Mario and Mars's team had won a good start of victories over the many spirits that had come their way and gained many allies for their troubles, proving themselves to be an effective team thus far. Despite this accomplishments, they knew that their win streak would come to a halt soon—thus, they began their search for more fighters and spirits to rescue. They nearly ran into PAC-MAN surrounded by hostile spirits and found captains Olimar and Alph marooned on large mushroom platforms, and with Charlotte Aulin's magic not potent enough to bridge this gap to the Pikmin commanders, the pair was currently out of their reach, so Mario and Mars began to backtrack and find another spirit who could help them. Much to the group's misfortune, however, they ran into another hostile spirit on the way back.
"Hm? Hey, that looks like-a…" Mario thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, but he soon realized they weren't; up ahead was what looked like Captain Alph donning a pink suit and with his Pikmin flanked around him, and the man was initially ready to run over to him to greet him; the better part of him, however, held him back knowing full well that it was not exactly the good captain he was seeing. He was tempted to run and find another way around the spirit, but he ultimately stood his ground and kept silent watch of the small captain before him with Eevee by his side. Mars had also picked up on the tense atmosphere and drew his sword for battle with Charlotte Aulin on standby to provide him her power. As the pink Alph lookalike stepped forward, the possessing spirit was revealed to be Brittany—a member of Alph's Koppai lot crew and resident botanist. Even from several yards away, they could feel a dreadful amount of power emanating from her—much more than any spirit they had faced thus far.
"Alrighty guys," Mario spoke up. "She feels-a pretty strong, but don't let that-a punk you; we've-a got strength in numbers."
'Quantity is never really a substitute for quality you know,' Brittany retorted. 'Two cupid grenades cannot hope to be worth half as much as one golden grenade after all.' Despite not knowing what in the hells a cupid grenade was, they understood the analogy she was making very clearly and went on their guard—ignoring the pit in their gut feeling telling them they were in over their heads. Before anyone could have seconds thoughts about the battle, the landscape changed before them in the blink of an eye once again, and they found themselves atop an altered Garden of Hope.
Mario and Mars had only a brief grace period to regain their bearings before Brittany and her Pikmin set upon the latter like a beast. Mars entered a parrying stance, and while Mars successfully countered the Red Pikmin thrown at him, he was left open for when the blue and yellow Pikmin caught him at his feet. The Hero-King had almost forgotten just how strong the little guys could be as they quickly brought him to his knees, but the worst was when Brittany finally punched him: tt felt like someone swung a heavy sandbag at his gut and he quickly lost whatever breath he was holding in. He would have been chucked like a baseball had Mario not dove in with a sliding kick. The attack forced Brittany off of Mars whilst killing off two of her Pikmin, though he swore that Alph's body was way more durable than it had any right to be.
"Oof, gonna be feeling that one…" Mario didn't get much time to help Mars up as he saw Brittany chucking her red Pikmin at him. In a spur of the moment act, he threw out a powerful firebrand attack from his palm, briefly forgetting about the red Pikmin's complete immunity to fire before it latched on to him. "Gah! Get off-a me!" Mario's struggle with the red Pikmin gave Brittany enough time to pluck a white and purple Pikmin pair. Seeing Mario in grave danger from the red Pikmin with the scary amount of damage it was racking up on him, Mars bolted for his friend and grabbed at the Pikmin's stem—yanking the critter off and flinging him into the abyss below them.
"Steady my friend," Mars said. "How bad is it?"
"I thought Bowser's-a fire breath was bad enough…" Mario responded, seething from the new burns the red Pikmin dealt him, and the next thing either of them knew was that Mars had been knocked flat on his royal rear from a purple Pikmin's tackle before it retreated. Now it was Mario's turn to rush to Mars's aid once again. "Hey, are you alright?"
"I…think she broke something in there…" Mars went from somewhat confident against Brittany to seriously regretting running into the spirit. "Mario…her power is…unbelievable… We need to retreat…"
"How though? I don't-a see any exits outta this joint…" The plumber frantically looked around for a portal or some such exit, but Brittany was quickly closing in and he didn't have much more time to think. There was only one option left that Mario could think of, and he didn't spend too much time thinking on it. "I think I know a way, but I'mma need you to trust me, alright?"
"If…If you say so…" Mars didn't need to be told what Mario was going to do next as he felt himself hoisted up into his friend's arms, wrapping his own arms around to Mario's back. "Ready when you are…"
"Alrighty, on the count of three…a-one, a-two, a-THREE!" Mario leapt off the ledge with Mars hanging on to him for dear life, and he dared not look down at where he would land. Hoping to hope that it would work, Mario shut his eyes tight and imagined him and Mars about to fall into a portal. "Brace yourself!"
