jumped in the air and zoomed in a downward arc toward the other side of the arena for Pinkobashi to charge and ready a charged beam attack to deal great damage to the target.

They jumped out of the way of the charging attack of the Efreeti and readied for Ariana to hit it a few times when it lost its burning form. Alexander readied the final blow with a charge slash attack that yielded a heavy explosion that knocked the target against the wall. He sliced the Efreeti carcass for it to explode. As soon as the enemy commander was destroyed, they updated the activity of the objectives before reaching the exit of a part of Dark Castle.

"One down...six to go!" Alexander noted to his subordinates.

"Scanners indicate that we need to move west to reach the next area..."

"No time to wait..." The members of Galaxy Squad were informed as they found the next location. The falling down a long way before safely landing down by down what seemed to some to be a fatal fall to only be broken by a deluge of water that they all splashed in. They swam through the cold water where Glunks attached themselves on the bottom and top of the stone structure in front of them, dodging the occasional Blipper fish that was swimming near them. The team immediately breached the surface and waded toward the land. An icicle fell from the ceiling and into the water about a few feet in front of them.

"This castle needs some renovation...I tell you!" Jack boasted to his friends as they ran and fell to the ground on the hallway to the door. There were strangely no hostiles at this point.

Once they ended up in an area on the other side, they had no way of realizing that bunch of enemies hopping around inside small boxes and unable to attack them. A Flamer, Rocky, Drifter, Chilly, Spiky, and Sparky and Pengy were all trapped inside, ready to be swallowed, but the team did not realize it, and they pressed forward. Ariana spotted three Spiky creatures on a block atop a pit of dangerous spikes. Ariana fired a volley of her cutter blades, killing the dangerous needle beasts easily, before the rest of the team went for the next door above them. On the other side of the door, they encountered a lone Blade bearing a challenge with his sword. Alexander hopped into the fray and slew the elite warrior in a single strike by breaking his armor and cleaving through his skin. He savored the taste of the blood of the fallen. With the enemy defeated, a white bag triggered to fall from the ceiling onto the hard floor and the vengeful gerbil loosened his way out with his rescuers.

"Thanks for saving me!"

"Don't mention it!" Pinkobashi uttered. They quickly ran down the hallway as quickly as they could, hearing the enemy alarms echo throughout the rooms, barely evading eight falling icicles before immediately stopping to engage a Sir Kibble that was ready to engage them.

The angry gerbil tackled him to the ground, pummeling him and getting him in a chokehold before taking his blade on his helmet and jabbing him in the eyes, blinding the target.

"You got him good..."

"I didn't even need to use my weapons for that encounter."

"What happened..."

"I was caught while doing some recon scouting with Splash and Sash a few miles away from the premises of the castle...I still don't have any reliable info...all I know from the others is that the enemy is planning something big..."

"What is it? Does it have to do with the strange darkness that is exuding this castle? Come on, I really want to know about this...this phenomenon must have a scientific explanation..."

"All I know is that it is the fault of something...something that is not of this world..."

"Who's next in line...Who is our next target? Can you give us anything?" Alexander added.

"The commander is waiting behind the door...Master Green..."

"He's going to be nobody's master by the time we're done with him..." Jack cracked his knuckles as they waltzed inside the door and were ready to fight the giant jellyfish. Master Green met them with bitter rage with strong electrical surges travelling all across his body.

The creature lurched forward and fired two electric bolts that forced the team to duck.

Ariana launched off her explosive cutter rounds from her shotgun near the jellyfish before it jumped in the air and launched more charged lightning bolts. Once Master Green jumped back down on the ground, the creature generated a spark shield around itself while the team fired at it from a far distance. Ruby fired her sniper rifle at its thick head to yield great damage. Alexander charged and readied a powerful sword slash for a close range attack but the creature fired a charged surge of electricity that travelled on the ground, leaving a large shockwave that forced the team to jump up. Isha tried to freeze it in its tracks but the beast kept hopping along the ground even with its thin appendages that could easily shatter. The jellyfish hopped toward them for Pinkobashi and Jack to time their approach and fire their charged heavy attacks from two different directions, the collision of both attacks connecting with a giant explosion that annihilated the jellyfish and knocked it over. Master Green gave out and readied to blow itself up only for Blaze to burn the body with his mighty flamethrower. The jellyfish completely disappeared in the ensuing fire, its charred remains nonexistent, while Galaxy Squad noticed the exit door suddenly revealed itself to them. The enemy's command structure was slowly faltering and on the verge of falling in the midst of the critical period.

