CHAPTER 17

Dark Castle. Hideout of King D6. Four of seven elite commanders have been eliminated as part of a special infiltration mission by Galaxy Squad in their plan to search and destroy the king

Dark Castle, Unknown Location, 2200 Hours.

Galaxy Squad was noticing the development of the situation become ever more difficult as they ascended Dark Castle. The stakes had never been higher. The enemy presence of Dark Castle was present on all sides, blackened with the shadows of infantry and vehicles roaming the ruined lands of a devastated battlefield. The members of the elite special warfare group were constantly on the alert for a surprise attack, yet they had no idea when it would potentially come. They ran with their copy ability weapons at their sides, ready to use them whenever they got overwhelmed. With no hope of backup, they had to risk everything to get an edge over their opponents. Each of the members had their hopes about what would happen if they were the heroes who successfully took out D6. They were reaching another bridge on their way in the direction of the main tower where King D6 was confirmed by a report from intelligence to have holed himself inside along with his top generals. Pinkobashi in particular kept feeling a cold chill run all along his body to the point that he nearly felt the signs of hypothermia. He reminisced of the many great challenges that he surmounted over the years, culminating in the epic battle that he and his friends were suddenly thrown into by their mysterious backers. His visions were amplified especially when he is present in Dark Castle, surrounded by darkness and despair. He felt that his very essence was being drained, yet his resolve kept him going through the storms that were brewing outside the giant fortification. Jim the gerbil stayed close to his friend Pinkobashi as he was ready to use his cutter powers to slice through enemies that they encountered. Commander Alexander stood at the front as team leader, ready to give the orders for their next objective as he surveyed the surrounding area. The country was about to embrace total destruction, facing utter annihilation at every turn even with a narrow victory against an existential threat at every critical battlefront. There was still much uncertainty over the aftereffects of the defeat of King D6 and his empire, especially with the state of the Poponian empire and its control over the vital resources necessary to maintain supremacy against any future threats to its security. Though Pinkobashi was well aware that his absence from his former unit meant that his new compatriots would fill in the role, he hoped to reunite with the five heroes of the First Great DeDeDe War and fight alongside them whenever the situation demanded in some future war that Poponia could not win without them. Alexander still had his trusty binoculars to scout out the main tower and the ideal area to attack from in order to cause critical damage and provide a good way of attacking the other main commanders that were leading the active sectors. They determined that assaulting from the west point of the castle would be the best area to accomplish this. Pinkobashi found a door to the next area without triggering a trap. They immediately bolted after two Waddle Dee troopers had finished their inspection check of the sector near the top of the room. The troopers quickly left and were already long gone, unable to be taken out. Galaxy Squad immediately found another wet room deprived of signs of other enemy forces and another way to infiltrate another sector relatively undetected, yet they did not expect the means through which they would have to arrive: another watery corridor.

Each of the members of Galaxy Squad quickly fell on the surface of a pool of dark water. They all held their breath and descended into the murky depths below. The puffballs slowly swam to the bottom. Four Gordos placed within a fathom of each other moved from side to side in a predictable pattern. Two Sir Slippies and Blippers emerged from the crevices to chase them.

Each of the members slipped through the movement of another Gordo rising and falling as they reached the bottom. An aggressive Blipper fish that was swimming toward them was defeated by Blaze blowing water through his mouth like a spray gun. They pushed up through the tunnel and dodged another Gordo before reaching the doorway. Three more Gordos were floating up and down. Alexander had to time his movements and urge all of his men to swim with a keen attention to the timing, rapidly kicking to avoid getting jabbed by the spikes. Isha blew a water gun at a Blipper that surprised them, killing it immediately. All the members of Galaxy Squad quickly swam through the door and found a hard floor, immediately exhaling when they exited. They were surrounded by enemies possessing various abilities that were unable to attack them. A Flamer, Rocky, Drifter, Chilly, Spiky, Sparky and Pengy were all detected but not . It seemed like a repeat of what they saw earlier, as it was strange for the enemy to have done this. They trekked through a tight corridor, with three Gordos floating over spike pits in front of them with star blocks positioned to jump on with carefully timed leaps. Each of them lept and bounded over each of the obstacles without getting jabbed by the Gordos again. As the puffballs were quite athletic in their maneuvers, they had no trouble. They quickly raced up a hallway and ran through another door to encounter a deadly Blade in the middle of a room. Alexander quickly slew the warrior with a quick jab of his sword copy ability weapon, firing a sword beam that cleaved his thick armor apart. A sudden white bag fell from the ceiling, and once again Sash the falcon popped out, ready to take to the skies again.