Not too soon, Mario and Mars could feel the air around them changing and sure enough their descent had slowed down considerably. Before they could open their eyes, Mario felt his rear hit the ground as some of their momentum had returned, and in classic Mario fashion he bounced from the impact which sent Mars flying from his hold while he landed on the ground face first. Mars himself rolled along the ground for a while before coming to a stop on his side. Both men surprisingly came out of the experience unharmed if a tad winded.
"Ow-ow-ow… I don't want to do that again…"
"Dear Naga Almighty have mercy, I should hope not…"
'Hey, you guys okay?!' Gryll asked as she and the other spirits rushed up to their new friends. 'You guys kind of just poofed on us along with that shrimp astronaut.'
"We'll—we'll be fine, just…give us a moment to regain our bearings…"
'Ghee Ghee Ghee, you might want to hurry that on up,' Master Belch started saying, ''cause I think we've got some company on their way.' Mario, Mars, and their friends looked to the spot where they first spotted Brittany, and they saw a mass of light slowly yet steadily taking Alph's shape as it grew.
"Quick, let's get outta here!" Mario exclaimed. He was quicker to his feet than Mars and took said hero-king into his arms again before taking off in a sprint, with the spirits tailing him in earnest. In no time they found themselves a ways outside the mushroom gorge's entrance. Once everyone had made sure that they were clear of any hostile spirits, they allowed themselves a proper breather to catch themselves.
"You know, I forget how strong and fast you are sometimes," Mars remarked after Mario set him down, "although not once in my life did I ever think I'd be carried like a bride."
"It comes with the territory of-a knowing me," Mario replied. "Anyways, let's-a get to the issue at-a hand…"
"We were sorely outclassed," Mars bluntly lamented. "I don't think it's necessary to soften that."
"Yeah… We need-a more manpower here…" The group already knew where to head next with their options so limited, and they took several minutes to steady themselves for their next fight. When they reached the Mushroom Gorge's entrance they instead took a left turn and continued further north until they ran into another spirit: a young man of auburn hair in an armored ensemble consisting of an orange tank top and baggy pants—doing his best to stand proud behind an orange-clad Ryu doing the same. His name was Reyn, a companion of Shulk known for his fiery temper but strong heart. He was one of many comers enjoying the preliminary rounds of the tournament, and though he lost he did so having fought with his full passion and spirit. His mood was quickly spoiled however when his friend Sharla had suddenly been petrified, and soon he found himself in the same predicament. One thing led to another, and now he was being forced to stand watch for the very people he was hoping could get him out of the mess he was in. He got his wish soon enough when he spotted a traveling party of some of the other tournament goers, though his relief was short lived once he shambled toward the party against his will. Whatever resistance he had was slowly eroding until all he saw were Faced-Mechons standing against him. He couldn't stand the Mechons, particularly the Faced-Mechons because of Metal Face having killed one of his friends. He swore he'd never forgive the mechanical monsters for that, and by then he had been completely enthralled in Galeem's trance.
'Well, well, well…' Reyn said stepping forward. 'You buncha jokers think you can take me on? I ain't Shulk but I can still pound you creeps into the dirt!' Reyn pulled out a beam sword he had sheathed behind himself and planted it into the ground, unleashing a great burst of energy that destroyed the landscape around them all. When the light faded and the dust settled, they were all on a modified battlefield of Gaur Plains, and Reyn stood opposite of Mars. When the swordsman realized that he was alone on the battlefield—no Mario to help him in case things went wrong—he could only hope that he would have enough strength to carry on. Charlotte Aulin let her energy flow into the hero-king and prayed for his success.
'Ha, you losers stepped in it 'cause now it's Reyn Time!' Ever the showman, Reyn bared his muscles and flashed a cocksure grin before slowly making his way toward Mars. The lord saw that Reyn was simply strolling up to him, tipping him off that there was something much more dangerous about him than first appeared, but without a projectile at hand he had to approach him. Mars steeled himself and dashed into the range of Reyn's beam sword, swiftly dodging the wide swing and retaliating with a swipe of his own. That's where Mars discovered Reyn's special ability: super armor.
"Wh-What?" Momentarily stunned from the revelation, he took a stab to his gut and was promptly kicked away. Mars struggled to stand to his feet as Reyn slowly closed in on him.