"That was easy...that jellyfish was nothing..." Ruby argued.

"That commanders are still active in five more areas..." Ariana made it clear to her friends. "We're running out of time."

"Understood..."

"We need to head outside...to avoid staying in one general area...the next commander is"

The members of Galaxy Squad kept moving around the castle grounds when they came across a mechanized battalion. Jack fired a homing spark at an oncoming heavy tank that was shooting at them with its main cannon, the trailing blast causing the main cannon to explode. "Enemy tank destroyed!" Jack remarked to his comrades once the smoke briefly cleared. A group of four Waddle Dee soldiers were heading in the direction of the wreck. Jim brought out his machine guns and sprayed a flurry of bullets at two of them, the bullets tearing up their armor and quickly killing them. Pinkobashi readied a charged blast at another IFV that was speeding up to them and opening fire at them. He dodged the machine gun fire and let it rip, the powerful shot colliding with the vehicle and setting the driver and riders ablaze.

They were approaching a small hill where their presence caused four spinning Kabus to materialize out of thin air and fall on them one after the other. The Kabus hopped and attempted to crush them. Two of the spinning statues were blown apart by Ariana's cutter blade combat shotgun with the help of her critical hit. Ruby fired a sniper round at one of the heads at close range as it was about to fall on Blaze. Blaze heard the piercing round hit right in between the eye slits with the precise hit causing the spark to go out almost immediately. They puffed up and landed on the middle of a small platform where four more hopping Kabus descended them. Alexander readied four shredded slashes that were perfectly timed to segment them into stone chunks. Two of the four Kabus were torn in half by the attack while the others were torn into small pieces and crushed into the dirt before they disappeared

"Let's hope we don't have to deal with too many Kabus...those things are annoying..."

Jack argued. They kept moving up a small hill.

"Rockies...look out!" Isha shouted as two Rockies were rolling down the hillside into the pits, but the team members floated up to avoid being flattened by the Rockies. "That was close..."

Jim noted after rolling out of the way and almost being pushed off to his apparent doom.

They could hear the sounds of loud metal springs advancing near the hill.

"Bouncies...dead ahead..." Alexander noted. "Take em' out!"

When they reached the top of the hill they were greeted by a Bouncy drone that immediately hopped in front of them. Six of the machines were hopping onto three steps to reach the top. Alexander swung a powerful slash at the head of the machine that tore the drone to pieces, the blast providing the spark for a powerful explosion. Four more Bouncies were heading in their direction. Isha froze one of the Bouncies into an ice block and kicked the frozen metal husk into another one of the robots, the crash destroying the head and yielding a small blast. Blaze burned one of the machines with his flamethrower, the burn causing the machine to fall over and blow up from its overheating flammable engine. Jack dodged the fire from two of their autocannons and fired a spark blast that travelled through both of them and fried their internals before the two spring machines self-destructed and nearly caught him in the blast.

"Hostiles down..." Alexander noted as they headed for the door into a narrow passageway.

The passageway was moving, ready to crush them if they ran too slowly or got caught in a trap, expanding like a maze where they had to find the right way out of the mess.

They stepped down a gap and noticed a Sir Kibble standing atop a block to pick them off. Pinkobashi jumped up and gained the cutter ability by swallowing the blade wielding warrior.

A gap filled with a pit of deadly spikes was easily traversed by all of them jumping over it.

They all quickly floated up to find a Scarfy ominously floating toward them. Pinkobashi jumped up and threw a cutter blade to penetrate the eye of the flying creature for it to detonate. The team quickly jumped over another pit of spikes when they found a Spiky creature bearing its sharp barbs on its back before being assaulted by Ariana's cutter blade in the face. They moved up to the top and quickly slew a Sir Kibble by Alexander hacking its armor apart.

They then stepped down to find the one exit door as the walls were closing in on them.