"Sash! I'm so glad we found you!" Jim ran up to the newly freed bird to embrace him.

"Hopefully this is the last time I end up in enemy captivity!"

Pinkobashi decided to switch to Sash and get on his back, able to use his cutter ability to fire off explosive cutter feather missiles that could cover a wide range. Even though the blades could not home in on their intended targets, they were glad they had strong accuracy to limit misses. The projectiles still could do great damage on their own.

"Let's go!" Alexander informed. The members of Galaxy Squad immediately continued their movements through a hallway and came into contact with another corridor of deadly enemies that deployed from hatches in the ceiling. Pinkobashi and Sash fired cutter blades that tore through a floating Scarfy and Drifter, each hit yielding a small explosion when the spinning missiles tore them in two. A Sir Kibble jumped down and tossed his cutter blade like a boomerang, the spinning projectile trailing around the members but unable to hit one of them. Ariana retaliated by firing a single cutter blade combat shotgun spread near his face for maximum impact, felling the blade user instantly, without realizing that she triggered an electric Sparky that was hopping near her. Before the creature could fry her up close, Ruby used her fire sniper to make its head explode in a single shot. The incendiary round yielded a strong burn that could be seen through what was left of its head. Ariana could hear the echo of the shot up close before coming back to her group, glad to have an accurate sniper on their side. While her back was turned, another Scarfy was floating close by, being disturbed enough to assume its gruesome monster form rather than its previous happy self. Its agitated form morphed its body structure to show off its sharp teeth and elongated fangs to maul flesh apart like a tiger. Its two eyes fused together into one to provide stronger eyesight. Its ghastly complexion resembled that of a phantom when it pounced on its victim with mouth agape.

"Ariana, another Scarfy is behind you!" Isha affirmed while Ariana ran for cover. Isha froze the beast into an ice block with her ice gun, the impact of the freeze causing the body to fall and shatter without exploding. Ariana was quite surprised by the effects.

"Thanks. I owe you one." Ariana noted.

"Hostiles have been eliminated." Alexander scanned the room a few seconds later. "I think the commander is nearby. Stay sharp." There was not that much resistance in their way.

"Look out! We have a big rock!" He shouted over his view of a large solid brick.

They quickly took care of the enemy presence and raced for the next door ahead. The door was locked off while a lumbering squarish shadow engulfed them. Galaxy Squad soon came face to face with the heavy Blocky. Jack urged everyone to get out of the way as he fired a spark blast right at the enemy's face, the powerful explosive hit to launch the foe back. The legs forced the creature to charge at Jack and run right into the wall, with Jack a few feet from being flattened to a pulp against the hardened wall. Ariana inhaled one of the rocks left by and spat it back at the creature, the hit briefly stunning the large rock monster, before running back close to her team and trying to hit it from afar. It was useless to have bullets pierce solid rock. Jim fired some of his rifle and tossed one of his frag grenades near the Blocky's feet, the impact from the blast doing some damage. Alexander fired a sword beam near its back, causing the beast to turn around and try to crush him. Pinkobashi and Sash took to the air and hit him with two cutter blades. The Blocky jumped up in the air and tried to fall on them and Alexander at once. They quickly ran out of the way while Isha and Blaze inhaled the rocks on each side of the creature, timing each of their spits right to hit the rock monster for maximum damage. The stunned creature turned itself over on the ground, showing a despondent frowning expression while Jack laughed at the stone monster. Jack fired his spark blast to destroy the downed creature in a single hit. Once the creature was totalled in the ensuing bright explosion, the door suddenly blew open for the team to exit through.