'Oh-ho yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" Reyn cheered while flexing. 'Nice to see I haven't lost my touch!' Thanks to this new development, Mars knew he had to stay on the defensive until Reyn showed cracks in his defense. Once Reyn was in range he was quick to hack away at the man, although he missed by a fair margin and took a passing slash as Mars made it to the other side of the young man. 'Slippery little Mechon aren't ya?' Through newly acquired instinct and without truly thinking about it, the young Homs briefly sheathed his beam sword and took his hands to his side. In short order, he charged up ch'i energy almost to much of his own surprise. 'Holy cow, this new power is something else! Ho-ho-man, wait until Sharla sees this!' Not one to waste too much time dawdling, Reyn fired off the energy in the form of what he saw as a blue fireball, and boy did it cover more distance than his beam sword as he watched Mars struggle to dodge the projectile. Learning how he could harass Mars until the royal forced himself into a position favorable to the Homs, Reyn quickly charged up another blue fireball (which he would name the "Reyn Burst" later) and tossed it at Mars, and having just barely dodged the first one with not too much time to recover, Mars could only block the second one. The hadouken crashed against Mars's Binding Shield, and Mars was pleasantly surprised that it quickly fizzled out with little power behind it.
'He must not be too used to the intricacies of Ryu's techniques, though that won't be for too much longer,' Mars thought. 'But how am I to get past this man's super armor…?'
'Where there is a will there is a way,' Charlotte Aulin reassured. 'Think Mars; is there anyone you know who possesses this characteristic?'
'Well, there is one—'
'Hey!' Reyn called out to Mars. 'You just gonna stand there all day? Fine by me if you want to make this easier on the both of us.' Grandstanding was natural in competitive settings Mars reasoned, but this was unwarranted showboating. However, Mars was hard trained to restrain himself in situations like this, and thus he could easily deflect Reyn's taunts. Getting back into the fight, Mars dashed toward Reyn and jumped over his beam sword slash, steadying his Shield Breaker technique against Reyn who had readied a familiar stance with an inky aura emanating from Reyn. Recognizing it, the hero-king quickly halted his attack and instead made himself ready to counter the man when he landed. When Reyn struck, his fist smashed against Mars's sword rather than the chest he was aiming for, and Mars knew he had the lad right where he wanted him.
"Nice try!" Having countered, Mars rushed behind Reyn with an Iai-styled slice. The sheer strength of Reyn's blow transferred into Mars's Falchion made for a shocking counterattack when he struck, momentarily staggering the normally immovable man.
'Yeouch! The heck was that?!' Reyn was absolutely confident that he'd smash through Mars's defenses, but the nimble swordsman had surprised him with that trick. Now a safe distance away, Mars racked his brain for the answer to Charlotte's question. After narrowing his options to fighters with such a characteristic, Bowser had finally come to mind. The tough guy was infamous for his ability to power through almost anything under the right circumstances, though this strength weakened with accumulated damage and could be punched through with a sufficiently strong enough attack like a counter. Armed with that knowledge, Mars adapted it into his attack strategy of weaving around Reyn's slower attacks and striking when there was an opening, piling on the damage until Reyn showed signs of being in the danger zone.
'Now you've almost got him Mars,' Charlotte cheered. 'Quickly, land the final blow!'
'It ain't over yet… SUCK ON THIS!' Reyn howled. Having lost his cool, Reyn threw his beam sword dead into Mars's gut for the second time that fight, stopping the hero-king in his tracks. Doubling over in pain, Mars coughed up blood and clutched at his wound as he struggled to get back up. Looking up, he could see an angered Reyn slowly closing in on him. His heroic pride would not let him go down on his knees and he stood to face his foe, but because of his injuries all he accomplished was having his attacks swatted aside and being forced to kneel before the Homs anyways. Mars couldn't find it in himself to look up at his executioner, bowing his head for a moment before scanning his surroundings—his final resting place. When Marth caught sight of something behind Reyn, however, his frown found itself turned into a quiet smile as he waited for the man to make his move.
Reyn's finishing blow never came as found himself face first on the ground, having had his legs pulled out from under him. The next thing he knew was being swung around in a circle before being thrown to the other side of the battlefield. Mars himself looked up to see his savior standing proud and determined over him. "Are you alright Marth?"
"I am now," smiled the hero-king. "I don't know how you managed it, but I'm glad for the help."
"Don't mention it. Now, how's about I take things from-a here alright? You need the rest."