"Go in! Quickly!" Alexander yelled as the others raced inside and stopped inside a large room. When they came inside, they found a large blue walrus wearing thick overalls and exuding a strong chilly breath that filled much of the already cold room. They knew it was the elaborate Mr. Frosty. The beast charged toward them. Blaze decided to rip out his flamethrower on full blast and do great damage to the creature for a few seconds, the burning beast howling in pain. When the beast recovered, he turned around and fashioned a large ice block with his ice breath to launch at his foes. The members quickly ducked. Ruby pinpointed and fired an armor piercing round directly at his thick head, the shot dealing great damage. Jack fired a homing spark at the head of the creature to yield a great explosion while Ariana came in close and fired her cutter blade shotgun at close range for the cuts to bore deep in his blubber fat. Alexander did the same with a strong sword beam at point-blank range when the chubby commander failed to notice his presence. The angry walrus charged toward Isha Pinkobashi fired his beam whip that shocked the great beast. There was a sudden blast of energy generated by the last attack that knocked the walrus out cold and launched him off the ground for a few seconds only for Pinkobashi to zap him again. The members of Galaxy Squad quickly reached the door when the coast was clear to advance further. The third commander being soundly defeated by Galaxy Squad really bothered the enemy high command structure.

The team quickly followed the holographic schematics of the castle and ran toward the next area that was similarly designed like the first area. They encountered two aggressive Sir Kibbles on top of a bridge. Pinkobashi zapped the first Sir Kibble with his beam copy ability weapon, frying and disabling his battle-hardened golden armor. The second Sir Kibble was soundly defeated by a quick strike of Alexander's sword beam tearing right through his armor. A third Sir Kibble atop a higher platform of the bridge tossed and retrieved his blade, giving his location away to the elite fighters directly below him. Ruby fired a single round of her fire sniper to prevent the one Sir Kibble from alerting others to their presence. Unfortunately, they came into contact with a large lumbering Masher knight with his heavy flail. The heavy knight tossed his flail into the air, forcing all the puffballs to duck. Jack fired a spark directly at the chest of the metallic monstrosity, the strike yielding a great explosion that destroyed the knight instantly. One Butch and one Blade knight appeared wielding a heavy axe and a sword directly below them, slashing their blades in the air. Isha was the first to land and quickly froze the skull-faced knight into an ice cube and kicked it back toward the Blade, knocking him off the bridge. Another Sir Kibble was assaulted by Ariana's cutter blade before he could show any resistance to her. Alexander joined in the fray by killing an expert Blade swordsman.

The team quickly raced for the door and found themselves in another narrow corridor. Time was running out, and they had to once again outrun the moving walls to avoid being crushed. They quickly floated and hopped up a few ledges to find a narrow corridor of enemies. A spooky Mumbies floated toward them, only for Ariana to slay it by launching a volley of cutter blades that tore its bandaged body to shreds. Pinkobashi fired a zapping beam whip from his beam copy ability weapon to detonate a Scarfy before it could trigger its self-destruct. The impact of the bomb shook the corridor, the sound rebounding in the narrow hallway. A cornered Bouncy that activated its alert system was destroyed by Alexander cutting it in two with his sword copy ability weapon. He then proceeded to slash through a star block defense holding a Flamer drone in its place, his unmatchable blade being very effective. Ariana fired another volley of cutter projectiles from her shotgun at a Scarfy that was frantically floating toward them before it could trigger its dangerous monster form or possibly self-destruct. Another Mumbies appeared right in front of them for Jim the gerbil to easily defeat by shooting it in the red eye with his machine gun which made the vanquished corpse vanish for good. The members of Galaxy Squad and Jim had no time to waste when they raced for the door.

They found themselves locked out by another swing door and trapped to face another dangerous adversary on the other end. The team just stopped at the room for a shadow to appear on the other side of the room, with a pair of glowing eyes shrouded by a warrior garb.

"That was close! We were almost crushed!" Pinkobashi shouted. "We must be close to the-"

He stopped to find that the same dangerous Waiu ninja was standing across from them.