"Commander down!" Alexander noted.

"We knocked his block off!" Sash congratulated his team.

"We sure did!" Pinkobashi affirmed.

"I think D6 must be shitting his pants right now!" Jack laughed as he lowered his bazooka.

"We're already close to reaching the base of the main tower." Isha notified them as they ventured outside the castle toward a large gorge. The intense storms were picking up outside and the temperature was getting much colder. They were freezing even before they found the exit outside and moved further up the castle. Isha was shocked by the sudden onset of snow falling. The weather was strange. There seemed to be an unnatural explanation for the strange phenomenon, but she had no time to explain it. The castle itself gradually became more like a ruined wasteland, a relic of years past on the verge of disrepair. All the phantoms that allegedly inhabited it kept worrying the group, yet the members of Galaxy Squad all had their reservations in blaming things on the occult. There were legends of Dark Castle, with not much being known about its location. It was believed to be constructed by DeDenidean hands, but there were no signs of the builders. Pinkobashi kept thinking back to the ruined city in his dreams and the presence of a strange crying angel surrounded by darkness. He hoped something would come to free the world from the shadows. The enemy was already on the move, having already sent another large platoon of heavy tanks, infantry, and fighter jets after them. Ruby was able to fire off a few rounds at oncoming troopers as soon as they sprang into action. Jack fired a single spark blast at a column of four troopers running along a hillside, incinerating them all and launching them into the air for a few feet as dismembered corpses. Blaze burned one of the troopers just as he was about to shoot him with his automatic rifle. A heavy tank caught the heavy off guard almost when it was too late, with Alexander firing a sword beam volley from his sword copy ability weapon to penetrate its thick armor and kill everyone inside it once the disabled tank was struck hard enough. Pinkobashi and Sash were able to score a couple hits on a tank before they engaged in a dogfight with two enemy jets. The two of them were able to blow up the enemy planes in one hit when they got close behind them with their cutter feather missiles. Jim was congratulating their skills as he massacred a few Waddle Dees with his guns. Isha was able to provide him cover as she froze one of the Waddle Dee soldiers into an ice block and kicked him back into his side, barely missing a Waddle Dee that she killed shortly afterward. Alexander tore through a few more Waddle Dee soldiers effortlessly as they barely missed him with their accurate firing patterns. Ariana fired off some of her cutter blades from her cutter blade shotgun in quick succession, blowing away the enemy Waddle Dees with ease, feeling joy with every enemy defeated by her hands. Two more heavy tanks that were heading in toward the direction of their unit were stopped by Isha and Jack slowing it down and distracting them before hitting them head on with a spark blast. Pinkobashi and Sash tore up another enemy jet before it could drop a bomb on his friends.

The enemy presence was quickly crushed in the area while the other two commanders were reinforcing their additional garrisons closer to the tower, so the members of Galaxy Squad had to keep moving through the harsh winds before they could engage the rest of the defenders.

Galaxy Squad moved up a hill and floated over a short gap, with Jim running and jumping over. There was no need to look down the pit. They soon found themselves moving over two more gaps before the team kept moving over the ground. The puffballs floated above some chasms and quickly evaded four moving Gordos before reaching the door to reenter the castle itself. All of them were forced to engage in another moving room ready to crush them.