"Thank you." Mario kept Mars at his back and faced a royally pissed Reyn. Gone was the wisecracking Homs, and in his place was a beast hellbent on ending Mario's game. Mario knew right then and there that the fight had to end immediately, so he charging F.L.U.D.D. to its maximum capacity before Reyn started hurling out one hadouken after another. Reyn used the projectiles to try and close the distance, but Mario was quicker on the draw to whip out his cape against the Homs before he was eating foot for breakfast. Reyn was now flying the wrong direction, and without a chance to right himself he was blasted far over the edge of the field with a fully charged F.L.U.D.D. blast. In short order the battle was over following a bright burst of light from Reyn, and the battleground faded away into the road the party encountered the spirit.
"Goodness, that was not something I was prepared for," Mars sighed out in relief. "How fortunate I am that you came to my aid when you did."
"Hey, that's-a what friends are for." The two heroes' conversation was cut short with the arrival of their new guest. For a moment he laid on the ground, dazed from his recent encounter. Mario and Mars exchanged worrying glances when the Homs's eyes met theirs, and in a start the lad was back on his feet.
"You! Why I outta—ought to…hey, wait a minute, you guys aren't Mechons…?"
"No my good sir, we are not," Mars answered. "What you saw was an illusion made to pit you against us. Worry not though; you have been freed from Galeem's control."
"Who's control now?" For a moment Reyn didn't understand what the hero-king was telling him, but when the memories flooded back everything was made clear. His death, his painful transformation into another person, and the out-of-nowhere change in his vision all made sense now. He was still mad of course, but at least he knew who to direct it at now. Looking at the heroes who freed him, he managed a big thankful grin for them, and they returned the gesture in kind. "Guess I owe you guys big time for this," Reyn said. "Me being a ghost means I can't do much for ya', but I ain't gonna let that stop me from doing whatever I can to help you guys out, you hear?"
"Your help would be greatly appreciated sir," Mars replied.
"Sweet! By the way, the name's Reyn in case you guys didn't catch it earlier."
"Oh, we-a caught it alrighty. It's-a Mari by the way. Nice to meet ya'!"
"And I am Prince Mars Lowell. With us are many other spirits much like yourself: Charlotte Aulin, Chargin' Chuck, Gryll, Iridescent Glint Beetle, and…last but not least, Master Belch."
"Haw, Haw, Haw… The pleasure is alllll mine," the puke puddle drawled much to everyone's undying disgust. Reyn raised a questioning brow at this but chose not to comment on it for everyone else's sakes.
"…At any rate, we humbly welcome you into our fold Reyn. May we yet save this world from Galeem's clutches."
"Alright then! Now that the introductions are outta the way, let's get crackin'! Where we headed by the way?"
"A little further up north; down south is a powerful spirit that me and Mario cannot defeat even with our combined forces, so we are headed this way to enlist the aid of a spirit who can more easily deal with her—or hopefully another of our fighters to add to our numbers."
"I see. Not sure if you know this already but I gotta warn ya'; there's a couple more spirits up ahead, not least of which is this one witch…turtle thing riding a broom who won't stop yammerin' about 'his brutishness' or 'his heinousness' or some other junk like that."
"Hmm…sounds like a Magikoopa," Mario said. "If we're-a correct, they might be able to-a help us rescue Olimar and-a Alph."
"Ah, you mean like Kamek perhaps?" Mars said. "Very well then, we'll look out for this Magikoopa. Alright everyone, let's march ahead." Mario and Mars led their evergrowing group of spirits up north on the road, and not too soon did they approach another spirit; a Chespin commanding the bodies of three Ivysaurs and practicing their bullet seed move from the looks of it. This gave Mario and Mars an opportunity to observe the spirit first before engaging it, and after assigning Gryll and Reyn to themselves respectively they were ready to take on the spirit.
"You-a ready to this this Marth?"
"Quite."
"Alright, here we go!" The two of them were off like a shot, and before the Chespin spirit could properly get a good look at them they struck one of its bodies, forcing it to drop its pokéball. The grass-typed pokémon was in a short panic despite its strength in numbers, giving Mario and Mars the chance to get between it and its pokéball. Realizing its three-to-two advantage, though, it had its Ivysaur bodies lined up and raised their rear bodies, ready to unleash a spray of bullet seeds from their buds at the two fighters. The two fighters wouldn't have too much time left to protect them from the impending fire—Marth's Binding Shield, while powerful and enduring, didn't cover enough area to deflect all of the seeds, and Mario's cape along with F.L.U.D.D. would ultimately prove too ineffective after long using one or the other. However, they did have just one more advantage on their side—literally.