"Look out!" The pink puffball shouted as the Waiu threw a series of cutter projectiles in their direction. The members of Galaxy Squad dodged the fury of attacks before Pinkobashi inhaled two cutter projectiles and spat them at the ninja that was unable to see it coming. The Waiu hopped in the air to dodge Jack's spark blast attack and fell to the ground with a loud slam to send a flaming projectile flying into the air before focusing a cutter kick attack by swiping his leg right at Ariana, whose cutter blade shotgun shells were unable to hit. She was nearly torn apart herself, barely facing the range of the attack. Blaze jumped into the battle and sprayed a plume from his flamethrower from behind, but the flames missed and only resulted in the ninja hopping in the air and throwing two more cutter projectiles at him from afar. Pinkobashi swallowed the last round launched from the ninja that he hoped would finish him off. Alexander charged at the ninja to ready a slash, but the ninja reflexively jumped backwards and performed his cutter kick attack. Alexander nearly got hit. The Waiu then kicked up three burning projectiles into the air to distract the commander. His eyes struggled to focus as the warrior disappeared into what looked like a wind of reflections. Alexander ran around while Pinkobashi suddenly remembered that he had to not stay in one place. Jim opened fire at the leaping ninja with his machine gun, only for the registered hit to trigger the ninja to fall on him and nearly tear him apart. The gerbil froze for a brief second, unable to move, while Pinkobashi fired the last shot at the ninja from the back, the attack knocking the ninja back against the wall. Even though the Waiu was injured, Pinkobashi quickly charged his beam heavy machine gun and let it rip through the fury of the blasts before connecting with the sender of the cutter projectiles. The team could hear a great rippling explosion knock the Waiu out of commission. Pinkobashi quickly inhaled the ninja and gained his cutter ability.

He could throw an infinite supply of deadly rapidly spinning projectiles when he needed to. By hopping onto Jim the gerbil, he could be tossed like a pink boomerang that could tear through solid steel and devastate the toughest of enemy armor on its approach and return to sender.

"Commander down!" Alexander noted.

"This is too easy!" Blaze quipped. "I can't wait to bring down the King himself!"

"We still need to find Sash and Splash. I think they're in the next area over." Jim added.

"Let's hope so!"

Their mission was halfway over. Three more commanders, plus the king, remained in their way. Pinkobashi was glad to see that he was able to take part in undermining the fortunes of King D6 and his men. It was inevitable. The chief guards were falling down as if they were vital parts of a house of cards on the verge of total collapse. The presence of enemy forces in and around Dark Castle still remained quite strong. Pinkobashi had the brief opportunity to peer through a large window toward the dim weather outside. Storm clouds were gathering over the horizon. The temperature started to greatly decrease, along with his patience. His mind was constantly imagining the possible outcomes that could happen on their mission. King D6 must be possessed to be hiding himself in this wretched and decrepit castle.

Two black stealth fighter planes were racing in the air toward the castle. The master and apprentice of the Knights of Spatha had quickly entered enemy airspace without firing a single rocket, but had evaded the advanced detection systems, a necessary asset for what seemed like a dangerous infiltration mission. They knew what they were coming for.

King D6 was drowsily sitting atop his secondary bunker while King Doo quickly arrived at his temporary throne room. It must have been a long way of running to face supplication. He reached the summit of the castle tower, where the dark clouds were gathering. He pondered his next course of action carefully. He was not alarmed, for he had just recovered from an unnatural sleep. He hated to see King Doo barge in with the unfortunate news.

"Galaxy Squad! They've infiltrated the castle with orders to kill you!"

King D6 was unfazed as his back was turned. King Doo briefly noticed what looked like a dark orb essence, but his mind was playing tricks on him, the King was unable to sense it as it entered his body. The almighty king took on a devilish smile unlike he had never shown his enemies before. There was no distinct smell or even emotion. He felt completely different, surrounded by a shadowy otherworldly constitution. His mind had surrendered to the matter.

"King Doo...I will stay...you...I pay my regards..."

"What the hell?! At least give me one more chance! I promise you! I will destroy those pesky puffballs once and for all!" The Waddle Doo came on his hands and knees to beg for mercy.

"No need...I will have you know that I am legendary in my combat prowess...this body is in excellent condition...the time is up for them...I will face them personally...no...all at once...Your consistent failure to achieve victory has slighted all in this very organization!"

King Doo was unable to speak as the great king came up to him. He was unable to cry. The penguin's glaring eyes were glowing black with his dark eyes, staring into the soul of his ever-reliant second in command. King Doo's eye was fixated on his commander in chief as he gripped him with his powerful muscles. His life flashed through his large eye.

"I have already readied my troops...the king will judge those who transgress against his will!"

"Yes...oh great one..." King Doo was unable to feel his master as his heart was giving out. He reached the edge of the castle's roof. His mind was slipping from him. His vision turned black as the air as he was. He was unable to resist the feeling that his life force was draining from him before the king let go. The second in command felt the chilling embrace of the storm. The war had consumed another hapless victim. Within a few seconds, he was gone, disappearing into the dark wind, never to be seen again. There was no hope of finding his body. He was judged. He was guilty and sentenced to death. Now the rest of the world would be judged.