"Shit! It's moving again! Go!" Jack made it clear to his comrades. They had the ability to take three possible paths, two of them facing a dead end. The path in the middle of the corridor was just a thick wall that could not be destroyed even by Jack's mighty spark blast. They were quick to recognize the area to keep moving through. An axe-wielding Butch stood at the ready with his spinning blade only to be blasted away from Ariana's quick trigger pull on her cutter blade shotgun at the top of the first obstacle. They kept running over the top and landing on a flat area only for them to confront another Masher machine atop a star block placed over a spiked pit, spinning his flail ready to throw it with the target locked. Pinkobashi ordered Sash to fire his cutter blade feathers at the beast for it to explode in a single hit upon making contact with the projectile. The puffballs jumped over the pit and eyed the two walls leading to dead ends, only having seconds to react. Pinkobashi and Sash flew close to another Masher at the lower area and opened fire with his cutter attack, the blade impaling through the mechanical monster before it imploded like the other machine. Isha immediately froze a Butch attacking atop a star block and kicked him into the wall before heading for the top to freeze another. The middle area was strangely left open with a Blade being defeated by Commander Alexander slicing him with a single strike. Galaxy Squad then encountered another Masher unit on the lower floor as they spotted an open end. Alexander readied a few slices to tear apart its flail before jabbing through its chest for it to explode. The puffballs felt the knockback following the slaying of the guardian robot but were able to quickly jump up a short platform and head for the door. They had a brief window of about five seconds for them to run and avoid being crushed by the scrolling room ahead of them. It was strange for an old castle to have that trap in the first place, with Galaxy Squad wishing that the trap they just endured was the last one. The door closed behind them as they kept moving ahead into a large room.

"Damn...We were almost a puffball sandwich!" Jack affirmed.

"Hey! We're trapped inside with a Big Gordo! I didn't know they had those!" Ariana screeched.

"Shit!" Blaze screamed.

"Captain Stitch!" Pinkobashi instantly recognized his past encounter with the spiked foe.

The large black Gordo known as Captain Stitch observed them with a steely look. Jim started firing his machine gun while Blaze unleashed his flamethrower as a way of going along, while the beast quickly headed toward them and forced the team to gradually head to the other side of the room to find a better area to attack the commander from. Even copy ability weapons could do nothing against an invincible Gordo, much less a larger and enhanced one. Sash and Pinkobashi took to the air and tried to wait for an opening. Captain Stitch spotted them on the ground. Pinkobashi quickly turned to be surprised, ordering him to lower as the creature turned around and sped toward the wall, planning to ram them with the wall and impale them with not only his spikes in front of him but also crush them with his sheer weight. The puffballs quickly jumped over the giant Gordo as he slammed into the wall. He lost all spikes that gave him his precious defenses, falling on the floor in a clump of eight, Sash fired a volley of cutter blades from above, one destroying the spikes while another hitting the back of the armored foe. All of them at that critical point knew his only weakness.

"He's been exposed! Fire everything!" Pinkobashi spouted to his friends as he fired a volley of three blasts from Sash's wings from the air in quick succession.

"NOW! Open fire!" Alexander ordered as fired a strong slash from his sword gun near his back, with the enemy flashing blue with each strike placed near the vulnerable area. Jim fired a volley of machine gun rounds at him. Blaze unleashed his flamethrower to fry his ass for a few seconds, unable to witness the shocked pain that the enemy commander was feeling on his face. Ariana fired two volleys of some of her cutter projectiles near the face. Ruby quickly fired a close shot aimed above the eyes where his brain supposedly was. Jack quickly fired his spark blast aimed at the back of the commander in the hopes of finishing him off, but the spikes popped up as soon as it connected with a great blast, the puffballs were surprised that the explosion did nothing as the giant Gordo hovered close within a few seconds. Captain Stitch was moving faster than before. His spikes curled back like a pronged trap as he was ready to strike again at Galaxy Squad with a ramming maneuver. They immediately ran and jumped out of the wall as Captain Stitch, trying not to throw his spikes to leave himself open to be assaulted, rocketed himself forward in a final attempt to splatter all the puffballs again. Jim, staring at the angry eyes, nearly stopped his movement, the fear forcing him to jump just above the spikes to avoid being stabbed. The spikes were knocked off of Captain Stitch, for all the puffballs to once again open fire with everything they had. Jack opened the salvo with a second spark blast that yielded a great explosion only for the creature to be launched upward and flip over on the ground with his large eyes bulged out and his toothless mouth ajar for all the others to see. The creature could still hear his demeaning jokes. Captain Stitch, despite being unable to move any part of his body, knew that his biological self destruct sequence was already activated. Alexander readied a powerful giga slash to tear through the living blue bomb and destroy it before it could destroy them. The disabled Gordo disappeared. They had never seen what a Gordo looked like when it was naked, and had never had the opportunity to see one express emotion, especially when they were up close. The exit door opened.