"Marth, the pokéball!"
"Right!" The prince quickly took up pokéball and was quick to press its releasing mechanism. "Chespin, lend us your aid!" Mars tossed the capsule forward and out came Chespin—or rather an empty puppet in the pokémon's likeness. This sudden appearance momentarily startled the real Chespin, making it wonder if its empty body was being used against it—and the thought angered it immensely. It was now ready to fire away, but its delay gave the false Chespin enough time to ready its seed bomb technique. The false Chespin let its attack loose against the ground, leaving a huge explosion and dust clouds in its wake—enough dust to obscure Mario and Mars from sight. Despite this, the Chespin spirit used its three Ivysaur bodies to fire into the dust clouds…only for their targets to be nowhere in sight. Perhaps the pair had simply run away from battle was what the Chespin thought, but oh how wrong the pokémon was—Chespin never saw the two diving attacks coming, Marth and Mario coming in from above to smash into it with cold iron and flames respectively. A handful of fireballs and dancing blades later, and Chespin was quickly worn down with Mario and Marth's combined attacks taking down its two extra bodies before finding itself alone against them. With the overwhelming pain and rapid loss of consciousness, Chespin was left unable to battle any further and promptly passed out, ending the fight in the heroes' favor.
The two men felt proud of themselves for taking down another spirit—this time without allowing their opponent to terraform the land first, though they also had the dubious honor of watching its remaining false body slowly crumble into dust. Left behind was the spectral form of the spiny nut Pokémon, and it wasn't long before it came back to its senses. Upon seeing Mario and Mars the pokémon quickly looked around itself for a spot to run and hide, but Mars had gently approached the creature to show it that he meant no harm.
"At peace little one," the prince spoke. "The magic that had ensnared you has been dispelled—you are safe now." The Chespin did not immediately take to Mars, having just lost to him and Mario after all, and that was where the Eevee came in to assure their fellow pokémon that it was in good hands now. Chespin took a few unsure glances between the Eevee and Mars, but after some consideration it came to the conclusion that the Eevee's words could be trusted; it was not too long ago it was trapped in another pokémon's body but now it had been freed thanks to the travelling fighters, and they seemed like the trustworthy sort. In the end after some consideration, Chespin decided that it would travel with the group, where it was warmly welcomed into the growing fold of freedom fighters.
The group continued onward and found a fork in the road; the path to the right led to an elevated road with what looked like PAC-MAN's bonus fruit possessing two body doubles of the lad himself, and the left led to a reclining path where a Bayonetta puppet fighter stood. What caught everyone's interest most was that the Bayonetta puppet appeared to be possessed by an old koopa witch made of paper.
"Bingo," Mario exclaimed. "That's our magikoopa right there, and if anyone knows magikoopas, it's-a me. Hey Marth, why don't we split up for a little while? Don't-a worry, I won't do anything reckless."
"While I'm inclined to believe that, I'm not so sure splitting up our already small forces would help us much. You haven't forgotten the last time our group had split up, have you?" Mars wasn't willing to risk another incident with Master Hand cutting each other off from their friends again.
"Hmm… That's a fair point."
"It seems very much that catching us alone is the enemy's objective. Splitting our numbers while there are too little of us will make for an easy capture and doom any chance of success to a swift failure. At the very least, now would not be a good time for breaking into smaller groups; perhaps when we have much more fighters on our side and less ground to cover would it be a sound strategy."
"Ah, I gotcha. Of course, you won-a two wars after all so I guess that's-a where a lot of your experience comes from."
"Indeed. Let's make for the magikoopa and pray she can aid us in rescuing Captains Olimar and Alph." The two men made their way down to the false Bayonetta, prepared to engage her together, and when she spotted the group they could see the almost literal spark of annoyance flare to life in the witch's eyes.