"Captain destroyed!" Alexander notified them. "We still have the last one at the main tower to deal with..."

"Let's hope so!" A determined Blaze spoke his mind. "I can't wait to bring him down!"

With another commander destroyed, they kept moving toward the main tower. They quickly ran down a hallway to reach the final tower, unbeknownst to the fact that two other mysterious warriors were believed to be already moving there as well. The enemy presence was believed to be stronger than in any of the areas that they ventured through previously. While on their way to the main tower, they quickly hopped up three small identical platforms before hopping up to dodge a trap of two Gordos quickly floating from left to right joined by an automatic Shotzo turret. Those Gordos had no visible expressions, only having their eyes wide open unlike the deadly Captain Stitch that was always angry with his spikes on when he was facing his enemies. They all hopped up to avoid the cannonfire before the cannon fired its ball at them. Galaxy Squad was sandwiched in between two columns of spikes that did not move.

The puffballs hopped up on the platforms above. Jack, being the largest and heaviest member, felt claustrophobic as he ascended the platforms, yet he was able to fit inside. Pinkobashi and Sash were able to hover up at a slow speed to avoid being skewered. All of Galaxy Squad immediately entered the door only to find themselves in a dark hallway with no way for even a sliver of light to pierce through from the outside. Isha was the first puffball to immediately recognize that a bunch of Glunks were clinging to the wall and a shallow pool of water, blowing air pellets that she was able to detect. It was strange to find them clinging here.

Judging by the number of pellets firing in different directions, they counted eight of them. Pinkobashi and Sash saw the volley of projectiles and fired a volley of cutter projectiles to incinerate two sea anemone at once, judging their aim by the presence of the air puffs. The pink puffball and the falcon were both able to clear a path for their team to keep moving through the dark hallway toward the black door ahead and move further up the main tower.

All of them were quite glad to find bright light filling the entire room ahead of them.

They found themselves hopping on crystalline platforms that were too hard to be shattered.

They were surrounded by the onset of various regular enemies guarded behind thick walls.

"They're coming from the walls, man!" Jack shouted.

"I have detected a signal of a Crimson Core in this area...it's faint...but it's there..." Isha noted.

"Why in the hell are they hiding this of all places inside here?" Pinkobashi asked her.

"I haven't the slightest..."

"Maybe we have to use the enemies inside here to help us get to it..." Pinkobashi discharged his copy ability. "We can't just fly up one way each time. They want to make this difficult!"

"In that case...we shouldn't harm them..if we destroy them all...we're back at square one!"

"We shouldn't inhale all of them and get the wrong one either...we have to be specific..."

"Indeed!"

"New plan, guys! Listen up!"

Multiple enemies possessing a variety of copy abilities were found on both sides. They could hear the sounds of the creatures performing their attacks, unable to break free, ready to be inhaled. At this point, they found a strange puzzle ahead of them. They had three possible directions. By moving up, there was one way, while the left and right sides were blocked by a wall of two blocks that could only be destroyed by a specific ability. The one on the left was ice while the other on the right was a stone block. Pinkobashi allowed Sash to fly near the walls to inspect and put his ear near the sounds to closely make out the burning of a Flamer drone on one side and a Drifter drone on the other side. He inhaled and swallowed the drone to gain his burning ability to melt the left ice blocks. The rest of the puffballs and Jim followed.