"What do you whippersnappers think you're pulling here?" the witch huffed. "Can't an old Koopa catch a break without—wait a second…you!" The moment she laid eyes on Mario, memories began flooding back to her. She vividly remembered how sorely the man humiliated her and her king when they first seized the Star Rod from Star Haven. Even with the incredible wish-granting power the artifact granted Bowser, and despite her best efforts to amplify its power, they were both handed their shells to them. And as if that embarrassment wasn't enough, they had lost to him a second time in the Palace of Shadows in an even bigger curbstomp battle. Bowser certainly wasn't keen on forgiving her for her failures and handily replaced her with Kamek as his right-hand magikoopa, claiming that the other elder was more than competent enough to handle the big operations unlike herself. Kamek hadn't simply taken her position—she was effectively tossed aside like trash no matter how loyal she was and how she would have done anything she could think to make things right with her king, and she had Mario battering her old self to blame for that. Having to recall such painful memories and being face-to-face with the man again after so long made something bubble up inside the old witch, an all-too familiar feeling that she hadn't felt so strongly in a long time: hate. Slowly her mouth twisted into a murderous snarl with no attempts made to still the involuntary twitching or the unsteady breathing. Her body was reacting in other strange ways she didn't know, but she could care less how dangerous it could have been—at that moment her whole world had gone blood red, and she was going to have a plumber's head.
"You insufferable, repulsive, fat plumber garbage—!" Even though she wasn't consciously trying to, the magikoopa shot off the many hairs wrapped around her frame at Mario in a flash, catching him off guard and snatching him up in a death grip. The heroes were startled by the sight and instinctively went to free their new friend but to no avail. Mars was quick to run up to the witch and force her to drop the other man, but she had seen the attempt coming and stomped down, conjuring a replica of Madama Butterfly's heel crashing down upon him. The prince only had enough time to throw himself out of the way onto the ground with a harsh thud, taking uneasy steps to stand back up again. "Stay out of this or be squashed like a squiggler; this is between me and him…" The witch brought Mario closer to her so she could observe every inch of life she was squeezing out of him, but despite the pain she was inflicting she couldn't find it in her to take any sort of pleasure from it. "And as for you, I do hope you'll have enough fight in you for what I'm going to do to you…" With little to no warning, the witch dragged Mario down along with her through a magic portal. Mars wasn't about to let his friend face the witch by his lonesome and quickly dove after the two before the portal closed on him. This left the spirits flustered with both of the fighters having disappeared on them for the second time, so all anyone could do then was to wait, hoping that Mario and Mars would prevail and return to them soon.
When Mario's and Mars's vision returned to them, they found themselves in a world of cardboard. They could easily recognize the place as the world Paper Mario was from, but what was more important was that the needed to be ready to face an enemy out for Mario's blood that he himself had never actually met. Speaking of said enemy, she was positioned atop a cardboard cloud above him, now holding a replica of Dreamland's Star Rod, and she was all glares as she stared down her foes.
"How long has it been, Mario?" the witch asked. "It feels as though it has been a lifetime since I last saw you in the Palace of Shadow, and these old bones of mine haven't forgotten the thrashing you gave me and His Odiousness…" Mario would have cut her off and explain that he had no idea who she was, but considering the situation he was in it was best to not anger the witch any further. "I could have beaten you so many times over if it weren't for your meddling friends, and even now you still can't seem to face me without some brat backing you up."
"I fail to see how having friends to be there for you is a bad thing," Mars rebuked on Mario's behalf. "No matter how strong we are on our own, we cannot achieve our goals and dreams without the help of our trusted companions. There is no shame in being able to rely on others when you need them most."
"Feh, you whippersnappers these days always needing someone to hold your hand…" The next thing Mario knew, the witch had vanished in a flash right before his eyes. Her gleeful cackle was the only sign that she was still there somewhere, but given the position he was in an invisible Bayonetta was the last thing he wanted to deal with.
"Oh come off it you hag," Reyn taunted, with Gryll chiming in to rail against the other witch. "I'll bet that you can't get anything done without your boss."
"Hag?! How dare you—I am a beautiful koopa with a beautiful name, Kammy Koopa!" Hearing that name let Mario know who he was dealing with, having heard that name from some of his paper friends when he was helping them with the jam they were in. He knew of her dismissal from her position thanks to his paper counterpart soundly stomping her, and given how murderous she was toward him he had an idea of how deeply that must have scarred her dignity. "I've let you trounce me and my king one too many times, but I'll have your head brought to His Viciousness on a silver platter if it's the last thing I do!" Mario honestly didn't know how much fight he had in him from the strangling he was given earlier, and the witch's invisibility was going to be a problem, but with a friend like Mars at his side he knew he could take on the old koopa no problem. Working together to overcome tough odds, that's what the spirit of this new adventure was about to Mario, and he didn't care who called him weak for needing friends along the way—with them, he could do anything he put his mind to.
"You-a ready to to do this Marth?"
"Whenever you are, Mario."
"Then let's-a go, we got friends to save!"