"Wait. Why don't we split up! We'll cover more ground and maybe find the object that way!" Blaze suggested.

"Let's just go the right way...We don't want to get lost." Pinkobashi suggested.

"Besides...the strength of my Blood Moon detector will increase the closer we get to the Crimson Core...so we know if we fail...after all, I designed it myself." Isha confirmed.

"I'll be the ability tester!" Pinkobashi reasoned. "Don't worry! We got this!"

They came up to an identical room with different enemy abilities. Pinkobashi expelled his ability. They were able to make out a Rocky for stone, a Drifter for parasol, and Sparky for spark. The obstacles were needle on the left and rock on the right, With the detector yielding a higher level reading for the rock, Pinkobashi swallowed the Rocky to gain the rock ability and turn himself into a living stone weight that Sash was barely able to hold up with his talons. He fell down to destroy the blocks and clear a path for the friends. The next identical roomm had a Flamer for burning, Sparky for spark, Spiky for needle, and Sir Kibble for cutter. A needle obstacle was on the left and the cutter obstacle on the right. Pinkobashi scarfed down the Spiky near the top to transform into a spiked ball of death with the needle ability. They pierced the left barrier with one puncture attack, destroying both blocks in their path. The following room found Sir Kibble, Sparky, Rocky, Drifter, and Pengy near the top. Near the doorway, an ice barricade was found on their left and a spark barricade on the right. Pinkobashi recognized that they had not swallowed the Pengy before, so they tried that one to gain the ice ability. Pinkobashi could breath an icy breath that could shatter the two ice blocks. They all moved through the area easily. Isha's Blood Moon detection meter was higher than normal. The same enemies from the previous area were placed in the next room ahead. The room possessed strangely identical obstacles with ice blocks on the left and cutter blocks on the right. Pinkobashi reasoned that there could not be ice twice, so he chanced upon the Sir Kibble to fire dangerous cutting boomerangs. They destroyed the cutter blocks and headed in. Once they found the door, they suddenly found that they were directly under the holder of the Crimson Core. Pinkobashi got off of Sash and floated to gather it and held it up, the item being surprisingly light. All of his other members were impressed with the glowing power. The shimmer given off by the Crimson Core produced a strange sound when they held it.

"Yeah! We did it!" Pinkobashi shouted. "It's ours now! Where the hell are the others?! I want them now! I want to collect them all!"

"Don't get too hasty! Maybe we'll find the others later." Alexander reminded them.

"We should be at the jackpot by now!" Blaze asserted. The puffballs immediately heard some loud booming sounds, giving them the impression as if the massive castle was shaking beneath their feet. They immediately hopped up near the door.

"What the hell! I hope we didn't activate the self-destruct system!" Ruby asserted.

"This castle is full of surprises..." Pinkobashi immediately felt the shockwaves of a major explosion pass through the other side of a room. His breathing slowed.

"Run!"

"What?"

"Run! Something's coming!"

"Look out!" Jack shouted to the rest of his teammates.

A massive explosion tore through the wall to mark the arrival of two malicious shadows.

Pinkobashi felt a plasma-charged sword strike tear through his skin, feeling great pain. The force of the impact caused him to expel his ability and revert back to his normal form. In a few seconds, Pinkobashi fell to the ground in the ensuing scuffle, watching in horror at all of the warriors of Galaxy Squad being assaulted and unable to respond to the attacks on all sides, the enemy firing powerful sword beams that were on par with or at least stronger than that of Alexander's sword copy ability weapon. With the puffballs all trapped in a small area, they had nowhere to run. Pinkobashi could see his reflection in a powerful blade, barely being able to turn his head to see who made him taste his iron heel. He found himself firmly crushed on the face by a dangerous masked knight. One of the mysterious sword-wielding warriors was what Pinkobashi saw previously, a familiar face that enraged him yet there was one major difference in the caped one was the scar across his mask. The other masked assassin snatched the Crimson Core from his pocket in two seconds and held onto it in the left arm. Neither of them spoke a word. The shadowy figures leaped for the door above them once all five of the remaining members of Galaxy Squad were unable to beat them in glorious battle.

Pinkobashi got up after he was let go and presumably left for dead with the others.

"Hey! It's ours!" Pinkobashi got up and started running with his weapon in their direction.

"Get back here!" Blaze shouted. There was no response.

"Now it's personal!" Jack added.

"Splash must be close! I just know it! We need to find him first!" Sash added.

They quickly ventured up a narrow corridor, hopping up and tearing through four Broom Hatters in their chase. Alexander while enraged was able to slice through them quite easily. Once they breached the next door, they found themselves trapped in another room. After they got and eventually lost the new item, they headed up to find another dangerous foe ahead of them. They found the deadly umbrella Jumpershoot on the attack. Time was running out. They opened fire with everything they had as the parasol hopped toward them. Jack fired two homing sparks in quick succession at the open umbrella. Blaze burned the umbrella with his flamethrower, causing it to catch flame easily and disrupting its attack pattern. Alexander came in close with a powerful sword beam volley slicing through its face. The umbrella monster jumped in the air and tossed his heavy shoe at them, the thing coming down hard and forcing the puffballs to change tactics, yet it was an opportune moment for Ruby to swallow it and spit it back at the target just before it could take flight again. Ariana came close to the creature and fired a few blasts of cutter blade rounds at the large umbrella, sticking and tearing through the top part of the walking tool. Isha tried freezing the creature in place with her copy ability weapon, only for it to spin and fly close to them, forcing them all to get out of the way of the parasol. Pinkobashi readied a charged blast from his beam copy ability weapon to collide with the umbrella for the final blow, the impact yielding great force that flipped the umbrella over with no way to move. He then instinctively fired a beam whip to zap the body out of existence as soon as it landed. He fell to the ground out of breath after what transpired, feeling the need to rest, but he got up to find that the exit door just opened.

"Final commander down!" Alexander informed.

"Yes! We did it!" Isha shouted.

They headed down a corridor to find a hopping shadow heading their way. Alexander thought it was a Drifter or a Bouncy, but it was strangely dripping water, so it wasn't either of them.

"Hey guys, it's me, Splash!" The swordfish greeted them. He was surprisingly not detained.

"Splash! Buddy!" Sash cheered.

"You're back!" Jim shouted.

"I'm glad you're all together...but we have bigger things to deal with!" Isha reminded them.

"We know what we must do!" Splash affirmed. They immediately ran through the castle and eventually ascended through the tower, hoping to massacre everything in their path, but they found the dreary castle to be barren and abandoned, with all the enemies missing in action. At the same time, they were unable to spot any trace of the presence of the two masked assailants that just attacked them out of nowhere a few minutes ago. They were still ready to face them again before they came into their general direction.

Pinkobashi was confused about what was really going on.

The master was busily talking to the apprentice as they remained hidden behind the second-to-last floor of the Castle itself, slaughtering at least a dozen Waddle Dee and Waddle Doo elite guards in less than two minutes. They dismembered and annihilated all of them. Their weapons were overpowered, but in the right hands, they were efficient killing machines.

"I praise you for your efforts in gathering these items for us...Master Spatha...now what is going to happen?..."

"With all of these Crimson Cores in possession...the world has been saved..."

King D6 lounged at the summit of Dark Castle, immediately being notified that his final commander Jumpershoot had been slayed in combat and two unknown terrorists had joined in with Galaxy Squad to bring disaster to his glorious plans. He was unwilling to notice a strange mysterious dark eye pulsating out of his chest before retreating inside his rotund body.